Toscana

Emilia Romagna

Region formed from 9 provinces: Bologna, Ferrara, Forlì, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ravenna, Reggio in the Emilia, Rimini.   

In the II century a.C. he/she was built in honor of the consul Roman Facetious Mark Emilio a road that connected Rimini to Piacenza and it called Aemilia. From this road the name has been given to the Region. In the You century AD the Romans lost this territory that was divided between the Longobardis and the Byzantines respectively calling these earths Longobardia and Romania. The zone of actual Romagna was of Byzantine dominion. With the unity of Italy, to the Region the native name of Emilia was given back. Only in 1947 the actual name of Emilia Romagna has been assigned. 

In the southern part of the Region there are the mountains appenniniche, not very tall, formed by friable rocks and easily eroded by the waters, with frequent landslides and rents you plough in the rock. The line of the Appennino Ligure confines with the Maggioresca Mountain (1799 ms.). The Appennino Tosco-Emiliano is seen how a faded mountainous chain, in which a lot of furrows and inlets depart in direction of the Po. The most important tops are the Cimone Mountain and the Cusna Mountain that overcome of few the 2000 ms. Her various section of Appennino they take the name of the bordering provincies as the Appennino Piacentino, Parmense, Reggiano Modenese, Bolognese, Romagnolo. Some passes connect the Emilia Romagna with Tuscany and the Liguria. Among those Tuscans we remember the Footstep of the Cisa, the Footstep Cerretto, the Footstep of the Abetone, the Footstep of the Futa; the most important footstep that brings in Liguria is Footstep of One hundred Crosses. The lowland, is formed from the southern part of the Lowland Padana. From west toward east the lowland goes widening more and more himself/herself/itself, thin to reach the adriatic coast with a greater width of that lombardo-Venetian. The earths of this lowland are very fertile. 

The conformation of the Region he introduces uniform a two completely different sections the one from the other: her before, situated in the southern part of the Region, it is all mountainous and hilly; the second, that northern, is all level. The mountain is characterized by a sense of abandonment and loneliness, putting himself/herself/itself in clean contrast with the nature that instead he introduces very inhabited, rich of various cultivations, with roads full of traffic and with different rivers and channels that can irrigate the country. The orchards are cultivated to loss of eye and the fields with the old farms they embellish these colored landscapes. Also on the adriatic shore we find two conflicting aspects: that wild and silent of the valleys and of the lagoons and that of the beaches overcrowded that a lot of tourist structures along the coastal shore. 

The agriculture of the Region is among the most advanced of Italy. we Find a great variety of products and a particular abundance of some of them. This record is owed to the favorable geographical and climatic position and also because modern techniques of cultivation and organization of sale of the same are used. The prosperous Emilia Romagna in the crops of wheat and sugar beets; to the vertexes of the production of rice, bowline, wine and fruit. Just in the sector of the fruit big cultivations are those of peaches, plums, ciliege, apricots and pears. In the sector vinicolos there are some wines pregiatissimi as the Lambrusco, St. Giovese, the Albana. Among the vegetables notable quantities of onions, peas and tomatoes are had. They are cultivated besides the hemp and the flax. The most practiced breeding is that of cattle and swines. The Emilia Romagna produces a fifth of the national product of the butchered livestock and an order of the milk. The pig meat is used for the production of meats. From the milk traditional cheeses are produced: nuisance and parmesan cheese. The breeding of chickens is also developed. The most intense zone in the activity of the fishing is that of the Valleys of Comacchio, where they are raised and the eels are fished. The fishing of sea furnishes above all blue fish.

Marche

Region formed from 4 provinces: Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, Pesaro and Urbino   

Still before the arrival of the Romans, they lived the Region the Picenis, a population of italic origin, in the hills and the Roosters Senoni confined along the coastal shore. With the conquests from the Romans this zone was called, preserving the name from the tenants, Picenum. Wanted us around ten centuries because Brands you/he/she could be called. In the German ancient language 'Mark' it means region of border. In fact the Brands became zone of border with the Sacred Romano Impero. The feuds of that the emperors gave to the noble to conduct called marchesati, from which you/they took the name the Brand of Fano, the Brand of Camerino, the Brand in Ancona. Here explained the reason for the why today also being one 

The Brands are crossed by the Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano, where you/he/she is separated to Pitchfork Capine, from the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano. In the northern territory the tallest tops don't overcome the 2000 ms, but going down toward south we find the chain of the Sibylline Mountains, with the Vector Mountain that is taller peak of the Region (2478 ms.). The desolate landscape introduces him with bare mountainous expanses of vegetation, where they sprout the naked calcareous rocks, together with small zones of bushes, interrupted from some wood. The zone hilly form a wide territorial band from the 20 to 30 kms from the coast.  

The height of the hills wanders around the 400 ms because of the water that has corroded the calcareous and clayey rocks of the mountains for years; we often find some zones with frequent gradients irregular and small scattered valleys 

In the Appennino we find many passes that allow the passage Umbria. The most important are the Footstep of the Splinter, the Mouth Serriola, the Ditch of Vico and the Colfiorito. The adriatic shore bathes the coast for around 170 kms; introduces him in a flat and rectilinear panorama, with the sandy beaches and ciottolate. The only point where you/he/she is interrupted, it is that of the promontory of the Conero Mountain (572 ms.). In this point of the coast a small gulf is formed, in which the is developed I bring of Ancona 

The territory is essentially mountainous hilly for a bystander of the Region. The impression of these mountains is that they seem is taut from an enormous comb toward the adriatic coast, leaving some depths parallel furrows. Going down from the tallest slant there is the hilly zone where small villages both medioevali are built how modern, isolated agricultural houses, military stations and sacred buildings. The hilly part goes down really up to the coast where him puè to notice a small level strip. In the Brands they don't exist any real lowlands, but of the very great piece of ground not, shed in the adriatic shore

Friuli Venezia Julia

Piedmont

Region formed from 8 provinces: Alessandria, Biella, Asti, Cuneo, Novara, Torino, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Vercelli 

The Region owes the name that brings to the fact to geographically be  speaking "to the feet of the mountains". In the Middle Ages it was begun to already call in this way a portion of territory level place to the feet of the alpine mountains. After sometime the same name he/she remained for pointing out a vast territory, that is that actual. 

The Piedmont is touched by the Appennino Ligure, from the Alps Marittime, from the Alps Cozie that they understand the peak of the Monviso, from the Alps Graie with the Group of the Gran Paradiso and of the Monte Bianco , from the Alps Pennine with the Cervino and the Monte Rosa and from the Alps Lepontine that they extend him in the oriental part of the Piedmont. A group of low hills they go down him from the Appennino Ligure toward the north, actually to the Po. They are the Hills of the Langhe rich in orchards, the Monferrato rich in vineyards and the hills in Turin.  

To see it from the lowland, the alpine wall that mends the region it seems unapproachable and insuperable; then passing for the narrow gullies him actually reaches the footsteps, or you crosses that connect the Piedmont and France. 

In Piedmont the crop most important it is that of the rice, of the maize, of the wheat, of some vegetables and of the fruit. The production of the wine is modest but of quality. We remember some qualities appreciated of the Piedmontese productions: Barbera, Barbaresco, Barolo, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Grignolino. The abundance of the natural pastures allows the breeding of livestock, above all cattle. You produces therefore a considerable quantity of meat, of butter and of cheese. 

The industry most important it is that auto (Fiat with the production of motorcars, trailer trucks, trucks, bus, tractors, airplanes, railway carriages, locomotor), the mechanical industry (cars for the office, calculators, electronic instruments for the computer science), the chemical industry (rubbers, artificial and synthetic fibers, produced pharmaceutical, produced alimentary and vinicoli) and finally the industries of the cement, of the paper and of the tanning of the skins 

Sicilia

Region formed from 9 provinces: Agrigento, Caltanisetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Siracusa, Trapani 

The ancient inhabitants, the Sicanis, called this Region Sicania. When you/he/she was colonized by the Greek Trinachia you/he/she was denominated, for the triangular form that belonged her. The name Sicily the takings from the people of the Siculis. 

The most greater part of the territory is mountainous. In the northern zone it is situated the Appennino Siculo, that divides him in the three well separate zones: the Peloritani Mountains from which the violent floods go down, the Nebrodi Mountains (or Caronie) partly covered from a miserable brushwood and with round tops and the Madonies, where the tallest tops are found: the Pizzo Carbonara grazes the 2000 ms. The rest of the island doesn't have other mountainous chains, but of the single detached reliefs. In the western zone the Ghibellini Mountains are found. In the center-southern part there am the highland Solfifero and the Erei Mountains; in the oriental south zone there are the Iblei Mountains where the volcano of the Etna is found. The Etna is still one of the volcanos you activate greater than the world. Its terminal cone reaches the 3269 ms. and big part of the year has covered from the snows. Some level zones are found near Trapani, Marsala and Palermo, where the fertile gold Basin rises. 

To the feet of the Etna the Plain one is found of Catania, which is the vast of the whole island.  

The coasts are tall and jagged in the coastal tirrenico, they are low and in some point swampy in the oriental part of the island, while in the southern part it is sandy with dunes in some lines and swamps in others. Of Sicily makes part the archipelago of the Islands Eolie or Lipari that it is found to north of the gulf of Milazzo. The islands that constitute the archipelago are: Lipari, Salina, Panarea, Alicudi and Filicudi, Volcano and Stromboli. The last two mention they are still of the active volcanos. Instead the archipelago of the Egadis is found offshore the western coast. The island most important it is Favignana. In the Sea of Sicily Pantelleria and the Islands Pelagies are found with Linosa and Lampedusa. In the waters of the Tyrrhenian the island of Ustica rises. 

Sicily proposes the most conflicting aspects of all the Italian Regions. Expanses of fields of wheat and sterile hills, arid zones and luxuriant gardens, the snows of the volcano and the torrid heat of the coast can be found, great cities urban and depressing isolated countries. In the zone delimited by Palermo, Messina and Syracuse it grows thick the most greater part of the population sicula. This zone is very rich of vegetation; it includes the tallest mountains and the longest rivers, but it is also the rainiest zone. To south of this triangle, in the southern part of the island, we find some very dry territories where they get depressed the African warm winds. 

Agriculture is developed especially in the coastal lowlands. The principal products that are cultivated I am: wheat, cereals generally, citrus fruit, life, ulivo, fruit, vegetables and vegetables. Very important it is the production of oil and wine; above all of the wines liquorosi as the Marsala, the Muscat one of Syracuse and the Passito of Pantelleria. Cultivated intensely I am the almond tree, the core, the fig tree. The cotton is cultivated also. The breeding in Sicily is not very developed: the pastorizia is more and more in diminution and that of the cattle it is scarce because of the lack of forage. The production of good cheeses is always tied up to the breeding. it fishes her it is very flourishing, both that of the pescespada in the Gulf in Messina, and that of high ground with the blue fish, tuna, molluscs and shellfishes. The harbors where the fishing assembles more him they are those of Mazara del Vallo and of Sciacca. 

Umbria

Region formed from two provinces: Perugia and Terni.

Originally in this Region two ancient italic people lived: the Umbri and the Etruschi. To the Roman epoch of the August emperor, that determined the confinements, this Region extended him up to the adriatic coast of the Brands and to west  left the zone of the Lake Trasimeno. After the fall of the empire Romano the Region was divided between the Longobardi and the Byzantines. In the time these zones remained always uniforms in so many small states, among which you/they became the Dominions of the Monferrato and the Malatesta very powerful. 

The most greater mountainous chain in Umbria is given by the Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano, situated to the border with the Brands. The expanse of the Appennino extends him from the pass of the Bocca Trabaria to Forca Carpine  up to climb to the Monti Sibillini, in which we find the tallest peak that is the Vector Mountain with its 2478 mt; going down toward the basin of the Lake Trasimeno and the valley of the Tevere they are found steep walls and tops very you round off. Over the Tevere, parallel to the mountains of the Antiappennino tosco-laziale, other less important mountainous chains are found and not very tall that limit the border of south and southeast. Among the high ground appenniniche and those antiappenniniche, find numerous greater basins, almost level. The principal level zones are the valley of the Tevere called Val Tiberina and the Valley Umbra, crossed by the rivers Topino, Clitunno and Chiascio. The valley of the zone of the Tevere is born very narrow and disconnected, but after Perugia it is regularized and it extends him in ample green lawns. The other more important level zones are the basins of Cascia, Norcia, Gubbio, Terni and Gualdo Tadino. These zones are very fertile and they are surrounded from hills. In the past these basins were of the lakes. 

Dipped in the mountains of the Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano we find the predominantly hilly and verdant territory of Umbria. the whole zone introduces him with a to follow him of wide irregular valleys that compose a green undulated panorama; for this motive you/he/she is called 'green Umbria'. In the territory umbro flows the Tevere with its prepared tributaries both to the right and to the left; the tributaries are fed to them it turns from streams and sources, that appear on the surface to the feet of the mountains and that thanks to the calcareous composition they allow to filter the water that goes down from the subsoil, before come in surface. The extraordinary vegetation is given by the abundant water of the subsoil. 

Characteristic of this green panorama is the presence of numerous sanctuaries, that faith testifies since the times most distant of the population and the castles medioeval that makes to imagine the fierce struggles and the rivalries of the rich ones.  

During the sixth century CE, the Longobardi occupied most of the peninsula and called their occupied territory Longobardia. Later, the name changed to Lombardia. 

The Lombarde mountains belong to the mountain chain of the Alps and the Prealps except for the Ottrepo Pavese which are part of the Appennines. The area of the Lepontine and Retiche Alps belong to the region of Lombardia. The Retiche Alps extend from the foot of the Spluga to the foot of Resia, with towering heights and numerous glaciers. At the Swiss border, we find the Bernina group of mountains of which the highest mountaintop is at the 4049 m. level, and on the Alto Adige/ Trentino border, we find the dense chain of the Ortles and  the Addamello.  Valtellina divides the Orobiche Alps from the Retiche Alps. 

Significant valleys can be found coming down from the Orobiche Alps.  As follows, the Val Camonica, the Val Brembana, the Val Seriana and the Val di Trompia. 

The Prealpi extending between two lakes, the Lago Maggiore and the Lago di Garda, are  covered with green pastures and woods, the Grigne, la Presolana and the Resegone areas. The Lombardy passes are of great importance for traffic with foreign countries and for communication with Alto Adige. The principal passes are: Passo dello Spluga  that brings one to the Canton of Grigioni in Switzerland, that of the Stelvio, the tallest in  Europe, that connects the Valtellina with the Val Venosta in Alto Adige and the Passo Tonale that connects to the Val Camonica in Trentino. The central part of the Pianura Padana belongs to Lombardy, which gently descends down toward the sea thus slowing down gently all water sources flowing there. The composition of the earth is excellent for   an intense agriculture in the south, along the Po, where the ground is like clay and quite impermeable. This makes the water flow nicely into the earth surface irrigating the various crops. In the prealp zones, however, the ground is like gravel, meaning that water is not absorbed and as a result, the ground is very dry, arid and not at all fertile.

In the upper lowlands, cultivation of sugar beets, potatoes and corn is feasible as such crops do not require very fertile grounds. 

Sardinia

Region formed from 4 provinces: Cagliari, Nuoro, Oristano, Sassari 

The name derives from the ancient people that lived here: the Sardinians. Colonized first by the Phoenicians , then by the Greeks, these groups gave Sardinia its name as its geographic form resembles the shape of a human foot. 

The mountainous territory is constituted to the north by the Limbara Mountains, while in the central region rises the thick expanse of the Gennargentu Mountains. The highest peak is the Punta La Marmora. Separated, on the west, we find the Mountains of Alà, of Goceano, of Margine and other smaller mountain chains. On the southern part of the island are the Mountains of the Inglesiente and the Sulcis where we find lead and zinc mines. On the northern end of the island, the coasts are rocky, while the western and southern coasts are low and sandy, in part quite marshy.

 Four dark Sardinians - coat of arms of the region 

Puglia

Region formed from 5 provinces: Bari, Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce and Taranto. 

In ancient times, people that populated these lands were called Apuli. This is where the name of the region Abuglia originated. Subsequently, it was changed to Puglia. During Roman times, the authorities gave the name Apulia and Calabria to these areas, because at that time the Peninsula Salentina was still called Calabria. 

A mountainous region rises along the border of Campania and Molise, namely the Dàunia mountains that rise over 1100 meters. The Gargano promontory is covered with the enchanting woods of the Umbra Forest. In the northern part, it descends to the lakes of Lesina and Varano. On its southern slope, it goes down quite rapidly towards the Adriatic Sea and the Tavoliere of the Puglie that is a large expanse of lowland, ploughed through by rivers and streams. Much of the marshlands have been worked to make them arable land. To the south of the Tavoliere, the Murgie rise, that are undulated highlands deprived of water and from carsica composition. 

Always in the Murgie, the famous Caves of Castellano are found. While the Salento has the same nature profile of the Murgie, it is less fertile. The coasts are marshy in the nearby areas of the coastal lakes. Generally, they are low and sandy except for a brief strait of the promontory of the Gargano where it is high and very steep. The coastal shore is quite uniform. Its linearity is interrupted by the Gulf of Manfredonia where the Gargano mountains rise and by the natural harbors of Taranto, Brindisi and Capo d’Otranto. 

Puglia is a major producer of oil, wine and table grapes. Also, the production of oats, vegetables, almonds, wheat, fig trees, tobacco and sugar beets is of great importance for the area.

Abruzzo

Region made up of  4 provinces: Chieti, L'Aquila, Pescara, Teramo.

The region took on the name Abruzzo from the Latin Aprutium, in the Middle Ages, then subsequently during the period of the Kingdom of Naples, it was separated into two parts: Abruzzo Ulteriore and Abruzzo Citeriore. In 1860, with the unification of Italy, Molise became annexed to Abruzzo, at which point the region became called Abruzzi e Molise.  In 1963, they again were separated regions.

The region is predominantly mountainous and hilly until one goes down to the east where we find  the level coast. The Appennines are covered with desolate grasslands and woods with little vegetation. The hilly landscape changes, giving life to green expanses and to rich springs of water. Further panorama is that found on the coastal plains where within 50 km is found the Appennine landscape.

National parks to be noted are the national Park of Abruzzo, national Park of the Gran Sasso and mountains of the Laga and the national Park of the Maiella.