Northern Italy
Northern Italy
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Country | Italy |
Regions |
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Area | |
• Total | 120,260 km2 (46,430 sq mi) |
Population |
Northern Italy (Italian: Italia settentrionale, Nord Italia, Alta Italia) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy.[3][4] The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four northwestern regions of Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Liguria and Lombardy in addition to the four northeastern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna.[5]
With a total area of 120,311 km2 (46,452 sq mi), and a population of 27.4 million as of 2022, the region covers roughly 40% of the Italian Republic and contains 46% of its population.[5] Two of Italy's largest metropolitan areas, Milan and Turin, are located in the region. Northern Italy's GDP was estimated at about €1 trillion in 2021, accounting for 56.5% of the Italian economy.[6]
Northern Italy has a rich and distinct culture.[7] Thirty-seven of the fifty-nine World Heritage Sites in Italy are found in the region. Rhaeto-Romance and Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in the region, as opposed to the Italo-Dalmatian languages spoken in the rest of Italy. The Venetian language is sometimes considered to be part of the Italo-Dalmatian languages, but some major publications such as Ethnologue (to which UNESCO refers on its page about endangered languages) and Glottolog define it as Gallo-Italic.[8][9]
Definition and etymology
Northern Italy was called by different terms in different periods of history. During ancient times the terms Cisalpine Gaul, Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata were used to define that part of Italy inhabited by Celts (Gauls) between the 4th and 3rd century BC. Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy.[11][12] Until that time, it was considered part of Gaul, precisely that part of Gaul on the "hither side of the Alps" (from the perspective of the Romans), as opposed to Transalpine Gaul ("on the far side of the Alps").
After the
During the
.More recently, the term Alta Italia (Italian for 'High Italy') became widely used, for such by the
For statistical purposes, the Italian National Institute of Statistics uses the terms northwest Italy and northeast Italy for two of Italy's five statistical regions in its reporting. These same subdivisions are used to demarcate first-level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within the European Union, and the Italian constituencies for the European Parliament.
History
Antiquity and early Middle Ages
In pre-Roman centuries it was inhabited by different peoples among whom the
In 49 BC, with the
After the fall of the
High Middle Ages and Renaissance
In the 10th century, north Italy, although formally under the rule of the
The increasing richness of the city-states made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power, represented by the German emperors and their local vassals. This process led to the creation of different Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy that defeated the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I, at Legnano, and his grandson Frederick II, at Parma, and becoming virtually independent from the German emperors. Although having the military purpose as preponderant, the Lombard League also had its own stable government, considered one of the first examples of confederation in Europe.[20]
The Leagues failed to develop from an alliance to a lasting confederation and subsequently, among the various local city-states, a process of consolidation took place; most of them became lordships ruled by powerful families like the
In the end, a balance of power was reached in 1454 with the
In the 15th century, northern Italy became one of the centres of the Renaissance whose culture and works of art were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe and "Lombards", the term that designated the merchants or bankers coming from northern Italy, were present in all of Europe.[22] The Italian Wars between 1494 and 1559 ended the north Italian Renaissance and brought the region to be fought between France and the Spanish and Austrian House of Habsburg. After the decisive Battle of Pavia, most of present-day Lombardy became under the direct or indirect control of Spain. At the same time Ottoman control of the eastern Mediterranean and the discoveries of sea routes to Asia around Africa and the Americas led to the decline of the Venetian Republic. While the Republic of Genoa managed to become the main banking base of the Spanish Empire.[23]
Pestilences, like that of
Modern history
After the
The Austrian imperial government was unpopular because of their anti-liberal politics and northern Italy became the intellectual centre leading the
After Italian unification the capital was moved from Turin to Rome and the administrative and institutional importance of northern Italy was substantially reduced. However, from the late 19th century and especially with the economic boom of the 1950s–1960s, northern Italy and especially the cities of Turin, Genoa, and Milan was the most important region in the Italian industrialization and sharpened its status of richest and most industrialized part of Italy.[26]
Between 1943 and 1945, during the
Geography
Northern Italy is made of the basin of the
The Alps are home to some worldwide-known mountains like the Matterhorn (Cervino), Monte Rosa, Gran Paradiso in the western Alps, and Bernina, Stelvio and Dolomites along the eastern side of the Alps. The highest peak in Europe is Mont Blanc, at 4,810 m (15,780 feet) above sea level, located at the border with France.[30]
With the exception of part of Liguria all of northern Italy lies in the drainage basin of the Adriatic Sea (with rivers Po, Piave, Adige, Brenta, Tagliamento, Reno) though the waters from some border municipalities (Livigno in Lombardy, Innichen and Sexten in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) drain into the Black Sea through the basin of the Danube, and the waters from the Lago di Lei in Lombardy drain into the North Sea through the basin of the Rhine.[31]
On the foothills of the Alps, there are a number of subalpine moraine-dammed lakes, the largest of which is Garda. Other well known of these subalpine lakes are Lake Maggiore, whose most northerly section is part of Switzerland, Como, Orta, Lugano, Iseo, Idro.
Climate
The climate of northern Italy is mainly
A peculiarity of the regional climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February, especially in the central Po Plain. The east coast, particularly on the Gulf of Trieste is occasionally affected by the cold bora winds in winter and spring.[34]
The coldest month is January: the
The number of days with lows below 0 °C (32 °F) is usually from 60 to 90 a year, with peaks of 100–110 days in the mainly rural zones.
Precipitation is evenly distributed during the year, more abundant in spring and autumn at low altitudes and in summer at high elevations; it is more intense in the
Pollution
Because of high industrialization and the lack of wind due to being closed between mountain ranges air pollution remains a severe problem in northern Italy. Even if smog levels have decreased dramatically since the 1970s and 1980s, in 2005 a team of researchers at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute reported that northern Italy was one of Europe's most polluted areas in terms of smog and air pollution due to its climatic and geographic conditions, which cause the stagnation of pollutants.[39]
In March 2019, the
According to a research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health rank eleventh, fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and twentythird respectively.
The data show that many cities in the Po Valley suffer the most serious impact at the European level due to poor air quality, first of all, the metropolitan area of Milan, thirteenth in the ranking in terms of fine particulate impact, where any year 3967 premature deaths – approximately 9% of the total.
Languages
Northern Italy is dominated by the
The Gallo-Italic languages also reach the north of the
In southern Italy Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in some
.Non-Romance languages are also spoken: Germanic languages such as "standard"
History
During the Middle Ages, mainly between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, an illustrious vulgar was in use, by the name of "Lombard-Venetian koiné". In medieval sources, it was simply called "written language" or Lombard, because the toponym "Lombardy" was then used to indicate the entire region of northern Italy. This literary koiné manifested itself with authors such as Bonvesin da la Riva, Giacomino da Verona, Uguccione da Lodi, Girardo Patecchio, etc.[52]
Economy
Northern Italy is the most developed and productive area of the country, with one of the highest GDPs per capita in Europe. It was the first part of Italy to become industrialised in the last half of the 19th century; the so-called industrial triangle was formed by the manufacturing centres of Milan and Turin, as well as the seaport of Genoa.
Since then, the industrial core of the area has shifted eastward; the current industrial triangle consists of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. A similar shift happened for GDP per capita, and the eastern regions (including Lombardy) have since become wealthier than Piedmont and Liguria. With a 2021 nominal GDP estimated at €1.0 trillion,[53] northern Italy accounts for 56% of the Italian economy, despite having just 46% of the population.[4]
Largest cities
The most populous cities (with over 100,000 inhabitants) as of 31 July 2021,[54] estimates were:
Rank | City | Population | Region |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Milan | 1,395,484 | Lombardy |
2 | Turin | 843,235 | Piedmont |
3 | Genoa | 554,277 | Liguria |
4 | Bologna | 394,374 | Emilia-Romagna |
5 | Verona | 257,490 | Veneto |
6 | Venice | 254,505 | Veneto |
7 | Padua | 207,485 | Veneto |
8 | Trieste | 199,744 | Friuli-Venezia Giulia |
9 | Brescia | 196,941 | Lombardy |
10 | Parma | 196,007 | Emilia-Romagna |
11 | Modena | 187,595 | Emilia-Romagna |
12 | Reggio Emilia | 169,010 | Emilia-Romagna |
13 | Ravenna | 157,074 | Emilia-Romagna |
14 | Rimini | 148,320 | Emilia-Romagna |
15 | Ferrara | 131,834 | Emilia-Romagna |
16 | Monza | 123,409 | Lombardy |
17 | Trento | 120,336 | Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol |
18 | Bergamo | 119,663 | Lombardy |
19 | Forlì | 117,102 | Emilia-Romagna |
20 | Vicenza | 109,239 | Veneto |
21 | Bolzano | 108,010 | Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol |
22 | Piacenza | 103,294 | Emilia-Romagna |
23 | Novara | 101,792 | Piedmont |
Alpine regions
Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige, Liguria, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Lombardy are known as the Alpine regions of Italy, consisting of all of north Italy except for Emilia-Romagna.[55][56]
Culture
Cultural roots
The regions of northern Italy were exposed to different historical influences, which were due to the peoples and dominations that settled there, such as the Ligures, the Veneti, the Celts, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Lombards, the Spanish and the Austrians. Some of its woodlands and mountains are preserved in several National Parks; a major example is the Gran Paradiso National Park, between Aosta Valley and Piedmont, which is the oldest national park in Italy. The first two most visited regions of Italy are Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige, while the fourth and fifth are Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy.[59]
UNESCO sites, sports and tourism
Northern Italy has many major tourist attractions, many of which are protected by UNESCO. Northern Italy is the home of the Italian Riviera, including Portofino, Sanremo, and of Cinque Terre. There are many historic cities in this part of Italy: Turin, the manufacturing capital of Italy, Milan, the business and fashion capital of the country and the important port of Genoa are the most popular tourist destinations of the area. Other cities like Aosta, Bergamo, Brescia, Como and Mantua have a rich cultural heritage, which shares the region's visitors with beautiful landscapes such as the lakes Garda (with Grottoes of Catullus and Gardone Riviera), Como (with Bellagio and Varenna) and Maggiore (with Borromean Islands and Angera). There are also important ski resorts like Sestriere, Courmayeur, Breuil-Cervinia, Livigno and Bormio.
This part of Italy also boasts several important tourist attractions, such as the canal-filled city of Venice, the cities of Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Trento, Bolzano, Cremona, Bologna, Ferrara, Parma, Ravenna, Cesena, Rimini and Trieste. There are also several mountain ranges such as the Dolomites, the Carnic and Julian Alps and first-class ski resorts like Cortina d'Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio.
Cuisine
Venetian cuisine, from the city of Venice,[60] or more widely from the region of Veneto, has a centuries-long history and differs significantly from other cuisines of northern Italy (notably Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol), and of neighbouring Austria and of Slavic countries (notably Slovenia and Croatia), despite sharing some commonalities. Cuisine in Veneto may be divided into three main categories, based on geography: the coastal areas, the plains, and the mountains. Each one (especially the plains) can have many local cuisines, each city with its own dishes.
Lombard cuisine is the style of cooking in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. The historical events of its provinces and the diversity of its territories resulted in a varied culinary tradition. First courses in Lombard cuisine range from risottos to soups and stuffed pasta (in broth or not), and a large choice of second-course meat or fish dishes, due to the many lakes and rivers of Lombardy.[61] The cuisine of the various Lombardy provinces can be united by the following traits: prevalence of rice and stuffed pasta over dry pasta, both butter and olive oil for cooking, dishes cooked for a long time, as well as the widespread use of pork, milk and dairy products, and egg-based preparations; to which is added the consumption of polenta, common to the whole northern Italy.[62]
-
Parmesan cheese, originally from Emilia-Romagna
-
Lasagne
Legends and folklore
The
Alberto da Giussano is a legendary character of the 12th century who would have participated, as a protagonist, in the battle of Legnano on 29 May 1176.[65] In reality, according to historians, the actual military leader of the Lombard League in the famous military battle with Frederick Barbarossa was Guido da Landriano.[66] Historical analyses made over time have indeed shown that the figure of Alberto da Giussano never existed.[67] In the past, historians, attempting to find a real confirmation, hypothesized the identification of his figure with Albertus de Carathe (Alberto da Carate) and Albertus Longus (Alberto Longo), both among the Milanese who signed the pact in Cremona in March 1167 which established the Lombard League, or in an Alberto da Giussano mentioned in an appeal of 1196 presented to Pope Celestine III on the administration of the church-hospital of San Sempliciano. These, however, are all weak identifications, given that they lack clear and convincing historical confirmation.[65][68]
See also
- National Institute of Statistics (Italy)
- NUTS statistical regions of Italy
- Italian NUTS level 1 regions:
- Central Italy
- Southern Italy
- Padanian nationalism
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