PIEDMONT, or PIEMONT (Fr. pied, foot, mon& mountain). an Italian principality. which now forms the n.w. part of the kingdom of Italy, is inclosed mostly by natural boundaries, having on the n. the Pennine Alps, on the w. the Graian and Cottimi Alps. on the s. the Maritime Alps and Genoa. and on the e. the Ticino and the duchy of Parma. It includes the former duchy of Montferrat, which lies in its south-eastern corner. what was the Sardinian portion of the old duchy of Milan. and contains 11,777 English sq.m., with a population (1871) of 2,809.564. The mountain ranges which form its boundary on the n., w.. and s. attain, in various places, a great elevation above the sea; the Col de Tende, Monte Viso, Mont Cenis, Mont Iseran, Mont Blanc. Mont St. Bernard, Mont Cervin, Monte Rosa, and the Simplon being all on the boundary line. As to its general character, the country is partly mountainous, partly hilly, and much diversified with hill and dale; the ranges which traverse the country being spurs from the alpine boundary, and converging towards the central tract. through which flow the Po and its chief tributary, the Tanaro. The valleys which separate these ranges are all watered by rivers which take their rise in the Alps, and pon• their supplies into either the Po or the Tanaro, according as they come from the n. and w., or from the s. The amount of the water supply in to may be imagined when it i5 considered that in Piedmont the Po recciVes no fewer than 10 tributaries on the left, and 6 on the ri..:111, all of them of considerable size, and some of them, as the Tanaro and Dora Thdtea, worthy of being classed as rivers. The valleys of the Po and Tanaro are exceedingly rich and fertile. producing abundant crops of grain, pulse. hemp, chestnuts, olives, and many kinds of fruit. Maize and bailey are the chief cereals, the former loin!" the ordi nary article,of food to the inhabitants, while abundant herds of swine are fed upon the latter. The climate is mild in winter; but in summer, especially on the level country e. of the Dora Baltea and the Tanana, the heat Is sccrching, and this portion would be rendered a perfect sandy deserkwere it not for the complete system of irrigation. which :applies moisture to more than half a million of acres, and renders the eastern districts the granary of the country. So valuable is the privilege of using the water of rivers as a means of irrigation, that a considerable tax is levied upon it. The other products of
Piedmont are wine and silk, which are,produced in great abundance, especially silk, which is the best in Italy, and is generally exported raw. The chief manufactures are silk: linen, woolen, and cotton goods. hosiery, paper, leather, cutlery, various fer menfed liquors. glass, and iron. The inhabitants are active and industrious, and mostly belong to the Roman 'Catholic religion, but are more tolerant than in other parts of Italy. The Vaudois or Waldenses (q.v.), have from time immemorial inhabited the wild vales at the foot of the Coition Alps. in the western corner of the princip.ility. Many of the Piedmontese. like the Swiss and Tyrolese, spend their youth and early manhood in traveling through other countries as dealers in engravings. jewelry, and other articles of merchandise, and returning with a small hoard spent the rest of their days in comfort in their native land.
Piedmont, in the 10th c., was possessed by the marquises of Susa, Ivrea, Montferrat, and Saluzzo; and it was not till when, a century afterwards, the marquisate of Suss. passed into the house of Savoy, that the latter, then counts of the Maurienne (the s. por tion of Savoy), gained it footing in the country. At the commencement of the 12th c. the possessions of the house of Savoy were divided, and the lines of Savoy and Pied moot formed; but they were again united, in 1416, by Amadeus VIII. (afterwards pope Felix V.), who, in the year obtained from the emperor Sigismund the ti: he of duke of Savoy, which they exchanged for that of king in 1684. During the Spanish Ivar of succession, Piedmont was increased by the addition of the provinces of Ales. saudria, Valence, Lomellino, and the Val di Sesia (1703), by Tortoni and Novara in 1735 36, and by Vigevanase add Bobbio in 1743. In 1796 it was seized by the French and parceled out into six departments, five being incorporated with France, and one with the kingdom of Italy; but after the fall of Napoleon the house of Savoy recovered pos session of it. See ITALY, SARDINIA, SAVOY. Since 1860 the name Piedmont, as a provincial designation, has been disused; and Piedmont proper is now divided into the provinces of Alessandria, Coni or Cuneo, Novara, and Turin.