Piedmont

Region of northern Italy, comprising the provinces of Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Turin, Verbania, and Vercelli; area 25,399 sq km/9,807 sq mi; population (2001 est) 4,166,500. One of the richest regions in Italy, it borders Switzerland to the north and France to the west, and is surrounded, except to the east, by the Alps and the Apennines. The regional capital is Turin. Piedmont also includes the fertile Po valley. Products include rice, fruit, grain, wine, cattle, cars, and textiles. The movement for the unification of Italy started in the 19th century in Piedmont, under the House of Savoy.

Physical Piedmont contains part of the Alps, including some of its largest massifs: Monte Viso (3,481 m/11,425 ft), Monte Rosa (4,633 m/15,205 ft), and Gran Paradiso (4,061 m/13,328 ft). It also incorporates the western end of the North Italian Plain. Rivers include the Po and its tributaries: the Tanaro, Dora, Riparia, Dora Baltea, and Sesia. The western end of Lake Maggiore falls within its borders.

Economy Agriculture and industry are fairly well balanced in the region. The irrigated plains are dominated by rice growing (Vercelli and Novara provinces) and dairying, and the hilly districts around Asti and Casale Monferrato produce wines. Industry is dispersed, with engineering and steel production mainly in and around Turin; textile manufacture in Alessandria, Vercelli, and Novara; and elsewhere clothes, glass, and rubber production. There is also a substantial tourist industry, notably at Lake Maggiore, and skiing is a popular activity.

During the 1960s and 1970s Piedmont received a large influx of people from other parts of Italy, drawn by its high standard of living. Between 1963 and 1971 its population grew over 8%, a rate only exceeded by Lombardy and Lazio; the population of Turin province expanded by 26% over a similar period. Immigration to the region peaked in 1981.

Piedmont

Elevated area of the eastern USA, running northeast–southwest from New Jersey to central Alabama, between the uplands of the Appalachian Mountains to the west and the Fall Line above the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the east. The Blue Ridge Mountains form much of its western border. Often called the ‘foothills’ of the Appalachians, it contains rolling hills and ridges, a number of fertile valleys, dense forests, and numerous swift streams. Its red clay and sandy loams support cotton, tobacco, fruit and vegetable crops, livestock, and dairy farms. The plateau is named after the Piedmont region of northern Italy.

Topography The Piedmont reaches a width of 32 km/20 mi in New Jersey and widens to a maximum of 310 km/190 mi as it passes through Virginia and North Carolina. Its lowest portion is in New Jersey, where it rises less than 90 m/300 ft above sea level, and highest is in Georgia, where it reaches 600 m/2,000 ft. The highest point in the state of Delaware, the town of Centerville at 135 m/442 ft, lies in the Piedmont. The Up Country of western-central South Carolina comprises the Piedmont and Blue Ridge areas of the state.

Geology The transition area between the rock types of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont is called the Brevard zone, which is considered by some to be the leading edge of the African tectonic plate. Parts of the Piedmont abound in crystalline formations bearing resemblance to the Avalonian rocks of Newfoundland, and the area also includes the Carolina Slate Belt, which extends 640 km/400 mi from southern Virginia across the Carolinas to central Georgia.

Piedmont

Town in Alameda County, northern-central California, USA, surrounded by the northern part of Oakland; population (1990 est) 10,600. It is an affluent residential suburb of Oakland, set in the Oakland Hills.