Origin of the Name
	Reliefs - Passes - Coasts - Islands
	Landscape
	Agriculture - Stock-Farm - Fishing
	Industry - Tourism
	Position and Frontier
	Rivers - Lakes
	Climate
	Population
	Communication

Origin of the name:
The Longobardis in the VI century after Christ occupied the Peninsula and their territory almost ever since has been called Longobardia.

Prealpis that extend between Lake Maggiore and Lake of Garda, cover pastures and woods. We remember the group of Grigne, Presolana and Resegone. The passes of Lombaardia have a great importance for the traffic with foreign countries and for the communications with the Alto Adige. The principal passes are: the Footstep of Spluga that brings in Canton of the Grigioni in Switzerland, that of Stelvio, the tallest of Europe, that connects Valtellina aloft with Val Venosta Adige and Tonal Footstep that  brings from Val Camonica in Trentino. To Lombardy belongs the central part of Lowland Padana, which goes down very softly toward the sea. The composition of the ground helps to practise an intensive agriculture in the southern part, along Po, where the ground is clayey and impermeable; making water flow on yhe surface irrigating varied crops. In the zone of Prealpi instead the ground is gravelly and allows water to pass through it, making it arid and of little fertility.

Landscape:
In the mountainous part we find very tall tops and the glaciers that are impossible to miss, but the constitution of the mountains is less hard than from the other parts, with less steep slopes and very wide and open valleys. The Region is rich in water and therefore with electric energy. The rivers go down quickly, but they are braked from the lakes and from the fact what crossing the lowland, are many man made channels of irrigation that enrich the crops. Going down to valley we often find a phenomenon typical of Lowland Padana, that is the fog. To contrast of this phenomenon we find a cheerful one in the panning zone of the lakes which posse a mild climate. The zones of cultivation, laternate with grey landscapes of  industrial establishments. Often the cities don't have a well defined border and are united by the production of oil with the other peripheral urban zones, forming only one urban complex. The whole region is crossed by a sharp pain road net that sustains an intense local traffic, also toward the sea and the mountains.

Agriculture - Stock-farm - Fishing:
Although Lombardy has a big mountainous part where the earh is almost void of output, the agricultural production of the region is amoung the tallest in Italy. The part exploited for the agriculturals work is in the central southern part where, thanks to the fertility of the ground, and to the abundance of irrigation and the modern systems used for cultivation, the whole year is exploited for the cultivation of wheat, rice, vegetables and forage. In the tall lowland cultivations that prevail are sugar beets, potatoes and maize which do not need very fertile grounds. The cultivation of vines is found in the hilly zones of  the low mountains, while in tall mountains we find the pastures. Lombardy has the supremacy in general in Italy for the breeding cattle cows milk. The production of meat, milk, butter and cheese has a large production in the Italian market. Some cheeses such as the gorgonzola and the belpaese are exported abroad. Lombardy is also the first in the breeding of the pig, with a large production of packaged meat.

Other important industries are those of the pharmaceutical (Charles Erba), electronics (IBM and Simens) and electrotechnicals (Magnets Marelli). They arein addition to the rubber industries (Pirelli), furniture (in the Brianza), footwear (Vigevano), alimentary (Galbani and Cademartori), confectionery (Motta and Alemagna), publishing (Mondadori and Rizzzoli) and weapons (Beretta).

Position and Frontier:
The region is extended between Po and the central Alps. The southern territory of the Region is the central part of Lowland Padana, limited to west from Lake Maggiore and from Ticino and to east from Garda Lake and from Mincio; to a band of hills that follows the mountainous zone, prealpina and alpine, which reaches always great altitudes proceeding toward the north, where we find the border with Switzerland. To east it borders with Trentino-tall Adige and Veneto, to south with Emilia Romagna and Piedmont and finally to west with Piedmont.

Rivers - Lakes:
The principal rivers of Lombardia, tributaries to the left of Po, are: Ticino, tributary and emissary of Lake Maggiore that passes for Pavia; Adda is born in Valtellina and flows to Colico in Lake of Como of drawers and goes out to Lecco bathing Praises; Brembo and Serio one that owes their name to the respective valleys, Val Brembana and Val Seriana  meet their waters in the river Adda; Oglio crosses Val Camonica  and enters and goes out in Lake of Iseo and it is thrown in Po and ends in Mincio that goes out of Garda Lake  to Peschiera and bathes Mantua. The waters of the rivers feed a sharp net of artificial channels that  regulate and distribute water in the most arid zones. The most important is the Great Naviglio,  the Shipping in Pavia, the Shipping of Martesana and the Channel Villoresi. In the lakes zone we remember the oriental shore of Lake Maggiore, Lake of Lugano where the northern part belongs to Switzerland, Lake of Chest of drawers, Lake of Iseo and the western bank of Lake of Garda.

Climate:
In the lowland the winters are figid and the summers sultry . During autumn and winter there are dense and persistent fogs. In the hills the fogs are less frequent as well as the warm summers. In the mountain instead the climate is very rigid and more mild on the lakes od prealpi.

Population:
Lombardy is a region of  high population density. The number of the inhabitants is almost double of the other more populated Italian regions. The populated zones are those of the tall lowland where the big commercial complexes rise and where Milan is found with around 1. 500. 000 inhabitants. The zones instead of the low lowlands are less populated even if they are the most fertile zones in Lombardy but, the motive that has pushed the farmers to abandon the country has been the little output of the earth. With the large number of jobs developed by the agricultural cars, the need for manpower is small, therefore a lot of people that  look for employment prefer to work in the industrial and commercial firms.

Communication:
For Lombardy, and exactly through Milan, pass streets of direct communication to almost all Italy and in Europe, forming an important knot of railways, roads and motorway clearings. Besides, Milanis served by two international airports: Malpensa and Linate.

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