In volume I I want to show you three regions: Valle d'Aosta (Aosta Valley), Piemonte (Piedmont, where I live), and Liguria.



Valle d'Aosta (Aosta Valley)


The Aosta Valley is a mountainous Region in north-western Italy. It is bordered by France to the west, Switzerland to the north and the region of Piedmont to the south and east.
With an area of 3,263 km² and a population of about 120,000, it is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. It has only one province, also called Valle d'Aosta and is divided into 74 comunes.
Some comunes, concentrated in the valley bottomlands, are Francophone. The regional capital is Aosta/Aoste.

Italian and French are used for the regional government's acts and laws, though Italian is much more widely spoken.
The Arpitan language was once widely spoken, other than in the Aosta Valley, in the areas of Savoy, Bresse and Lyon as well as in the Jura regions of France, and the Suisse-Romande region of Switzerland.
The regional dialect is called Valdôtain or patois.
The residents of the small town of Gressoney speak a dialect of German.

More: [link]









Piemonte (Piedmont)

Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps mountain range, including the Monviso, where the Po River rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland, and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria and the Aosta Valley. 7.6% of the territory is protected area, 56 different ones of which the most famous national park is Gran Paradiso.
Piedmont is divided into eight provinces: Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Torino, Vercelli, and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

More: [link]


Torino (Turin)

Turin (Italian: Torino; Piedmontese: Turin pronunce T[y]r-ìn) is a major industrial city as well as a business and cultural center in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River.
The population of the city of Turin is 908,000 (2004 census); its metropolitan area totals about 1.7 million inhabitants.
The province is one of the largest in Italy, with 6,830 km² (2,637 sq. mi), and one of the most populous, with 2,236,941 inhabitants at the 2004 census.
Turin is well-known as the home of the Shroud of Turin, headquarters of Fiat automobile manufacturer and host of the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the first capital of Italy.

The best known building of the city is the Mole Antonelliana, whose construction began in 1863 and which today houses the National Cinema Museum.
The Palatine Towers are among the best preserved Roman remains in northern Italy.
The Cathedral of St John the Baptist houses the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth with an imprint of a man, which is believed by many to be the cloth that covered Jesus in his grave.
Nearby is the former royal residence: the seventeenth-century Palazzo Reale, built for Madama Reale Christine Marie of France.
The Museo Egizio has the most important collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world after the Cairo Museum.
Turin has buildings of great historical and architectural interest: the Savoy Residences. In addition to the Royal Palace (the official residence of the Savoys until 1865) there are many palaces, residences and castles in the city centre and in the surrounding towns. Turin is home to Palazzo Chiablese, the Royal Armoury, the Royal Library, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Carignano, Villa della Regina, and the Valentino Castle.
The complex of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in Turin and in the nearby cities of Rivoli, Moncalieri, Venaria, Agliè, Racconigi, Stupinigi, Pollenzo and Govone was declared in 1997 a World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
In the hills overlooking the city is the basilica church of Superga, providing a view of Turin against a backdrop of the snow-capped Alps. The basilica holds the tombs of many of the dukes of Savoy, as well as many of the kings of Sardinia. Superga can be reached by means of the Superga Rack Railway from the suburb of Sassi.

More: [link]










Other places







Excuse me for being a little selfish here, but I want to show you the small village where I live too… (It looks a lot nicer here, anyway )


And this is an amazing place near my village





It seems Piedmont and Aosta Valley aren't very popular as a photography subject, and I haven't found many shots...So excuse me for not exposing more Deviants, I did my best




Liguria

Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genova (Genoa).

Liguria borders France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea, a part of the Tyrrhenian Sea (northern Mediterranean Sea).
The coastal strip forms the Italian Riviera; further inland are the Ligurian Alps, on the west, and the Ligurian Apennines on the east.
It is noticeable that, despite the high population density, woods cover half of the total area.
The Ligurian coast enjoys a mild maritime climate, compared to the semi-continental one of the Po valley, a few kilometers northward; in January, Genoa records an average temperature of about 8-10°C, with no frost, which can occur only in the mountainous interior.

Liguria is divided into four provinces: Genova, La Spezia, Imperia and Savona.

More: [link]



-Genova (Genoa)

Genoa (Genova in Italian - Zena in Genoese) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria.
The city has a population of ca. 620,000 and the urban area has a population of ca. 890,000.
Genua was a city of the ancient Ligurians. Its name is probably Ligurian, meaning "knee" (from Proto-Indo-European *genu 'knee'), i.e. "angle", from its geographical position, thus akin to the name of Geneva.

The main features of central Genoa include the Piazza de Ferrari, around which are sited the Opera and the Palace of the Doges. There is also a house where Christopher Columbus putatively was born.
The Strada Nuova or the Via Garibaldi, in the old city, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. This district was designed in the mid-16th century to accommodate Mannerist palaces of the city's most eminent families, including Palazzo Rosso (now a museum), Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Grimaldi and Palazzo Reale. The famous art college, Musei di Strada Nuova and the Palazzo del Principe are also located on this street.
Other landmarks of the city include St. Lawrence Cathedral (Cattedrale di San Lorenzo), the Old Harbor (Porto Antico), transformed into a mall by architect Renzo Piano, and the famous cemetery of Staglieno, renowned for its monuments and statues. The Museo d'Arte Orientale has one of the largest collections of Oriental art in Europe.
Other than the old city sights, Genoa also has a large aquarium located in the above-mentioned old harbor. The port of Genoa also contains an ancient lighthouse, called La Lanterna (i.e., "the lantern"). It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world, one of the five tallest ones, and the tallest brick one and it is Genoa's landmark.
One of the most beautiful and pictoresque genoese neighbourhood is Boccadasse on the east of the city.

More: [link]










-Other places












I hope you liked this article, and maybe discovered some unknown places!
There's a lot of other cities, villages and monuments to see, this is just a small selection...
Keep in touch for volume II