Torino was Italy’s first capital and the Piemonte region was declared a UNESCO “World Heritage Site” in 1997.
The mountains dominate the environment and landscape of Piemonte. The region is located at the foot of the Alpine range with peaks of extraordinary beauty like Monte Rosa, which is the second highest mountain in Europe, Monviso and the Gran Paradiso massif.
The landscape is characterized by soaring peaks and wide valleys, in the summer the alpine meadows are covered with pastures, colourful wild flowers, larch and fir tree forests, and in winter are blanketed in snow.
Another typical Piedmont panorama is the winding landscape of hillsides covered with vineyards and very beautiful medieval towns, towers and castles: the hilly territories of the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, tucked away between the Maritime Alps and the Ligurian Apennines in southern Piemonte.
Another typical landscape is represented by flat, water rich plains between Novara and Vercelli, which are main dedicated to rice fields. The Po river, both the longest river in Italy (652 kilometres) as well as the fastest flowing, springs from the slopes of the Monviso. There are hundreds of small alpine lakes in Piemonte, as well as important lakes such as Lake Maggiore and Lake d’Orta.