1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
2.
World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
San Marzano Oliveto
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San Marzano Oliveto is a comune in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 kilometres southeast of Turin and about 20 kilometres southeast of Asti. San Marzano Oliveto is located in a panoramic position 300 metres above sea level and it is easily visible from the SS6 road that runs from Canelli to Asti. San Marzano was named after St. Marcian of Tortona, the first Bishop of Tortona, the suffix Oliveto was added in 1862 because olives were said to have prospered there in ancient times. The first human settlers to the area came from Liguria, but the first extant buildings, tradition has it that the four towers, now collapsed, of the present castle were built by the Romans. The history of San Marzano, like that of Moasca, Calamandrana, Rocchetta Tanaro, all were involved in the struggle between Asti, Alessandria and the Marquisate of Montferrat. From the mid-14th century San Marzano Oliveto was a fief of the Asinari, in 1280 Bonifacio Asinari, a rich merchant from Asti, left his wealth to his children, Bonifacio and Tommaso, who subsequently became the owners of San Marzano. In 1771, Philip Valentino Asinari became the first Marquis of San Marzano and Caraglio, his son Filippo Maria Antonio became a State Councilor, in 1808 he became a Count of the Empire, and then in 1813 a senator and regent of Piedmont. During the Second World War, partisan resistance began earlier in San Marzano Oliveto than in other comuni in the region. On 24 and 25 December 1943, arriving first from Nizza Monferrato and later from Asti, soldiers of the Republic of Salò combed the area, no partisans were found, but four hostages were taken and sent to Asti. The old emblem of the municipality is formed by a crenellated tower and it incorporates the coat of arms of the Asinari family, lords of San Marzano between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cited by Alfieri as San Marzano of Acquosana, the first documents mention the castle date from the birth of the Contado of Acquosana - the ancient territory of Acqui Terme. The castle, probably of Roman origin, has a tower that was added by the Asinari family. The tower has four square crenellations, one in each corner, after the Spanish occupation of 1655, the castle returned to Asinari control. It was subsequently transformed into a country residence, the town hall dates from 1889. It is a building that houses local government offices, a primary school. The Parish Church of San Marziano was built in classic Renaissance style with a nave, presbytery. Located in front of the castle, it was founded in the century, enlarged from 1758 to 1763. The economy of San Marzano Oliveto is based on agriculture, the arable land constitutes 75% of the total area, about 300 people are engaged in agricultural work
5.
Monte Viso
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Monte Viso or Monviso, is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps. It is located in Italy close to the French border, on a very clear day it can be seen from the spires of the Milan Cathedral. It has been suggested that Monte Viso could be one of the mountains which inspired the Paramount logo, in Italy is also known as Il Re di Pietra because of his prominence within western Italian Alps landscape. On the northern slopes of Monte Viso are the headwaters of the Po, the longest Italian river, the Monviso group is surrounded by the Valle Po, Valle Varaita and, on the French side, the Guil valley. Its productivity peaked around 5000 BC, the jadeite was used to make cult axes, which are found all over western Europe. In ancient times the mountain was known as Vesulus, Monte Viso was climbed for the first time on August 30,1861 by William Mathews, Frederick Jacomb, Jean-Baptiste Croz and Michel Croz. Monte Viso is mentioned by authors, Italian and non-, including Dante, Petrarch. List of Alpine peaks by prominence Monte Viso tunnel McLewin, Will, in Monte Viso’s Horizon, Climbing All the Alpine 4000m Peaks
6.
Piemontese language
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Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 1 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Gallo-Italic languages group of Northern Italy and it is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, which also includes French, Occitan, and Catalan. Today it has an official status recognized by the Piedmont regional government. Piedmontese was the first language of emigrants who, in the period from 1850 to 1950, left Piedmont for countries such as France, Brazil, The United States, Argentina, and Uruguay. The first documents in the Piedmontese language were written in the 12th century, the sermones subalpini, literary Piedmontese developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it did not gain literary esteem comparable to that of French or Italian, other languages used in Piedmont. Nevertheless, literature in Piedmontese has never ceased to be produced, it includes poetry, theatre pieces, novels, in 2004, Piedmontese was recognised as Piedmonts regional language by the regional parliament, although the Italian government has not yet recognised it as such. In theory it is now supposed to be taught to children in school, the last decade has seen the publication of learning materials for schoolchildren, as well as general-public magazines. Courses for people already outside the system have also been developed. On the other hand, the survey showed Piedmontese is still spoken by over half the population. Authoritative sources confirm this result, putting the figure between 2 million and 3 million speakers out of a population of 4.2 million people, efforts to make it one of the official languages of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics were unsuccessful. Piedmontese is written with a modified Latin alphabet, the letters, along with their IPA equivalent are shown in the table below. Certain digraphs are used to represent specific sounds as shown below. All other combinations of letters are pronounced as written, grave accent marks break diphthongs, so ua and uà are /wa/, but ùa is pronounced separately, /ˈya/. Verbal pronouns are absent only in the form and in the Piedmontese interrogative form. The bound form of pronouns, which can be connected to dative and locative particles. The existence of three affirmative interjections, si, sè, é, òj, the absence of the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, for which an alveolar S sound is usually substituted. The existence of an S-C combination pronounced, the existence of a velar nasal, which usually precedes a vowel, as in lun-a moon. The existence of the third Piedmontese vowel Ë, which is very short, the absence of the phonological contrast that exists in Italian between short and long consonants, for example, Italian fata fairy and fatta done
7.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
8.
Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population and it borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43. 3% mountainous, along with areas of hills. Piedmont is the second largest of Italys 20 regions, after Sicily and 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 collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains which surround the region on three sides, from the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, and then to the upper, and then to the lower great Padan Plain. 7. 6% of the territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks, one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park located between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later subdued by the Romans, who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks. In the 9th–10th centuries there were incursions by the Magyars. At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks, in 1046, Oddo of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry. Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni of Asti and Alessandria, the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic, the Piedmontese Republic, existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops, in June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802, in the congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italys unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821 and this process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation. However, the efforts were countered by the efforts of rural farmers
9.
Province of Alessandria
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The Province of Alessandria is an Italian province, with a population of some 430,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The provincial capital is the city of Alessandria, with an area of 3,560 square kilometres it is the third largest province of Piedmont after those of Cuneo and Turin. To the north it borders on the Province of Vercelli and to the west on the provinces of Turin and it shares its southern border with Liguria. Its south-east corner touches the Province of Piacenza in Emilia Romagna, the province was created by the Royal Decree n. In 1935 the area of Asti was established as the separate Province of Asti, there are 190 communes in the province The Sacred Mountain of Crea is a Roman Catholic Devotional Complex in the comune of Serralunga di Crea, near Alessandria. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy and its construction was begun in 1589, around a former Sanctuary of St. Mary whose creation is traditionally attributed to Saint Eusebius of Vercelli around 350 AD. Laws and Statutes of the Carpeneto commune, 15th century, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
10.
Province of Asti
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The Province of Asti is a province in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti, to the northwest it borders on the province of Turin, to the southwest it borders on the province of Cuneo. To the east it borders on the province of Alessandria, while in the south it shares a short border with the Ligurian province of Savona. It has an area of 1,504.5 square kilometres, the Province of Asti was re-established on 1 April 1935 by Royal Decree No.297 of King Victor Emmanuel III. It was detached from the existing Province of Alessandria into which it had been absorbed upon the creation of that province in 1859. The Province of Asti is among the awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valor for its contribution to the partisan struggle during the last two years of the Second World War. There are 118 municipalities in the province
11.
Vittorio Alfieri
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Count Vittorio Alfieri was an Italian dramatist and poet, considered the founder of Italian tragedy. Alfieri was born at Asti, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Piedmont. His father died when he was young, and he was brought up by his mother. After a year at the academy, he went on a visit to a relative at Coni. During his stay there he composed a sonnet chiefly borrowed from lines in Ariosto and Metastasio, at thirteen, Alfieri began the study of civil and canonical law, but this only made him more interested in literature, particularly French romances. The death of his uncle, who had charge of his education and conduct, left him free, at the age of fourteen, to enjoy his paternal inheritance. He began to attend a riding-school, where he acquired an enthusiasm for horses, having obtained permission from the king to travel abroad, he departed in 1766, under the care of an English preceptor. In the Netherlands he fell in love with a married woman, Alfieri, depressed by the incident, returned home and again began studying literature. Plutarchs Lives inspired him with a passion for freedom and independence, in search of an ideal world, Alfieri passed quickly through various countries. During a journey to London he engaged in an intrigue with Lady Penelope Ligonier, the affair became a widely publicised scandal and ended in a divorce that ruined Lady Ligonier and forced Alfieri to leave the country. He then visited Spain and Portugal, where he acquainted with the Abbe Caluso. In 1772, Alfieri returned to Turin and this time he fell for the Marchesa Turinetti di Prie, but it was another doomed affair. When she fell ill, he spent his time dancing attendance on her, and one day wrote a dialogue or scene of a drama, which he left at her house. When the couple quarreled, the piece was returned to him, from this moment Alfieri was seized with an insatiable thirst for theatrical fame, to which he devoted the remainder of his life. His first two tragedies, Filippo and Polinice, were written in French prose. When he came to them in Italian, he found that, because of many dealings with foreigners. With the view of improving his Italian, he went to Tuscany and, during a residence at Florence and Siena, he completed Filippo and Polinice. While thus employed, he acquainted with Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, also known as the Countess of Albany
12.
Umberto Eco
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Umberto Eco OMRI was an Italian novelist, literary critic, philosopher, semiotician, and university professor. He is best known internationally for his 1980 novel Il nome della rosa, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and he later wrote other novels, including Il pendolo di Foucault and Lisola del giorno prima. His novel Il cimitero di Praga, released in 2010, topped the charts in Italy. Eco also wrote texts, childrens books, and essays. Eco was born in the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont in northern Italy and his father, Giulio, one of thirteen children, was an accountant before the government called him to serve in three wars. During World War II, Umberto and his mother, Giovanna, Eco received a Salesian education and made references to the order and its founder in his works and interviews. His family name is supposedly an acronym of ex caelis oblatus, during his university studies, Eco stopped believing in God and left the Catholic Church. After that, Eco worked as an editor for the state broadcasting station Radiotelevisione Italiana. A group of artists, painters, musicians and writers. This was especially true after the publication of his first book in 1956, Il problema estetico in San Tommaso and this also marked the beginning of his lecturing career at his alma mater. In September 1962 he married Renate Ramge, a German art teacher with whom he had a son and he divided his time between an apartment in Milan and a vacation house near Urbino. He had a 30,000 volume library in the former and he was a visiting professor at Columbia University several times in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992–1993 Eco was the Norton professor at Harvard University, six books that were authored, co-authored, or co-edited by Eco were published by the Indiana University Press. He frequently collaborated with his friend Thomas Sebeok, semiotician and Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at Indiana University and he became Satrap of the Collège de ‘Pataphysique in 2001. On 23 May 2002, Eco received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, in 2009, the University of Belgrade in Serbia awarded him an honorary doctorate. Eco was a member of the Italian skeptic organization Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sulle Pseudoscienze CICAP, Eco died at his Milanese home of pancreatic cancer, from which he had been suffering for two years, on the night of 19 February 2016. At the time of his death at the age of 84, he was a professor emeritus at the University of Bologna, in 1959 Eco published his second book, Sviluppo dellestetica medievale, on medieval philosophy. After 18 months military service in the Italian Army, he left RAI in 1959 to become the senior editor of the Bompiani publishing house in Milan
13.
Tanaro
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The Tanaro, known as Tanarus in ancient times and Tane or Tani in piedmontese language, is a 276-kilometre long river in northwestern Italy. The river begins in the Ligurian Alps, near the border with France, and is the most significant right-side tributary to the Po in terms of length, size of drainage basin, and discharge. The Tanaro proper begins in Liguria at the confluence of two streams, the sources of which are in Piedmont, the Tanarello and the Negrone. The main source of the Tanarello is on the slopes of Monte Saccarello above Monesi, the sources of the Negrone are some 10 kilometres to the north, south of Punta Marguareis and very close to the French border. The Tanaro flows past the towns Ceva, Alba, Asti, at its confluence with Po, it is longer by about 50 kilometres than the upper Po, a case similar to the famous Missouri tributary being longer than Mississippi in the United States. The main tributaries to the Tanaro are the Stura di Demonte and the Borbore from the left and the Bormida, the flow is subject to a great deal of seasonal variation. Furthermore, the Alpine zone forms only a part of the basin drained by the Tanaro, the river is highly prone to flooding. The left bank of the Tanaro River near Asti is the scene of the Battle of Pollentia on April 6,402, chapter 49, Flooding Vulnerability of a Town in the Tanaro Basin, The Case of Ceva. In V. R. Thorndycraft, G. Benito, M. Barriendos, palaeofloods, Historical Floods and Climatic Variability, Applications in Flood Risk Assessment. “The flood and landslide event of November 4–6,1994 in Piedmont Region, causes, XXII General Assembly dell’European Geophysical Society, Vienna. Elsevier Science Ltd, Vol.24, N.2, p. 123-129
14.
Po (river)
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The Po is a river that flows eastward across northern Italy. The Po flows either 652 km or 682 km – considering the length of the Maira, the headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po ends at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice and it has a drainage area of 74,000 km² in all,70,000 in Italy, of which 41,000 is in montane environments and 29,000 on the plain. The Po is the longest river in Italy, at its widest point its width is 503 m, the Po extends along the 45th parallel north. The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin, Piacenza and it is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli, which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a delta at the southern part of which is Comacchio. The Po valley was the territory of the Roman Cisalpine Gaul, divided into Cispadane Gaul, the Po begins in the Alps, and is in Italy, and flows eastward. The river is subject to heavy flooding, consequently, over half its length is controlled with argini, or dikes. The slope of the valley decreases from 0. 35% in the west to 0. 14% in the east and it is characterized by its large discharge. The vast valley around the Po is called the Po Basin or Po Valley, in 2002, more than 16 million people lived there, at the time nearly ⅓ of the population of Italy. The two main uses of the valley are for industry and for agriculture, both major uses. The industrial centres, such as Turin and Milan, are located on higher terrain and they rely for power on the numerous hydroelectric stations in or on the flanks of the Alps, and on the coal/oil power stations which use the water of the Po basin as coolant. Drainage from the north is mediated through several large, scenic lakes, the streams are now controlled by so many dams as to slow the rivers sedimentation rate, causing geologic problems. The main products of the farms around the river are cereals including – unusually for Europe – rice, the latter method is the chief consumer of surface water, while industrial and human consumption use underground water. The Po Delta wetlands have been protected by the institution of two parks in the regions in which it is situated, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The Po Delta Regional Park in Emilia-Romagna, the largest, consists of four parcels of land on the bank of the Po. Executive authority resides in an assembly of the presidents of the provinces, the mayors of the comuni and they employ a Technical-Scientific Committee and a Park Council to carry out directives. In 1999 the park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and was added to Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, the 53,653 ha of the park contain wetlands, forest, dunes and salt pans
15.
Apennine Mountains
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The Apennines or Apennine Mountains are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare, in the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. The system forms an arc enclosing the east side of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas, the name originally applied to the north Apennines. However, historical linguists have never found a derivation with which they are universally comfortable, wilhelm Deecke said. its etymology is doubtful but some derive it from the Ligurian-Celtish Pen or Ben, which means mountain peak. The mountains lend their name to the Apennine peninsula, which forms the part of Italy. They are mostly verdant, although one side of the highest peak, Corno Grande is partially covered by Calderone glacier and it has been receding since 1794. The eastern slopes down to the Adriatic Sea are steep, while the western slopes form foothills on which most of peninsular Italys cities are located. The mountains tend to be named from the province or provinces in which they are located, for example, as the provincial borders have not always been stable, this practice has resulted in some confusion about exactly where the montane borders are. Often but not always a feature can be found that lends itself to being a border. The Apennines are divided into three sectors, northern, central, and southern, a number of long hiking trails wind through the Apennines. Of note is European walking route E1 coming from northern Europe and traversing the lengths of the northern, the Grand Italian Trail begins in Trieste and after winding through the Alpine arc traverses the entire Apennine system, Sicily and Sardinia. The northern Apennines consist of three sub-chains, the Ligurian, Tuscan-Emilian, and Umbrian Apennines, the Ligurian Apennines border the Ligurian Sea in the Gulf of Genoa, from about Savona below the upper Bormida River valley to about La Spezia below the upper Magra River valley. The range follows the Gulf of Genoa separating it from the upper Po Valley, the northwestern border follows the line of the Bormida River to Acqui Terme. There the river continues northeast to Alessandria in the Po Valley, the upper Bormida can be reached by a number of roads proceeding inland at a right angle to the coast southwest of Savona, the chief one being the Autostrada Torino-Savona. They ascend to the Bocchetta di Altare, sometimes called Colle di Cadibona,436 m, a bronze plaque fixed to a stone marks the top of the pass. In the vicinity are fragments of the old road and three ruins of former fortifications, at Carcare, the main roads connect with the upper Bormida valley before turning west. The Scrivia, the Trebbia and the Taro, tributaries of the Po River, the range contains dozens of peaks. Toward the southern end the Aveto Natural Regional Park includes Monte Penna, nearby is the highest point of Ligurian Apennines, Monte Maggiorasca at 1,780 m
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Drainage divide
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A drainage divide, water divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting, is the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins. In hilly country, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a range of hills or mountains. In flat country—especially where the ground is marshy—the divide may be harder to discern, a valley floor divide is a low drainage divide that runs across a valley, sometimes created by deposition or stream capture. Settlements are often built on valley-floor divides in the Alps, examples are Eben im Pongau, Kirchberg in Tirol and Waidring. Extremely low divides with heights of less than two metres are found on the North German Plain within the Urstromtäler, for example, between Havel and Finow in the Eberswalde Urstromtal. In marsh deltas such as the Okavango, the largest drainage area on earth, or in large areas, such as the Finnish Lakeland. Another case is bifurcation, where the watershed is effectively in the river bed, in pre-industrial times, water divides were crossed at portages. Later, canals connected adjoining drainage basins, a key problem in such canals is ensuring a sufficient water supply, category, Drainage basins List of watershed topics European watershed Scottish watershed River source
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Liguria
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Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, its capital is Genoa. The region is popular with tourists for its beaches, towns, 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, the narrow strip of land is bordered by the sea, the Alps and the Apennines mountains. Some mountains rise above 2,000 m, the line runs at an average altitude of about 1,000 m. The highest point of the region is the summit of Monte Saccarello, the winding arched extension goes from Ventimiglia to La Spezia. Of this,3,524.08 km2 are mountainous and 891.95 km2 are hills, Ligurias natural reserves cover 12% of the entire region, or 600 km2 of land. They are made up of one national reserve, six large parks, the continental shelf is very narrow, and so steep it descends almost immediately to considerable marine depths along its 350-kilometre coastline. Except for the Portovenere and Portofino promontories, it is not very jagged. At the mouths of the biggest watercourses there are small beaches, the ring of hills lying immediately beyond the coast together with the sea account for a mild climate year-round. Average winter temperatures are 7 to 10 °C and summer temperatures are 23 to 24 °C, 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 of rain in a year, evidence of Neanderthals living in the area was discovered in the region of Loano, whereas in Ventimiglia, in the grotto of Balzi Rossi, numerous remains were found of Cro-Magnon. According to Classical sources, the Ligurians, once lived in a far broader territory than present-day Liguria, for example, the Greek colony of Massalia, modern Marseille was recorded to lie in Ligurian territory. During the first Punic War, the ancient Ligurians were divided, some of them siding with Carthage, under Augustus, Liguria was designated a region of Italy stretching from the coast to the banks of the Po River. The great Roman roads helped strengthen territorial unity and increase communication, important towns developed on the coast, of which evidence is left in the ruins of Albenga, Ventimiglia and Luni. Between the 4th and the 10th centuries Liguria was dominated by the Byzantines, the Lombards of King Rothari and it was also invaded by Saracen and Norman raiders. In the 10th century, once the danger of pirates decreased, in the 11th and 12th centuries the marches were split into fees, and then with the strengthening of the bishops’ power, the feudal structure began to partially weaken. The main Ligurian towns, especially on the coast, became city-states, inland, however, fiefs belonging to noble families survived for a very long time. Between the 11th century and the 15th century, the Republic of Genoa experienced a political and commercial success
