Geography & Climate
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km2 and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local language (referred to as dialect) is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the so-called Occitan Valleys. Franco-Provençal is also spoken by another minority in the alpine heights of the Province of Turin. The name Piemonte is a contraction of the Italian "ai piedi del monte", meaning "at the foot of the mountain".
Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps, including Monviso (Mont Vis), where the Po rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43.3% mountainous, along with extensive areas of hills (30.3%) and plains (26.4%). Piedmont is the second largest of Italy's 20 administrative regions, after Sicily. It is broadly contiguous with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy's largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains (Alps and Apennines) which surround the region on three sides. From the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, (not always, though, sometimes there is a brusque transition from the mountains to the plains) and then to the upper, and then the lower the great Padan Plain. The boundary between the first and the second is characterised by risorgive, springs typical of the pianura padana which supply fresh water both to
the rivers and to a dense network of irrigation canals. The countryside, then, is very varied: one passes from the rugged peaks of the massifs of Monte Rosa and of Gran Paradiso (national park), to the damp rice paddies of the Vercellese and Novarese; from the gentle hillsides of the
Langhe and of Montferrat to the plains.
The percentage of the territory which is a protected area is 7.6%. There are 56 different national or regional parks. One such park is the Gran Paradiso National Park (Grand Paradis) (source: Wikipedia).
Wines
With 46 different DOC and four DOCG areas, Piedmont is the region that produces the largest number of best known, noble, and world-appreciated prize-winning wines, such as Barbera, Barolo, Barbaresco, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Grignolino, Malvasia and Asti Spumante among others.
Another distinguished characteristic of Piedmont is that most of its wines are produced on family estates made up of relatively small parcels of land.
The main grape grown here is the distinguished Nebbiolo, which is the base for the famed Barolo, Barbaresco and Gattinara among others. Its name derives from the word nebbia, or fog, because of a velvety, whitish coating over its berries in addition to the fact that it grows in an area where, at ripening time in September, heavy morning fog is a given and the humidity that it provides gives the grapes an ideal habitat.
The production of strong reds is predominant in this landlocked, mountainous region and are the perfect complement to the rich and hearty
cuisine featuring white truffles, fonduta, which is a variation of the Swiss cheese fondue, rice, meats, pastas and stuffed vegetables.
That said though, among the whites the Asti Spumante achieved national fame thanks to Carlo Gancia, who learned the Champagne method in Rheims, France, and applied his newly acquired knowledge experimenting with Moscato grapes. This wine is perfect with the rich pastries and fine chocolate products such as the spumone piemontese, a mouse of mascarpone cheese with rum or panna cotta, a smooth rich cream, and the
gianduiotti, the lingue di gatto, (cats tongue), and the baci di dama (ladys kisses).
Another Piedmont creation that achieved worldwide fame is the Vermouth, which was first created by Benedetto Carpano in his wine shop near the Turin Stock Exchange. The classic American martini cocktail takes its name from the most known Italian producer of dry vermouth, Martini & Rossi (source: Wine Country).
"Piedmont." Wikipedia (accessed 10/12/2009)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont
Wine Country. "Piedmont: Alps, Valleys & Wines." (accessed 10/12/2009)
http://winecountry.it/regions/piedmont
