Region of north-western
Italy (
Piemonte in
Italian) bounded by the
Apennines to the south (
Liguria), the
Alps to the north and west (
France and
Val d'Aosta), and
Lombardy to the east. The regional capital is
Turin (
Torino). Comprises the following provinces:
The regional economy is based on
heavy industry in the Turin area and agriculture and winemaking elsewhere; many of
Italy's best wines come from the region. Area approximately 25 000 km2, population around 4.5 million.
Historically, Piedmont was an independent state ruled by the Dukes of Savoy, who became the Kings of Sardinia in the early 19th century by careful political manoeuvring (they didn't really want Sardinia, just the title ...). In the mid 19th century King Vittorio Emanuele II of Sardinia and Piedmont was the figurehead of the Risorgimento, the movement towards the unification of Italy, and became the first king of the new unified state, which thus found itself stuck confusingly with a II-based monarch numbering system.