Lombardy
One-sixth of Italy’s population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy’s GDP is produced in this region. The languages are Italian, Western Lombard and Eastern Lombard, as well as some variants of Ligurian, spoken in the southmost areas of Lombardy, the Apennine region.
Location
Lombardy is bordered by Switzerland (north) and by the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna (south), Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto (east), and Piedmont (west). Three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region: mountains, hills and plains. The first one is an Alpine zone including the Lepontine and Rhaetian Alps, (Piz Bernina, 4 055 m.), the Bergamo Alps, the Ortles and Adamello massifs; it is followed by an Alpine foothills zone, of which the main peaks are the Grigna Group (2,410 m.), Resegone (1,875 m.) and Presolana (2,521 m.). The great Lombard lakes, all of glacial origin, lie in this zone. From west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano (only a small part is Italian), Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. South of the Alps lie the hills characterized by a successiono flow heights of morainic origin, formed during the last Ice Age and small barely fertile plateaux, with typical heaths and conifer woods.
Geography
The plains of Lombardy, formed from alluvial deposits, can be divided into an upper, permeable ground zone in the north and a lower zone characterized by the so-called line of `fontanili’ (the spring waters rising on impermeable ground).
Anomalous compared with the three distinctions already made is the small region of the Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Alpine foothills beyond the Po River. A large number of rivers, all direct or indirect tributaries of the Po, cross the plains of Lombardy. Major rivers, flowing west to east, are the Ticino, the outlet of Lake Maggiore, the Lambro, the Adda, outlet of Lake Como, theMincio, outlet of Lake Garda, and the Oglio, the Lake Iseo outflow. There is a wide network of canals for irrigation purposes.
The climate of this region is continental, though with variations depending on altitude or the presence of inland waters. The continental nature of the climate is more accentuated on the plains, with high annual temperature changes (at Milan an average January temperature is 1.5 °C and 24 °C in July), and thick fog between October and February. The Alpine foothills lakes exercise a mitigating influence, permitting the cultivation of typically Mediterranean produce (olives, citrus fruit). In the Alpine zone, the valley floor is relatively mild in contrast with the colder higher areas (Bormio, 1,225 m.-1.4 °C average in January, 17.3 °C in July). Precipitations are more frequent in the Prealpine zone (up to 1,500-2,000 mm. annually) than on the plains and Alpine zones (600 mm. to 850 mm. annually).
In the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The rare Elm, Alder, Sycamore, Poplar, Willow and Hornbeam woods and heaths are included now in several protected areas. In the area of the great Alpine foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias, etc. The mountains area is characterized by the typical vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels (up to approximately 1,100 m.) oak woods or broadleafed trees grow; on the mountain slopes (up to 2,000-2,200 m.) beech trees grow at the lowest limits, with conifer woods higher up. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone (beyond 2,200 m.).
The numerous species of endemic flora (the Lombard native species), typical mainly of the Lake Como area, include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflower and the cottony bellflowers.
Lombardy counts many protected areas: the most important are the Stelvio National Park (the largest Italian natural park), with typically alpine wildlife: red deer, roe-deer, ibex, chamois, foxes, ermine and also golden eagles; and the Ticino Valley Natural Park, instituted in 1974 on the Lombard side of the Ticino River to protect and conserve one of the last major examples of fluvial forest in Northern Italy.
Climate
The climate of Lombardy is varied due to the diverse terrain of the region but is generally considered a “cool” continental climate. The region is influenced by several geographic features that controls the climate and terroir of the land. These include the Alps located in the northern parts of the region near the wine producing area of Valtellina and the Po River which runs along the Oltrepò Pavese (whose name means “Pavia across the Po”) and forms most of the region’s southern border with Emilia-Romagna. Many wine areas are located near some of Lombardy’s major lakes including Franciacorta near Lake Iseo as well as the Garda Bresciano and Garda Mantovano regions near Lake Garda. To the west of Lombardy is the Piedmont wine region, to the south is Emilia-Romagna and to the east are the Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto wine regions.
Major Cities
- Bergamo – contains what many believe to be the most beautiful piazza in the whole country
- Brescia
- Lecco- a little and charming city situated on Como’s lake
- Mantova – the Ducal Palace has a cycle of frescoes by Mantegna that no art lover should miss
- Monza – a small city overshadowed by its race track, yet it has pleasant pedestrian streets and a cathedral.
- Milan (Milano, the capital) – shares with Paris the title of fashion capital of the world
- Sondrio
Demographics
One sixth of the Italian population or about 10 million people live in Lombardy (16.2% of the national population; 2% of the European Union population), making it the most densely populated region in Italy after Campania with a strong concentration in the Milan metropolitan area and the Alpine foothills areas of the provinces of Varese, Como,Lecco and Bergamo, (1,200 inh./km2), a lower average density (250 inh./km2) in the Po area and the lower Brescia valleys, and much lower densities (less than 60 inh./km2) in the mountain areas and the Oltrepò Pavese.
The growth of the regional population was particularly high during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, thanks to sustained economic development, high birth rates, and strong migration flows (especially from Southern Italy). During the last two decades, Lombardy became the destination of a large number of foreign immigrants, so today more than a quarter of all foreign immigrants in Italy lives in Lombardy. As of 2008, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 815,335 foreign-born immigrants live in Lombardy, equal to 8.4% of the total regional population.
What to do
- The magnificent lakes of Lake Como - take boat trips in the shadow of the Alps to the picturesque villages of Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo - Lake Maggiore, Lake Gardaand Lake Lugano.
- The tiny village of Erbusco, home of the award-winning wines of Franciacorta and L’Albereta, the country inn of Gualtiero Marchesi, one of Italy’s premier chefs
- Moltrasio
- The peninsula of Sirmione, on the south shore of Lake Garda
- The Caves of Catullo, an archaeological site of a former Roman villa situated on the tip of the Sirmione peninsula
- The Sirmione Spa, the largest privately owned thermal treatment centre in Italy
- San Donato Milanese
- Val Camonica: UNESCO heritage site, medieval towns, castles, holy art in chuerches, roman sanctuary and theatre/anphiteatre, ski sports.
Cuisine
Lombardy’s most famous culinary inventions are minestrone soup and osso buco (literally “ox knuckles”). To the west of Milan lie miles of rice fields, where the rice forrisotto alla milanese is grown.
Drinks
- The wineries in Franciacorta, around Erbusco, produce many excellent wines. The region has been elevated to the status of DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). Other remarkable zones for wine areOltrepò Pavese (which is the zone around Pavia on the south banks of Po river) and the countrysides around Garda Lake.
- Valtellina also produces excellent wines, famous for their strong taste and flavour.
- As every big city in the world, Milan has also many high quality restaurants, wine bars and Enoteche (wine store) where you can find high class wines from all over the world.
Local Government
The Politics of Lombardy
The Politics of Lombardy takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Regional Council.
The Christian-centre party of Democrazia Cristiana (DC) maintained a majority of the votes and rule of the most important cities and provinces until the late 1980s; support for the other traditional major force of Italian politics, the Italian Communist Party (PCI), was increasingly eroded by the Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) until, in the early 1990s, the Mani Pulite corruption scandal which spread from Milan to the whole of Italy wiped away the old political class almost entirely. This, together with problems caused by immigration and the general disaffection towards Rome’s government (considered too oriented to the less developed regions of southern Italy in economical matters), led to the sudden growth of the separatist party of Lega Lombarda (later Lega Nord), with somewhat plebiscitary consensus especially in agricultural areas and minor cities of the region. Today Lombardy is a stronghold of the House of Freedoms coalition, and gave about 57% of its votes to Silvio Berlusconi at the April 2006 elections.
