Piemonte

Piedmont


The northwest of Italy with borders to France and Switzerland is the upper part of the river Po catchment area and one of the largest states of Italy. The Po area is fertile with vegetables and wine, the spumante from Asti is world-famous.

With the Alps on two sides almost half of the area is mountainous, one third is hill country, and the rest is the upper part of the river Po plains. There are no underground sites in the plains, and also not in the hills which are located in the plains in the center. Most of the mountains and hills along the borders consist of limestone and are karstified, so there are numerous caves. Also, there are numerous mines in the mountains to the north, in the area of the Penninic Nappe System, and a few in the Southern Alps.