Lombardy

The Lombardy Region (Italian: Regione Lombardia; Lombard: Lombardia) 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.

Its territory is divided into 1,502 comuni (the region with the largest number of comuni in the entire national territory), distributed among 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.

It is the second-most populous region of the European Union (EU), and the second region of the European Union by nominal GDP. Lombardy is the leading region of Italy in terms of economic importance, contributing to approximately one-fifth of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Lombardy is a member of the Four Motors for Europe, an international economic 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 and is a global financial centre.

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