The economic geography of the Italian region "Piedmont" (Piemonte)

Piedmont plateau region (shaded)

Italian wine region of Piedmont

The Piedmont region.

The economic geography of the Italian region “Piedmont” (Piemonte)IntroductionThe region, Piedmont is situated on the North-West part of Italy, not far from Milan to the West, being a border region to Provence-des-Alpes in France. The physical location of Piedmont is worth to mention as it lies between the “great arc of the Alps and the northern Apennines, the highest point being Monviso (3 841 m). Hilly in the centre, it is bounded on the east by natural frontiers - Lake Maggiore and the course of the Ticino.” Its physical location and its surroundings give Piedmont a large number of benefits that will be listed and analysed in the coming chapters. The region’s capital city is Turin (Torino) that hosts half of Piedmont’s population. Piedmont also has a remarkable industrial activity; it occupies the headquarters of the famous Fiat car-manufacturer company. These factors make it interesting to compare the performance of the region to those of the other Italian regions. In addition, the capital city, Turin needs an extra chapter to introduce in more detail as it has a high influence on the region’s overall accessibility and on its business structure. Finally, Piedmont’s future development will be assessed based on the analysis of its main features.

Starting the analysis of one of Italy’s most developing region, Piedmont, we first need to have a close look at its performance and the relation of its performance to the other Italian NUTS2 regions. In order to compare the performance of Piedmont with that of the other regions, it is important to have an overview of the regions’ economic growth.

First the Gross Domestic Product per inhabitant of the NUTS2 regions in Italy needs to be taken into consideration. The GDP of Piedmont region is one of the highest among the other regions; according to Eurostat it was 26,570 Euros in 2004. This fact is highly connected to the existence of the major Italian car manufacturing firm, Fiat in the region’s capital city, Turin that contributes a large amount to this GDP rate. Other major industries, like aircraft manufacturers and growing industries in the services sector also play an important role in Piedmont’s high GDP rate. “Piemonte contributed to the gross value added of Italy with 8.7% in 2000, while its population was 7.4% of the national total. Per capita GDP is above the national average and represented 120% of the EU average.” However, the growth of the GDP (between 2002 and 2004) in Piedmont was not as significant as in other regions.

The next important measure to be mentioned is the unemployment rate, in which Piedmont also has a very positive remark; compared to the other regions its unemployment-rate is among the lowest with 4.7% (in comparison, the highest unemployment rate was 23.4% in Calabria in 2003 that decreased to 14.4 % by 2005), and it has been decreasing between 2003 and 2005. The reason of Piedmont’s low and constantly decreasing unemployment rate can be explained by the more and more importance of the secondary and tertiary sector, which gives more and more employment to both unskilled and skilled labour.

Next, we need to have a look at the relationship between the working population and the employment structure in each region. Eurostat’s statistical data shows that in all of the regions most of the employment is concentrated in the services sector. The next sector with the second highest employment rate is the secondary or manufacturing sector, while the smallest proportion of the population works in agriculture. This factor can be explained by the recent transformation of the economy world-wide. During the last few decades rapid modernisation took place in the world. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, employment slowly shifted from agriculture to manufacturing industries. Then modernisation and new inventions gave birth to a new sector, the services sector that rapidly took over the employment leaving agriculture and manufacturing with a huge loss of labour-force. In Piedmont’s case, there is still a larger importance of the manufacturing industry than in the other Italian regions, due to its car-manufacturing (being led by Fiat). The employment in the secondary sector is about one third of the total employment, while in the majority of the other regions this ratio is one quarter or less. In all regions, more than half of the total working population is employed in the tertiary and less than 5% in the primary sector. In concliusion, the differences between employments in the different sectors are huge but are equally relevant to all of the regions. However, Piedmont is different concerning its secondary sector since the employment in manufacturing is higher than in other regions (due to Piedmont’s leading car-manufacturing).

Last but not least we need to compare some demographical indexes in each region. The population of Piedmont is growing but the excess of births is the biggest below zero compared to the other Italian regions. There is a low birth rate and an ageing population in spite of the high amount of people working in Turin’s automobile-industry. The reason could be that many people commute to work in the Piedmont’s capital from neighbouring regions. The ageing population can be explained by the large number of retirements in the beautiful rural areas that might be a popular destination for elderly people. “In 2001, 107 500 persons of foreign nationality were registered in the region.” This fact is more than possible to be the result of the closeness of the French and the Swiss borders. As Piedmont is a border region, it is inevitable to have more than average number of foreign inhabitants. In comparison with the other Italian regions, the net migration is the third biggest in Piedmont after Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. Turin has the fourth biggest population among all the capital cities and the region itself also takes the fourth place concerning the regions’ population.

Finally, Piedmont’s tourism needs to be mentioned as an important factor to be compared with the other Italian regions. In spite of its fortunate location and surroundings, Piedmont is not as touristy as many other Italian regions. One of the reasons can be that most of the people associate Italy with the seaside not with mountains, and the region of Piedmont does not have a seaside but is surrounded by mountains and hills. Another factor might be the closeness of the well-known Cote d’Azur by the French Riviera and the Provence-des-Alpes also in France. These regions being much more famous and popular than Piedmont itself may attract the majority of the tourists from the Italian region. The high industrialisation in Turin might have a negative effect on tourism as well, in spite of the natural beauty of the region’s surroundings. However, Piedmont still has a remarkable number of hotels and other collective accommodation establishments with tourist resorts due to its many sport-possibilities in the mountains, so the tourist-industry may be a factor of a successful development in the future.

Having mentioned Piedmont’s tourist industry leads us to mentioning the advantages of its natural location and then its important location factors. The location of Piedmont is very beneficial for the region itself. Firstly, it is worth to mention its physical location. Since the region is surrounded by mountains, hills as well as some plains it has a great advantage for many different kind of agriculture. The region has a remarkable land of vineyards on its hilly sides: “Over 700 square kilometres (170,000 acres) are devoted to viniculture, and many of the wines produced, such as Barbera, Barolo and Barbaresco, and Dolcetto are sought after by wine connoisseurs around the world. The white wine, Asti Spumonte, produced from grapes grown in the Asti region is denigrated by many as a poor man's champagne, but increasingly it is being seen for what it is: a superior, sparkling white.” Besides, the hills and mountains provide good opportunities for farming (mainly rice, wheat and maize) and keeping cattle for producing livestock and milk. The region also has a river-course (Ticino) and a lake (Lago Maggiore). These features together with the mountain resorts provide excellent sport and leisure facilities inviting many tourists all year round. Appendix 2 shows that compared to other Italian regions with similar features (excluding regions with seaside) Piedmont has a remarkable number of tourist accommodation establishments. The fact that the region lays very close to Italy’s two neighbouring countries, France and Switzerland can make Piedmont’s location also very beneficial as far as tourism is concerned.

Moving on to Piedmont’s important location factors, there a number of factors that can be mentioned. Location factors can be a large influence in a region. Before we go on to analysing the location factors it is important to mention that Piedmont is a border region with the Provence-Des-Alpes in France. It means that the accessibility on a regional level also depends on the openness of the border. The labour force may depend on the language and the culture of the neighbouring country and the market area also can be influenced. A good co-operation between the neighbouring regions is a factor that helps the development of both of the regions.

In order to list Piedmont’s important location factors, its raw materials and its braches of industry has to be taken into consideration. The region’s profile (Appendix 1.) shows us that although the agriculture is a declining factor, Piedmont has a large proportion of vineyards, cereal-farming (mainly rice, maize and wheat), and cattle-keeping (livestock and milk). These factors give a good opportunity to making wine and cereal-products and to livestock-marketing to and milk-production from the region’s own raw materials. However, the agriculture based on local products is not the dominant factor in the region due to the aging farmers and the emergence of new industries. The main industry of the area is the automobile industry with the placement of Fiat in the main town the Piedmont (Torino). Besides producing large amounts of parts for automobiles, Piedmont’s industry is also based on the availability of hydroelectric power and the existence of good-quality communications. Some more small industries are also to be mentioned, such as manufacturing of rubber-, and plastic-products, textiles and glass. “Another factor in this trend was the availability of unskilled labour from the rural areas of the region and from the depressed areas of southern Italy.” Based on the agricultural, industrial and labour facts, it can be stated that the most important location factor of the region is the market factor as that is a factor that provides the most input to the area. According to Weber’s model of location (1929) the profit should be maximised by minimising the costs. Costs in this concept can be cost of production, cost of transportation and cost of labour. As the agricultural products are to be found in the area, transportation costs are minimal in this factor. However, most of the labour is concentrated in the industries (especially in car-manufacturing), which causes a decline to agriculture but highly increases the income of the region based on its automobile industry. Appendix 3. shows the interesting fact that Piedmont region is very highly benefiting from its automobile industry (given by Fiat) as the share of the total Italian employment is the second highest after the region of Lombardy. This factor leads us to the second most important location factor: labour. The availability of labour depends on demography (population, migration), wages, skills and spatial aspects. We have learnt from the region’s profile that the “population density in Piedmont is lower than the national average”4. Although the low birth-rate and the aging population cause a downward trend, positive migration keeps the population relatively stable. Most of the population is located in the northern, industrial part of the region and half of the whole population is in the capital city, Turin. That also means that the majority of the labour-force is concentrated in the services- and in the manufacturing-sectors, and that the employment rate is well above the national average. Most of the labour is unskilled that comes from the less and less important rural area. That gives a very high importance to labour as a location factor, which strengthens the region’s industry. The shift of labour from agriculture to industries and later to the services sector occurred in Piedmont as well as in the surrounding world. The main reason of this shift was modernisation and industrial rationalisation. It gives a high importance to services as a location factor as more and more people work in the services sector. Although the share of employment in the manufacturing-industry is higher than the national average and the share of employment in services is lower, the services sector still has a great importance in the region’s income. As tourism has been mentioned before as an important aspect caused by the fortunate location of the area, it gives good opportunity to the emergence of the services in the tourist industry. High-level communication is another aspect to be mentioned as a pull-factor of the tertiary industry. Based on the previous factors, capital as a factor of location needs to be taken into consideration, too. It has two types of elements; fixed and variable capital. Fixed capital is based on the region’s leading aspect, its industry. It contains machinery, buildings, equipments and maintenance costs. Variable capital comes from the region’s services that are mainly revenues, profits, savings, loans and other financial instruments. Piedmont’s capital is mostly based on its industry powered by its automobile industry with the main firm as Fiat. Capital from the services sector is also important due to tourism and communication services. Last but not least, we have to mention scale as a location factor since it indicates the region’s economy, costs, integration and markets. As Piedmont has a large company (Fiat) that makes the majority of the region’s income, it is very important to be aware of the scale that shows the intensity of the firms and helps to maintain their optimal locations. If, for example, there is a simple internal growth, it might be demanding more land or relocation. In contrast, if there is an external growth, new location sites may not be planned.

The principle town of Piemonte region is Turin (Torino). Turin’s most important function is its industry that highly influences the city’s, and with that the whole region’s economic production. “According to data provided by the Registrar of Companies, held by the Turin Chamber of Commerce, the number of companies incorporated equals 185.805, showing an average growth rate of 1.4%. Distribution by sectors is the following: 35% are engaged in services, 29% in trade, 27% in industry and 9% in agriculture.” As it has been mentioned before, Piedmont’s main income is created by the huge automobile firm, Fiat that is located in Turin. “The key feature of companies situated in the Turin province is their average small size: nearly 90% of businesses have less than 50 employees. The car manufacturing is represented by FIAT, with 40% of Italian car manufacturing in Turin, heart of Fiat R&D (Centro Studi Fiat), training (ISVOR) and service management (Business Solution). ”3 As a result of the location of the main industrial centre, half of Piedmont’s population lives in Turin. Most of them are workers of the Fiat factory as well as the other smaller industries that are located in city. Other major industries located in Turin are: Aviation designer and manufacturers: commercial, military and transport aircrafts (Alenia Aeronautica), Aerospace: satellite systems, telecommunications, remote sensing, meteorology (Alenia Spazio) as well as robotics and automation, telecommunication and information technology, agroindustry, banking and insurance, home textile, writing industry and publishing.”5Being a capital city, Turin also hosts a high level of services, which also causes a concentration of skilled and unskilled workers living there. In relation to economy another very important function that Turin encounters is the region’s export. “In 2002 the Turin province’s total export was worth 15.233 million Euros, whereas total import amounted to 10.864 million Euros, with a favourable balance of trade of 4.369 million Euros. With a total amount of export worth 15.398 million Euros, Turin currently ranks second in the list of Italian exporting provinces.”5 Turin’s main exported goods are motor vehicles and vehicle parts, machinery, rubber products and tools mainly to countries like France, Germany, UK, Spain and Switzerland. Considering that Turin is the capital of a border region, it also has more chores than other capitals, such as making efforts to create and maintain friendship and co-operation with the neighbouring region and aiming at having the best possible export-import relationships. That explains why Piedmont’s main export-partner is France.

Besides being the host of Piedmont’s industries and having the majority of the labour force Turin is also “a hub of international training, with the presence of International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO), United Nations Staff College, European Training Foundation (ETR), International Pole for the Support of Education and Training (IPSET), Piedmont’s Consortium for Foreign Trade Training, European School of Management Italia (ESCP-EAP).”8This factor alongside with being the host of Fiat automobile company explains why Turin is the fourth most populated region-capital in Italy.

Turin has about one million inhabitants that equals to one quarter of the region’s population. This factor can be explained by the importance of Turin’s industry. The town gives the best opportunities of employment to the population, especially to the unskilled labour that has risen from agriculture as a result of rapid industrialisation earlier in history. Now with Fiat being the main source of employment in car-manufacturing, Turin’s importance in giving employment has risen enormously. Turin’s automobile industry has also created other, smaller industries in the town, which makes the work-opportunities even wider to the population of Piedmont.

One of Turin’s important functions is highly in connection with the overall accessibility of Piedmont being the centre of transport in the region. “There are links with neighbouring France via the Fréjus and Colle di Tenda tunnels and the Montgenèvre Pass and with Switzerland over the Simplón and Great St Bernard passes. The region's airport, Turin-Caselle, caters for domestic and international flights. The region has the longest motorway-network amongst the Italian regions (about 800 km). The motorway routes radiate from Turin, connecting it with the other provinces in the Piemonte region, as well as with the other regions in Italy.” Turin does not only have large motorway networks but also a well-developed railway and subway system that makes travelling and commuting even easier. Piedmont has a number of main railways and also high-speed railways are crossing through Turin connecting it to the major Italian towns. These factors make Turin a very important transportation centre as it collects a large range of motorways and air transport not only connecting to towns in Italy but to its neighbouring French region as well. The importance of the large variety and range of transport of Piedmont is that it provides an easy access to its region for people from Italy as well as for people from abroad, which helps the flow of tourism strengthening the region’s tourist industry. It also helps the flow of employment from the rural areas to Turin. We can see from Piedmont’s portrait that many people prefer to live in the green, rural parts of the region. In spite of this fact, the majority of the population still works in the capital due to the large firms. That can only happen smoothly if the region has an easy accessibility, which means a well-developed transportation system with the capital as a centre-point. In Piedmont’s case it is easily noticeable that the transport and accessibility system is very modern and developed.

The next concept that needs to be considered is the business structure of the region. The business structure of Piedmont also relates to the capital city, Turin as the majority of the region’s businesses are concentrated there. The biggest industry is Fiat’s car-manufacturing industry as it has been mentioned several times before. As for the business sector, probably it is Fiat that attracts the most of Piedmont’s labour-force and makes most of the region’s profit. Fiat is a large international company that has many smaller and bigger firms all over the word and besides giving great benefits to Piedmont’s business sector it also gives a huge reputation to the region. Fiat not only has created a reliable and successful business in Piedmont but has also started a chain of appearance of other smaller businesses. “The key feature of companies situated in the Turin province is their average small size: nearly 90% of businesses have less than 50 employees.”10 This factor is playing an important role in Turin’s business structure since with the growing importance of businesses creates more and more business settlements in the region. This development leads to a high investment in the region by different national and international companies, which give the region good reputation and a lot of income.

Finally, after analysing all the factors above, it is possible now to assess the future development of the Piedmont region. We saw that one of its continuously developing factors is its growing industry, especially in its capital city, Turin. Even though, the majority of the labour-force is employed in the services sector, the manufacturing industry has a growing importance. The location of the headquarters of Fiat in Turin made it possible to other businesses to appear and invest money in the city. Therefore, in the future not only the development of the secondary sector is possible but the growth of investments from different businesses. Another factor for further future development is worth to be mentioned: the tourist industry. We have seen from the data that Piedmont has a number of hotels and other collective accommodation establishments but compared to the other Italian regions their number could be improved. Considering Piedmont’s fortunate mountainous location and it being a border region, one of its future plans could be to improve tourist facilities and their promotion. One way of this could be to use the capital from business investments to set up new and modernise the existing tourist establishments. The tertiary sector could also be improved in the future. Its importance is constantly growing with modernisation; therefore there will be an inevitable improvement in services sector in the future. One possible aspect of this will probably be the development of tourist industry, which can also bring improvement to the tertiary sector and vice versa. Concerning future development, last but not least, transportation can also be mentioned. In spite of its well-developed aspects, it is inevitable to keep up with modernisation, since it is the only way to maintain the success of a region.

In conclusion, it can be stated that Piedmont is a largely unique region located in North-West of Italy. We started its economic and geographical analysis by assessing and comparing the region’s performance with that of the other NUTS2 regions in Italy. This analysis made us notice that Piedmont has many aspects that make it unique among the other regions, such as it being a border region with beneficial location factors and having a remarkable manufacturing industry. After analysing its physical location we got to the realisation that the region is located in a very favourable set of surroundings that can be very beneficial to its economical and tourist growth. Then we assessed its important location factors, namely market factor, labour, services factor, capital and scale. Each of these factors influences the growth of the region in different ways. The physical location influences the tourism and the agriculture, the market factor plays an important role in the relationship of cost and profit, the labour as a location factor has an effect on the region’s industry, while the services as a location factor influences the labour-dominance and the tourist industry. The capital is also a large influence in the region as we make a difference between fix and variable capital. Last we mentioned scale as an important location factor since it indicates the region’s economy, costs, integration and markets. The next aspect we analysed was the role of the region’s capital city, Turin. It can easily be seen that it plays a very important role in Piedmont’s development, being the region’s main economic and training centre as well as the main centre of the region’s accessibility. Analysing accessibility we got to the conclusion that transportation also influences Piedmont’s growth-rate and development because easy access helps the employment of more labour. Finally we briefly mentioned the region’s business structure introducing its investors and possible investments, and we assessed the region’s possible future prospects, such as developing its secondary and tertiary industries and its transportation system.

All in all, the region of Piedmont is a rapidly developing part of Italy that has very beneficial features and factors in order to be a very important part of Italy’s geography and economy. Piedmont’s most important features are its industries, business sectors and its transportation sector besides its location and location factors. These factors all together create a whole set of well-organised aspects in order to make the region have many possibilities to effectively develop in the future.

PIEMONTE PORTRAIT APPENDIX 1.

PIEMONTE - Geography and historyPiemonte means 'at the foot of the mountains' ('a pie' dei monti') and is situated in north-west Italy surrounded on three sides - north, west and south - by the great arc of the Alps and the northern Apennines, the highest point being Monviso (3 841 m). Hilly in the centre, it is bounded on the east by natural frontiers - Lake Maggiore and the course of the Ticino.

The physical features of the region - 43.3% mountains, 30.3% hills and 26.4% plains - have influenced many aspects of the social, political and economic life and the temperament of the population.

The climate is continental, with wide variations between the maximum summer and minimum winter temperatures, and there are a large number of mountain and winter sports resorts. The river system of Piemonte essentially arises in the Alps, with the rivers arranged in the shape of a fan and flowing into the Po.

Dynamic industry, traditional agriculturePiemonte boasts a well-established economic structure. The industrialisation which started at the turn of the century was based on the availability of hydroelectric power and on the existence of a comprehensive network of good-quality communications. The growth of small businesses followed on the rapid expansion of major undertakings such as Fiat. In fact, the development of the automobile industry made its effects felt in many sectors from rubber products to plastics, textiles, glass, etc.

Another factor in this trend was the availability of unskilled labour from the rural areas of the region and from the depressed areas of southern Italy.

This aspect of the economy of Piemonte is, however, a Sword of Damocles. Short-term economic downturns and inadequate technological upgrading to improve market competitiveness can have a ripple effect on the entire economic structure of the region. And agriculture, which makes only a very small contribution to the region's wealth, is in a very weak state - high production costs, inadequate marketing and transport networks, holdings amongst the smallest in Europe and ageing farmers.

'North and south' exists also in PiemonteThe region is subdivided into eight provinces - Turin, Vercelli, Biella, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Novara, Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria. Half the population is located in the province of Turin, with the capital city itself accounting for about one million inhabitants, or a good quarter of the total population. The depopulation of the mountains and the flight from the land as a result of the establishment of small businesses supplying the automobile industry have strengthened the towns at the foot of the mountains and Turin and its conurbation. Over a period of time there has thus emerged a northern Piemonte mainly engaged in industry and with a capital-intensive use of land, and a southern Piemonte which is overwhelmingly agricultural. The first area comprises the provinces of Turin, Vercelli and Novara, the last two being favoured by their situation along the Turin-Milan axis - the 'economic capital' of Italy.

Southern Piedmont, on the other hand, comprises the provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo, which specialise in fruit and wine-growing, and where there is thus a higher proportion of employment in the primary sector compared with other provinces. However, this subdivision is not quite so clear-cut, since the 'southern' provinces have a number of industrial centres reflecting a second wave of industrial development.

PIEMONTE - PopulationA low birth rate and an ageing populationThe population density in Piemonte is lower than the national average. In 2001 it was equal to 169 inhabitants per km2, compared to a national figure of 192. It rises however to 324 inhabitants per km2 when just the province of Torino is considered, whereas Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the less densely populated province (71 inhabitants per km2).

The population of Piemonte followed a downward trend throughout the 1980s. This drop is the result of the natural negative balance (of some 3 to 4 % per year), while the migratory balance since 1986 has again become positive because of an excess of new immigration over a stable figure for emigration.

The population as a whole has remained stable in the 1990's, although this is the result of a negative natural balance and a positive net migration.

In 2001, the birth rate was equal to 8.1 per thousand, compared to a national figure of 9.3 per thousand. The death rate for the same year was equal to 10.9 per thousand, above the national average of 9.9. This is due to the demographic structure in Piemonte, with an ageing population. In the year 2001, the young people below 25 amounted to 21.7% of the population, compared to a national average of 25.6%, whereas the people over 65 amounted to 20.7%, compared to a national average of 18.2%. The infant mortality rate in 1999 was under the national average with 4.5 deaths per 1000 births.

The net migration: positive throughout the decade, and has compensated the negative natural balance.

In 2001, 107 500 persons of foreign nationality were registered in the region.

PIEMONTE – EmploymentThe activity rate (% of the working population in relation to the corresponding total population) in Piemonte was 50.4% in 2001, just above the national average of 48.3%. It is however made up of a male activity rate, slightly below the national average, and which has slightly fallen since 1990, and a female activity rate, above the national average, and which has shown a positive trend in the last decade.

The employment rate (% of the working population in relation to the corresponding population in working age) is well above the national average (61.2% compared to 54.5%), and has increased by 6% since 1990. This growth has been due exclusively to the rise in the number of working women, as the female employment rate has passed from 43% in 1990 to 50.8% in 2001.

From industry to servicesAfter the war 30% of the employed were in agriculture, whereas the figure 30 years later was only 8%. The figure has continued to fall, and in 2001 the share of those employed in agriculture was 3.7% of the total.

Whereas between 1960 and 1970 industry confirmed its role as the motor of the economy of Piemonte, in the 1980s it was the services sector which absorbed much of the labour laid off as a result of industrial rationalisation. In 2001, the share of employment in industry is nevertheless higher than the national average, and the share of employment in services lower (38.2% and 58.1% respectively). Employment in the services sector has grown by 5% in the second half of the 1990's.

The level of unemployment in Piemonte, equal to 5.2% in 2001, is well below the national average (9.5% for the same year), but is the highest amongst the regions of the north of Italy, after Liguria. This level is the same as it was at the beginning of the 1990's, although there has been a slight rise in the male unemployment rate and a slight fall in the female unemployment rate. Almost half of the unemployed persons in 2001 were concerned by long term unemployment (more than 12 consecutive months).

PIEMONTE - EconomyInternationalisation of industryPiemonte contributed to the gross value added of Italy with 8.7% in 2000, while its population is 7.4% of the national total. Per capita GDP is above the national average and represented 120% of the EU average.

Rice, cars and personal computersThe main agricultural products in Piemonte are cereals, including rice, representing more than 10% of national production in 1999, maize, grapes for wine-making and fruit and milk.

With more than 800 000 head of cattle in 2000, livestock production accounts for half of final agricultural production in Piedmont.

There are links with neighbouring France via the Fréjus and Colle di Tenda tunnels and the Montgenèvre Pass and with Switzerland over the Simplón and Great St Bernard passes. The region's airport, Turin-Caselle, caters for domestic and international flights.

The region has the longest motorways network amongst the Italian regions (about 800 km). The motorway routes radiate from Turin, connecting it with the other provinces in the Piemonte region, as well as with the other regions in Italy. In 2001, the number of passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants at 623 was above the national average (575).

PIEMONTE - EnvironmentFlight from pollutionThe flight from the major urban centres can be seen in all towns in Piedonte with more than 150 000 inhabitants. The reason for leaving the capital is not the lack of green areas available - at 12 m2 per inhabitant this is the highest in Italy after Bologna - but the quality of urban life.

Outside the cities, Piemonte has 156 000 hectares of parks, nature reserves and protected areas (preference for living in opposed to towns!) totalling 6.14% of the region's territory. Of these, 112 000 hectares are situated in the mountains, 8 000 in the hills and 49 000 in the plains. Examples are Gran Paradiso, Argentera, Orsiera Rocciavre, the banks of the Po and Valle del Ticino.

PIEMONTE - Education, health and cultureIn 2000, 537 986 pupils were enrolled in school, from pre-primary to upper secondary level. Of these, 156 450 attended upper secondary education.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION APPENDIX 2.

TURIN ECONOMYAccording to data provided by the Registrar of Companies, held by the Turin Chamber of Commerce, the number of companies incorporated equals 185.805, showing an average growth rate of 1.4%. Distribution by sectors is the following: 35% are engaged in services, 29% in trade, 27% in industry and 9% in agriculture. In fact, the Turin province, a traditionally industrial province, after a long-term crisis underwent a tartarisation process, what made the services sector leap forward.

The key feature of companies situated in the Turin province is their average small size: nearly 90% of businesses have less than 50 employees. Despite their small dimensions, a high level of innovation and a vocation for internationalization make local SMEs competitive worldwide. In particular, the following features can be pointed out:- high level of investment in R&D- industrial development based on industrial district model;- high level of industrial automation;- good performances on international markets;- emphasis given to training.

Key sectors of the Turin province economy may be synthesized as follows:•automotive, components and designThe automotive sector in Turin covers the entire design and production cycle.

- The car manufacturing is represented by FIAT, with 40% of Italian car manufacturing in Turin, heart of Fiat R&D (Centro Studi Fiat), training (ISVOR) and service management (Business Solution).

- The automotive styling and design sector counts with approximately 400 prototypes developed every year and specialization in vehicle bodies, moulds, tooling and dies. Leading manufacturers are: I.D.E.A., Maggiora, Stola, Itca.

- The production of systems includes: mechanical machining, sheet metal working, body assembly, painting, moulding, industrial robotics and automation. The most famous companies engaged in this sector are: Comau, Fata, Dea, Prima Industrie.

- The car components sector may rely on a strong network of subcontractors, including 300 manufacturers of systems and parts of systems modules, I Tier and II Tier single components.

•aeronautics and aerospaceThis sector includes:- Aviation designer and manufacturers: commercial, military and transport aircrafts (Alenia Aeronautica)- Aerospace: satellite systems, telecommunications, remote sensing, meteorology (Alenia Spazio) - Ground infrastructures for space missions (Consortium ICARUS for the development of Multi-functional Space Centre; Logistics and Technological Centre -ALTEC; training centre for European austronauts- Aero-engines industry (Fiat Avio), equipment (Microtecnica Group), aerospace components (Moreggia Group)•robotics and automation•Telecommunication and information technology•agroindustry•banking and insurance (San Paolo IMI, CRT, SAI, Toro, Reale mutua)•home textile•writing industry•publishing (Seat, Einaudi, Utet)In 2002 the Turin province´s total export was worth 15.233 million Euro, whereas total import amounted to 10.864 million Euro, with a favourable balance of trade of 4.369 million Euro.

Export by products:With a total amount of export worth 15.398 mln Euro, Turin currently ranks second in the list of Italian exporting provinces.

Main exported goods are: motor vehicles (18%); motor vehicles parts and accessories (18%); machinery and mechanical devices (8%); machinery for special purposes (5%); aircrafts and space vehicles (4%); general machinery, rubber products, machine tools.

Export by destination:Main partners are: France (18%), Germany (15%), United Kingdom (8%), Spain (8%), United States (6%), Poland (5%), Turkey (4%), Switzerland (3%), Belgium (3%), The Netherlands (2%).

Turin is a hub of international training, with the presence of:- International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO)- United Nations Staff College- European Training Foundation (ETR)- International Pole for the Support of Education and Training (IPSET)- Piedmont´s Consortium for Foreign Trade Training- European School of Management Italia (ESCP-EAP)International events in Turin:- International Taste fair 2004- Automotor Fair 2005- Olympic Winter Games 2006- International Architecture Convention 2008- Turin Hi.Tech week- International Book Fair of Turin- International Young Movie Festival- Biennal Young Artist ExhibitionReference:Francesca NataleVia San Francesco da Paola, 37 – 10123, Torino,Tel. +39 011.57.16.361/64/65, +39 011.57.163.6globus@to.camcom.itThe material of this site is © copyright 2000-2006 of Piemonte.org.

http://www.piemonte.org/Page/t08/view_html?idp=49PIEDMONT ECONOMYThere are a mix of industries in Piedmont, from car manufacturing in Turin (Fiat) to farming (dairy farming wheat, grapes, maize, rice) and associated agricultural production (wine, dairy products), to tourism. Over 700 square kilometers (170,000 acres) are devoted to viniculture, and many of the wines produced, such as Barbera, Barolo and Barbaresco, and Dolcetto are sought after by wine connoisseurs around the world. The white wine, Asti Spumonte, produced from grapes grown in the Asti region is denegrated by many as a poor man's champagne, but increasingly it is being seen for what it is: a superior, sparkling white.

By Vian Andrews (30-08-05) http://www.italianvisits.com/piemonte/index.htmTRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE-TURINThe town currently has a large number of rail and road work sites. Although this activity has increased as a result of the 2006 Winter Olympics, parts of it had long been planned. Some of the work sites deal with general road works to improve traffic flow, such as underpasses and flyovers, but two projects are of major importance and will change the shape of the town radically.

One is the Spina ("spine") which includes the doubling of a major railroad crossing the town. The railroad previously ran in a trench, which will now be covered by a major boulevard. The town rail station on this line will become the main station of Turin (Porta Susa).

The other major project is the construction of a subway line based on the VAL system, known as Metrotorino. This project is expected to continue for years and to cover a larger part of the town, but its first phase was finished in time for the Olympic Games (inaugurated on 4 February 2006 and opened to the public the day after). This first leg of the subway system links the nearby town of Collegno with the Porta Susa station in Turin's town centre; the next leg extending the service to the 'Porta Nuova' railway station is expected by June 2007. This underground transportation project has historical importance for Turin, as the town has dreamed of an underground line for decades, the first project dating as far back as the twenties. In fact, the main street in the town centre (Via Roma) runs atop a tunnel built during the fascist era (when Via Roma was built). The tunnel was supposed to host the underground line but is now used as an underground car park. A project to build an underground system was ready in the seventies, with government funding for it and for similar projects in Milan and Rome; whilst the other two cities went ahead with the projects, Turin local government led by mayor Diego Novelli shelved the proposal as it believed it to be too costly and unnecessary, but that only meant more funding for Rome and Milan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin#Transportation_infrastructureBibliography•Material from Susanne Bygvrå•Stutz, F., Warf B.: The World Economy: Resources, Location, Trade and Development (Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2005, Fourth Edition)•Copyright © Eurostat. All Rights Reserved.

•Francesca Natale•Via San Francesco da Paola, 37 – 10123, Torino,•Tel. +39 011.57.16.361/64/65, +39 011.57.163.6•globus@to.camcom.it•http://www.piemonte.org/Page/t08/view_html?idp=49•The material of this site is © copyright 2000-2006 of Piemonte.org.

•Vian Andrews (30-08-05) http://www.italianvisits.com/piemonte/index.htm•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin#Transportation_infrastructure

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