Lombardy Lombardia (Italian) Lombardia (Lombard)[a]
Region
Flag
Coordinates: 45°35′N 9°55′E / 45.583°N 9.917°E / 45.583; 9.917
Country	Italy
Capital	Milan
Government
• Type	President–council government
• Body	Regional Cabinet
• President	Attilio Fontana (LN)
• Legislature	Regional Council
Area
• Total	23,844 km2 (9,206 sq mi)
Population  (1 January 2024)[1]
• Total	10,020,838
• Density	420/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	English: Lombard Italian: lombardo (man), lombarda (woman) Lombard: lombard (man), lombarda (woman)
GDP [2]
• Total	€439.986 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	IT-25
HDI (2022)	0.920[3] very high · 4th of 21
NUTS Region	ITC
Website	www.regione.lombardia.it

Lombardy^[b] (Italian: Lombardia;^[c] Lombard: Lombardia)^[a][d] is an administrative region of Italy that covers 23,844 km² (9,206 sq mi); it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is located between the Alps mountain range and tributaries of the river Po, and includes Milan, its capital, the largest metropolitan area in the country, and among the largest in the EU.^[9]

Its territory is divided into 1,502 comuni (region with the largest number of comuni in the entire national territory^[10]), distributed in twelve administrative subdivisions (eleven provinces plus the Metropolitan City of Milan). The region ranks first in Italy in terms of population, population density and number of local authorities, while it is fourth in terms of surface area, after Sicily, Piedmont and Sardinia.^[11]

It is the second most populous region of the European Union (EU),^[12] and the second region of the European Union by nominal GDP.^[2] Lombardy is the first^[13] region of Italy in terms of economic importance,^[14] contributing to approximately a fifth of the national gross domestic product (GDP).^[15][16] Lombardy is a member of the Four Motors for Europe, an international economical organization whose other members are Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Catalonia in Spain, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. Milan is the economic capital of Italy^[17] and is a global financial centre.

Of the fifty-eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy, eleven are in Lombardy, tying in with Castile and León in northwest-central Spain.^[18] Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Ambrose, Gerolamo Cardano, Caravaggio, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Stradivari, Cesare Beccaria, Alessandro Volta, and Alessandro Manzoni; and popes John XXIII and Paul VI originated in the area of modern-day Lombardy region.

Etymology

The name Lombardy comes from Lombard, which is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus ("a Lombard"), which derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz; equivalent to long beard. According to some scholars, the second element derives from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz ("axe"), related to German Barte, or the whole word comes from the Proto-Albanian *Lum bardhi "white river" (Compare modern Albanian lum i bardhë).^[19]

The name of the region derives from the name of the people of the Lombards who arrived in Italy in 568 and made Pavia their capital. During the Early Middle Ages, "Lombardy" referred to the Kingdom of the Lombards (Latin: Regnum Langobardorum), which was ruled by the Germanic Lombard raiders who had controlled most of early Christian Italy since their invasion of Byzantine Italy in CE 568 until the fall of Pavia on the river Ticino, in CE 774 by the Frankish Charlemagne on the Pope's behalf. As such, "Lombardy" and "Italy" were almost interchangeable; by the mid-8th century, the Lombards ruled everywhere except the Papal possessions around Rome—roughly modern Lazio and northern Umbria—Venice and some Byzantine possessions in the south—southern Apulia and Calabria; some coastal settlements including Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples and Sorrento; Sicily and Sardinia; their culture is foundational to Italy in the Middle Ages.^[20] The term was also used until around 965 in the form Λογγοβαρδία (Longobardia) as the name for the territory roughly covering modern Apulia, which the Byzantines had recovered from the Lombard rump state Duchy of Benevento.

Geography

Lombardy has a surface area of 23,861 km² (9,213 sq mi), and is the fourth-largest region of Italy after Sicily, Piedmont and Sardinia.^[11] It is bordered by Canton Ticino and Canton Grisons of Switzerland to the north, and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto to the east, Emilia-Romagna to the south and Piedmont to the west.

Lombardy's northern border is between the Valtellina and the valleys of the Rhine and the Inn. To the east, Lake Garda and the Mincio separate Lombardy from the other Italian regions, as does the Po river in the south with the exception of the province of Mantua and Oltrepò Pavese. The western boundary is formed by the Lake Maggiore and the Ticino river, except Lomellina. Lombardy has three natural zones; mountains, hills and plains—the last being divided into Alta (high plains) and Bassa (low plains).

Soils

The surface area of Lombardy is divided almost equally between the plains (which represent approximately 47% of the territory) and the mountainous areas (which represent 41%). The remaining 12% of the region is hilly.^[21]

The orography of Lombardy is characterised by three distinct belts; a northern mountainous belt constituted by the Alpine relief, a central piedmont area of mostly alluvial pebbly soils, and the Lombard section of the Padan Plain in the south of the region. The main valleys are Val Camonica, Val Trompia, Valle Sabbia, Valtellina, Val Seriana, Val Brembana, Valsassina, and Valassina.^[22]

The most important mountainous area is the Alpine zone, which includes the Lepontine and Rhaetian Alps (4,020 m (13,190 ft)), which derive their name, respectively, from the Raeti, a population of Etruscan origin who took refuge in the Central Alps during the Celtic invasion of the Italian peninsula, and from the Ligurian population of the Lepontii settled in this area and then subjugated by the Roman emperor Augustus,^[23] the Orobic Alps (3,050 m (10,010 ft)) which derive their name from the Orobii, population of Ligurian or perhaps Celtic origin,^[23] the Ortler Alps and the Adamello massif. It is followed by the Alpine foothills zone Prealps, which are followed by hills that smooth the transition from the mountain to the Po Valley, the main peaks of which are the Grigna Group (2,410 m (7,910 ft)), Resegone 1,875 m (6,152 ft), and Presolana (2,521 m (8,271 ft)).^[24]

The plains of Lombardy, which are formed by alluvial deposits, can be divided into the Alta—an upper, permeable ground zone in the north—and the Bassa, a lower zone dotted by the line of fontanili, spring waters rising from impermeable ground. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above is the small sub-region of Oltrepò Pavese, which is formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po, ^[25] and Lomellina, area particularly renowned for its rice paddies.

Hydrography

The Po marks the southern border of the region for about 210 km (130 mi); its major tributaries are the Ticino, which rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland and joins the Po near Pavia,^[26] the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio.

The numerous lakes of Lombardy are all of glacial origin and are located in the northern highlands. From west to east, these are: Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano (both shared with Switzerland), Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, and Lake Garda (the largest lake in Italy).^[27] South of the Alps are a succession of low hills of morainic origin that were formed during the Last Glacial Period and small, barely fertile plateaux with typical heaths and conifer woods. A minor mountainous area the Oltrepò Pavese lies in the Apennines range south of the Po.^[25]

The navigli are a system of interconnected canals in and around Milan dating back as far as the Middle Ages.^[28] The system consists of five canals: Naviglio Grande, Naviglio Pavese, Naviglio Martesana, Naviglio di Paderno, Naviglio di Bereguardo. The first three were connected through Milan via the Fossa Interna, also known as the Inner Ring. The urban section of the Naviglio Martesana was covered over at the beginning of the 1930s, together with the entire Inner Ring, thus sounding the death knell for the north-eastern canals.

Alpine passes

The Lombard Alpine valleys are wider than those found, again in the Alps, in Piedmont and Aosta Valley. Most of them are crossed by streams that descend towards the Po Valley, forming rivers which then flow into the Po on the hydrographic left. Thanks to the width of their valleys, the Lombard Alpine passes, although they are at a high altitude, are easily accessible.

The most important international passes found in the Lombard Alps and which connect the region with Switzerland are the Splügen Pass (2,118 m (6,949 ft)), the Maloja Pass (1,815 m (5,955 ft)) and the Bernina Pass (2,323 m (7,621 ft)), with the latter two which are located in Swiss territory. The most important national passes are the Stelvio Pass (2,759 m (9,052 ft)) and the Tonale Pass (1,883 m (6,178 ft)), which connect Lombardy with Trentino-Alto Adige. These Alpine passes are also of great importance from a historical point of view, given that they have always allowed easy communication between Lombardy and its bordering territories. It then resulted in constant commercial traffic, which contributed to the development of the region.^[29]

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Lombardy
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