Northern Italy
Definition
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative worth, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian nation. It comprises two areas belonging to Italian First level NUTS of the European Union:
- North-West (Nord-Ovest) that includes the regions of: Aosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy and Piedmont
- North-East (Nord-Est) that includes the regions of: Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto
Geography
By far the larger portion of Northern Italy is occupied by the basin of the Po river, which comprises the whole of the broad plain extending from the foot of the Apennines to that of the Alps, together with the valleys and slopes on both sides of it. Throughout its whole course indeed, from its source in Monte Viso to its outflow into the Adriatic Sea—a distance of more than 5 degrees of longitude, or 220 miles in a direct line—the Po receives all the waters that flow from the Apennines northwards, and all those that descend from the Alps towards the south, till one comes to the Adige, which, after pursuing a parallel course with the Po for a considerable distance, enters the Adriatic by a separate mouth.
Demographics
Northern Italy, with a population of 27,324,431 (09-30-2008 est.), comprises 45.5% of the Italian population over an area of about 120,000 km² (46,000 sq mi), that corresponds to about one third of the whole national territory. These figures clearly indicate the northern part of the contry as the most densely populated area in Italy, with a population density of 227.7 people per km² (594/sq mi). This area is also characterized by a high concentration of big metropolitan areas, of which the important are the metropolitan areas of Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice and the urban region developed along the Via Aemilia, with at its center the city of Bologna.
Economy
Northern Italy is by far the the most developed and productive area of the country, and the first part of Italy to have seen industrialization in the last half of the 19th century along the so called "industrial triangle", formed by the manifacturing centers of Milan and Turin and the seaport of Genoa. With a 2005 GDP estimated in €778.172 billion (US$968.719), Northern Italy accounts for almost 55% of the national economy; were it a country, it would rank as the fourteenth-largest economy in the world, larger than the South Korean or Australian economy.