Piedmont
or PIEMONT, a former Italian principality, which now forms the N. W. part of the kingdom of Italy; is by the Alps separated from Switzerland on the N. and from France on the W.; on the E. lies Lombardy, and on the S. Liguria and Genoa. It included the duchy of Monferrat and part of the old duchy of Milan, and now embraces the provinces of Alessandria, Cuneo, Novara, and Turin, and covers 11,331 square miles, with a pop. about 3,200,000.
From the end of the 12th century the name Piedmont was used as a collective title for the territories ruled over by the House of Savoy on the E. side of the Graian and Cottian Alps.