Introduction to the region: Piemonte

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The region has a lot to offer in terms of countryside, particularly for visits to the northwestern wine country of Italy, but the etymology of the name actually refers to the omnipresent mountains, as Piemonte means “at the foot of the mountains.”  

A panoramic view from the town of Barbaresco in the Langhe with the Alps, in particular, the Monviso, perhaps the inspiration for the ‘paramount pictures’ mountain in view

This region also ranks second in size; only the island of Sicilia is bigger. The small region of Valle D'Aosta rests on top and the crescent-shaped region of Liguria supports it from below. Piemonte also reaches around the region of Aosta and borders both France and Switzerland, which is important in terms of shared Alpine culture. Again, there is certainly a compelling argument for taking sufficient time to explore the region in full or pairing a visit with the underrated and slighter upstairs neighbor, Valle D’Aosta.

In addition to food and wine (read more in this post), Piemonte is also a region associated with industry.  Along with Genova and Milano, Torino “forms part of the great industrial triangle of northern Italy,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The car company FIAT is one of the most prominent companies out of Torino. I recommend the compelling documentary called Agnelli about the founding family, particularly focused on Gianni, who became the president of the company in 1966 and had the reputation of a ‘Don Giovanni’. Even the name FIAT itself has a connection to the city of Torino as the acronym stands for ‘Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino’ (Italian automobile factory, Turin).

To make another connection, Agnelli himself was well connected with the also legendary Italian football club from this region: Juventus. ‘Juve’ continues to garner much local and international attention. One of the aspects I find most interesting, mostly for the connection to Italian migration history is that many loyal supporters come from southern regions such as Calabria. Yet, if you consider the history, the mass migration of workers have moved (and continue to move) from these rural southern regions to the industrialized northern cities over the last sixty years. The term ‘Italian economic miracle’ is applied to the economic ‘boom’ that occurred after World War Two and spurred much of this northern migration. To illustrate, I read a statistic that attested one out of three calabresi, or about 30% of them, supported Juventus.