Italy Piedmont region – Turin is Italy’s Motor City
The Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) region, totalling 25 402 km2 occupies the northwestern corner of Italy.
Located at the foot of the Alps, from which its name derives, Piedmont borders Switzerland and France, as well as the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria and Aosta Valley. On its eastern limits Piedmont shares, on a very short section, a border with the Emilia-Romagna region. See Piedmont map.
Italy car rental – Alfa Romeo MiTo manufactured in Mirafiori assembly plant in Turin (the Italian name of Turin is Torino, hence the abbreviated name Mi-To).
Turin – the capital of Piedmont and the motor capital of Italy
The largest city and the capital of Piedmont is Turin (Torino). The city, known for its historic and cultural heritage, in the 20th century came to be an important economic centre and a leader of automotive industry in Italy, being home to the headquarters and a major assembly plant of Fiat.
See also: Turin weather (temperature, sunshine hours, precipitation).
Despite its industrial component, Turin, and Piedmont region in general, are an important leisure tourism destination in both summer and winter.
Beautiful natural setting and the proximity to the Alps invite to outdoor activities, amongst them hiking and skiing. Although Piedmont region has no coastline of its own, the distance to the popular tourist area of the Ligurian Coast is fairly small. Approximately 140 km / 87 mi separate Turin from the coastal resort of Savona.
Within an hour drive from Turin are other largest cities of Piedmont: Alessandria, Novara and Asti.
There are two international airports in Piedmont:
- Turin Airport (TRN): Rent a car at Turin Airport
- Cuneo Airport (CUF)
The latter is located approximately 80 km / 50 mi south of Turin.
Turin is the most important airport of Piedmont. Many visitors to the region may, however, opt for the Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) in the neighbouring Lombardy, which has by far the largest selection of flights to northern Italy.
Driving in Turin – remember about the limited traffic zones (ZTL)
In an attempt to address the environmental concerns and an increasing pollution caused by the motorized traffic, many large Italian cities have introduced in the recent years the so called the limited traffic zones, in Italian, zona traffic limitato (ZTL), in which traffic is prohibited for non-residents and subject to steep fees for both locals and tourists.
Piedmont flag.
With 4.6 million inhabitants, Piemonte is one of the most populous regions of Italy, and the second largest by area. Capital Turin has a population of about 900,000 in the city limits and about 2-2.2 mln counting the suburbs in .
The region is known for the extensive agricultural production being also one of Italy’s most important wine regions. Asti, Barolo and Barbaresco wines are produced in Piedmont.
Buy a house in Piedmont – real estate consulting by a Danish expat
Real estate business thrives in Piemonte. A Dane, Jesper Remo established here a company which specializes in buying, selling and renovating old rustic stone houses, so characteristic of the area. In collaboration with a photographer Erik Bjørn, Jesper Remo wrote a book about life in Piedmont which contains a lot of useful advice on how to buy a house in Italy.
Read more about House in Piemonte.
