PIEDMONT (pi-ad'rnont), is a territorial division of north Italy, enclosed on all sides except towards the Lombard plain by the vast semicircle of the Pennine, Graian, Cottian, Mari time and Ligurian Alps. In 1859 it was divided into the four provinces of Alessandria, Cuneo, Novara and Torino (Turin) to which Aosta and Vercelli were added in 1927. It has an area of 11,340 sq.m. The people are chiefly engaged in agriculture— which is helped by irrigation. In 1927, the products were: Many are also occupied in the reeling and throwing of silk and in the manufacture of cotton (no fewer than 5o,000 workers, of whom 37,000 are women), woollens and clothing; there are also considerable manufactures at Turin, Savigliano, etc. The Piedmontese dialect has been rather strongly influenced by French. The total population of Piedmont was in 1901 3,407,493, in 1931, 3.497,799. There are numerous summer resorts in the
Alpine valleys. The chief railway centres are Turin, communi cating with the Mont Cenis line, and with the Riviera by the railway over the Col di Tenda (in process of construction). The communications with Liguria are difficult owing to the approach of the mountains to the coast, but the electrification of the lines from Genoa to Turin and Milan has greatly improved the travelling f a cilities of this region.