piedmont

Piedmont, region, Italy

Piedmont (pēd`mŏnt), Ital. Piemonte, region (1991 pop. 4,302,565), 9,807 sq mi (25,400 sq km), NW Italy, bordering on France in the west and on Switzerland in the north. Turin is the capital of the region, which is one of the richest in Italy. Piedmont is divided into the provinces of Alessandria, Asti, Cuneo, Novara, Turin, and Vercelli (named for their capitals). The mostly mountainous and hilly region has the Alps in the north and west and the Apennines in the south.

In the more elevated parts of Piedmont, forest products and fruit are produced and cattle are raised. In the fertile valley of the upper Po River wheat, corn, rice, grapes, honey, and chestnuts are grown. Piedmont has considerable industry, powered in part by well-developed hydroelectric facilities and aided by an extensive transportation network. Manufactures include motor vehicles (mainly at Turin), textiles, leather goods, aluminum, chemicals, glass, wine, and office machines. There is a substantial tourist industry, notably at Lago Maggiore in the northeast, and skiing is a popular activity. There is a university at Turin.

The area of Piedmont was incorporated by Rome in the 1st cent. B.C. It came to be known as Piedmont by the 13th cent., growing out of Turin and Ivrea, western marches of the Lombard kingdom of Italy. Created in the 10th cent., the marches passed by marriage (11th cent.) to the Savoy dynasty (see Savoy, house of). In the 12th cent. free communes were instituted in many cities, while others remained under feudal lords. Besides the counts (later dukes) of Savoy, the marquises of Saluzzo and Montferrat were powerful nobles. By the 15th cent. Savoy emerged as the chief power.

The French often entered Piedmont via the strategic Mont Cenis and Mont Genèvre passes through the Alps, either as allies or as enemies; they greatly influenced Piedmontese history and culture. Moreover, Piedmont was a major battlefield in the Italian Wars (15th–16th cent.), the wars of Louis XIV, and the French Revolutionary Wars. The dukes of Savoy, who in 1720 became kings of Sardinia, had acquired all of present-day Piedmont by 1748. From 1798 to 1814, Piedmont was held by France. After 1814, the region became the nucleus of Italian unification during the Risorgimento, and Turin was the first capital (1861–64) of the new Italian kingdom. Valle d'Aosta was part of Piedmont until 1945.

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Piedmont, city, United States

Piedmont, city (1990 pop. 10,602), Alameda co., W Calif., a suburb of Oakland; inc. 1907. It is a hilly, residential city. Many of its homes enjoy a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay area.

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piedmont, physiographic region

piedmont, any area near the foot of a mountain, particularly the plateau (the

Piedmont) extending from New York to Alabama E of the Appalachian Mts. and W of the Atlantic coastal plain. In Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina it is E of the Blue Ridge Mts. The plateau is cut by numerous small rivers, whose fall line is along the eastern edge of the plateau. "Piedmont" is French for "foothills."

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Piedmont

 Italian Piemonte

Autonomous region (pop., 2001 prelim.: 4,166,442), northwestern Italy. With its capital at Turin, Piedmont borders France and Switzerland; it has an area of 9,807 sq mi (25,399 sq km). In Roman times its passes connected Italy with the transalpine provinces of Gaul. In the Middle Ages the house of Savoy was the region's most important power. It was a centre during the 19th-century Risorgimento that united Italy. Victor Emmanuel II, originally king of Piedmont and Sardinia, became modern Italy's first king in 1861. Surrounded by mountains, Piedmont is centred on the Po River valley, which contains some of Italy's best farmland, producing wheat, rice, and wines. Its hydroelectric plants supply energy for much of northern Italy.

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Piedmont

Geographic region, eastern U.S. Lying between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastal plain, it is about 600 mi (950 km) long and stretches between the Hudson River and central Alabama. A relatively low, rolling plateau crossed by many rivers, it is a fertile agricultural region.

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Piedmont

1. a region of NW Italy: consists of the upper Po Valley; mainly agricultural. Chief town: Turin. Pop.: 4 231 334 (2003 est.). Area: 25 399 sq. km (9807 sq. miles)

2. a low plateau of the eastern US, between the coastal plain and the Appalachian Mountains

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piedmont [′pēd‚mänt]

(geology)

Lying or formed at the base of a mountain or mountain range, as a piedmont terrace or a piedmont pediment.