The Region stretches on the buttress of a great Alpine arc: Maritime, Cotian, Graian, Pennine Alps and a little part of the Lepontine Alps. It includes two large hilly areas, the Langhe and the Monferrato. The Po river has its source in Piedmont. The region is crossed by several Alpine streams flowing into the Po. Many Alpine lakes, with those of the morainic area of the Canavese, dot the region. In the eastern part, we find two bigger lakes: Lago Maggiore and Lago d'Orta.

Cities: The regional capital is Turin. Other important cities are: Asti, (...)

The Region stretches on the buttress of a great Alpine arc: Maritime, Cotian, Graian, Pennine Alps and a little part of the Lepontine Alps. It includes two large hilly areas, the Langhe and the Monferrato. The Po river has its source in Piedmont. The region is crossed by several Alpine streams flowing into the Po. Many Alpine lakes, with those of the morainic area of the Canavese, dot the region. In the eastern part, we find two bigger lakes: Lago Maggiore and Lago d'Orta.

Cities: The regional capital is Turin. Other important cities are: Asti, Alessandria, Cuneo, Novara, Vercelli, Biellaand Verbania.     

Art:     

In Turin and in Susa interesting traces of the Roman Age can be found. The religious Romanesque-Gothic architecture is remarkable: splendid examples are the Abbey of Vezzolano, the Sacra di San Michele, the Abbey of Staffarda, St. Antonio di Ranverso, St. Andrea in Vercelliand other churches in Saluzzo, Chieri and Ciriè. The Baroque style has greatly influenced the appearance of most Piedmontese cities, especially in Turin, capital of Dukedom of Savoy: Palazzo Carignano, Palazzo Madama, the majestic Castle of Stupinigi, the basilica of Superga, which rises on a hill near Turin are outstanding examples.   

Museums:     

In Turin the visitors should not miss a visit to the Royal Armory, one of the richest in Europe; the Egyptian Museum, the second most important in the world after the one in Cairo, with the precious remains of the ancient civilization, which built the Pyramids. The Sabauda Gallery houses pictorial works of the Piedmontese, Dutch and Flemish schools, as well as some valuable works of the great Tuscans, such as the Beato Angelico and the Pollaiolo. In Vercellithe Borgogna Museum, which houses the works of the local Renaissance painters; in Alessandriathe Civic Museum and the Pinacoteca deserve a visit. Asti's art-gallery houses both fifteenth-century and eighteenth-nineteenth century paintings. Cuneo's Civic Museum is especially reserved to the local history and artistic tradition. In Novara an interesting Epigraphic Museum can be seen in the fifteenth-century cloister of the Cathedral.   

To be visited:     

The great ski centers of Sestrière, Bardonecchia, Sansicario; the district of the Langhe and the Lakes Orta and Maggiore.