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Liguria is a region of north-western Italy; its capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennines mountain range and is roughly coextensive with the former territory of the Republic of Genoa. Liguria is bordered by France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea, and has a population of 1,557,533. The region is part of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion. The narrow strip of land is bordered by the sea, the Alps and the Apennine Mountains. Some mountains rise above 2,000 m (6,600 ft); the watershed line runs at an average altitude of about 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The highest point of the region is the summit of Monte Saccarello (2,201 m, 7,221 ft). Liguria is the third smallest italian region after Aosta Valley and Molise, but is also one of the most densely populated. However, there is much difference between inland mountain areas and coastal areas. The region is crossed east to west by the Ligurian Alps and the Ligurian Apennines with form an interrupted chain, but discontinuous in its morphology, with stretches where the Alpine/Apennine ridge is extremely compact and high aligning very high mountain groups (north to Ventimiglia, a series of massifs which became French after the Second World War, rises up to altitudes of 2700-3000 m) while in other stretches (for example in the hinterland of Savona and Genoa) the mountain barrier is not very high and deeply crossed by short valleys and passes that do not reach 500 m above sea level (Bochetta di Altare, Passo dei Giovi, Crocetta d'Orero). The winding arched extension goes from Ventimiglia to La Spezia. The continental shelf is very narrow and so steep it descends almost immediately to considerable depths along its 350-kilometre (220 mi) coastline. Except for the Portovenere and Portofino promontories, the coast is generally not very jagged and is often high. At the mouths of the biggest watercourses are small beaches, but there are no deep bays and natural harbours except at Genoa and La Spezia. The hills lying immediately beyond the coast together with the sea account for a mild climate year-round. Rainfall can be abundant at times, as mountains very close to the coast create an orographic effect. Genoa and La Spezia can see up to 2,000 mm (80 in) of rain in a year; other areas instead show the normal Mediterranean rainfall of 500 to 800 mm (20 to 30 in) annually.

Piedmont is a region in northwest Italy, one of the 20 regions of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east and the Aosta Valley region to the northwest; it also borders Switzerland to the northeast and France to the west. It has an area of 25,402 km2 (9,808 sq mi) making it the second largest region of Italy after Sicily and a population of 4,322,805 as of 30 June 2020. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps, including Monviso, where the Po rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small part 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 regions, after Sicily. It is broadly coincident 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 drains the semicircle formed by the Alps and Apennines, which surround the region on three sides. The countryside is very diverse: from the rugged peaks of the massifs of Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso to the damp rice paddies of Vercelli and Novara, from the gentle hillsides of the Langhe, Roero and Montferrat to the plains. 7.6% of the entire territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks; one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park, between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley.

The Aosta Valley is a mountainous autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by France, to the west, Valais, Switzerland, to the north, and by Piedmont, Italy, to the south and east. The regional capital is Aosta. With a population of about 128,000 it is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. It is the only Italian region that is not subdivided into provinces (the province of Aosta was dissolved in 1945). Provincial administrative functions are provided by the regional government. The region is divided into 74 comuni (French: communes). Italian and French are the official languages, though the native population also speak Valdôtain, a dialect of Franco-Provençal. Italian is spoken as a mother tongue by 77.29% of population, Valdôtain by 17.91%, and French by 1.25%. In 2009, reportedly 50.53% of the population could speak all three languages. The Aosta Valley is an Alpine valley which with its tributary valleys includes the Italian slopes of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Gran Paradiso and the Matterhorn; its highest peak is Mont Blanc (4,810 m or 15,780 ft). This makes it the highest region in Italy by list of Italian regions by highest point.

Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres (9,206 sq mi). About 10 million people live in Lombardy, forming more than one-sixth of Italy's population, and more than a fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in the region, making it the most populous, richest and most productive region in the country. It is also one of the top regions in Europe for the same criteria. Milan's metropolitan area is the largest in Italy and the third most populated functional urban area in the EU. Lombardy is also the Italian region with most UNESCO World Heritage Sites-Italy (tied with China) having the highest number of World Heritage Sites in the world. The region is also famous for its historical figures such as Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Ambrose, Caravaggio, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Stradivari, Cesare Beccaria, Alessandro Volta, Alessandro Manzoni, and popes John XXIII and Paul VI. Lombardy contains over 300 museums of different types (e.g. ethnographic, historical, technical-scientific, artistic and naturalistic) which testify to the historical-cultural and artistic development of the region. Among the most famous ones are the National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" (Milan), the Accademia Carrara (Bergamo), the Mille Miglia, the Santa Giulia Museum (both in Brescia), the Volta Temple, the Villa Olmo (both in Como), the Stradivari Museum (Cremona), the Palazzo Te (Mantua), the Museum Sacred Art of the Nativity, the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta (both in Gandino), and the Royal Villa of Monza (Monza).



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