Northeast Italy ( or just Nord-est) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. Northeast encompasses four of the country's 20 regions:
Historical names
Triveneto (literally "Triple Veneto") is a historical region of
Italy. The area is made up of the three smaller historical regions of Venezia Euganea ("
Euganean Venetia"), Venezia Giulia ("
Julian March") and Venezia Tridentina ("
Trento Venetia").
[ Venetia] This territory was named after the
Roman Empire region of Venetia et Histria. The entire area was under Austrian rule in 1863; Italy annexed Venezia Euganea in 1866,
[Peace of Prague (1866)] following the Third Italian War of Independence and a controversial plebiscite (see Venetian nationalism); Julian Venetia and Venezia Tridentina passed under the Italian rule in 1919, following the end of World War I.
[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)] After World War II, Italy retained the most part of Tre Venezie, but lost Slovenian and Croatian majority areas of the upper
Isonzo valley (together with the eastern part of Gorizia, today called
Nova Gorica), the city of
Fiume, most part of
Carso region and most part of
Istria to Yugoslavia.
[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947] The areas of Trieste (
Zone A) and north-west Istria (
Zone B) were formed in the Free Territory of Trieste: in 1954, Italy reannexed Zone A, while Zone B was ceded to Yugoslavia. Nowadays the name
Triveneto includes the three administrative regions of
Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
Venetia et Histria, an old region of Italy at the time of Roman Empire, refers to Veneto, Trentino, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, East Lombardy and Istria; it was named after the people of Adriatic Veneti, who inhabited that region, and who are still largely the main ethnic group of the Italian area (other main ethnic groups include Friulani in the east, mostly in Udine province; Ladin people in the Dolomites are between Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol; Germans in South Tyrol; and Slovenes minorities on the border with Slovenia and in the city of Trieste); while after 1947 Venetian/Istrian Italians are just a minority in Slovenian and Istria. Roman Venetia et Histria was originally created by Augustus as the tenth regio in 7 AD alongside the nine other regiones. The region had been one of the last regions of Italy to be incorporated into the Roman Empire.
Geography
It borders to the north with
Austria and
Switzerland, to the east with
Slovenia, to the south with
Liguria,
Tuscany,
Marche and the small state of
San Marino, to the west with
Lombardy and for a very short stretch with
Piedmont.
Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and
Veneto are washed by the
Adriatic Sea
Northeastern Italy includes most of the Po Valley, crossed by the Po river, the longest river in Italy, and includes highly industrialized regions with a high tourist activity.
Demography
Northeast Italy has 11,597,719 inhabitants as of 2025.
Regions
|
| 4,465,678 | 22,446 | 199 |
| 1,194,095 | 7,924 | 150 |
| 1,086,095 | 13,606 | 79 |
| 4,851,851 | 18,345 | 264 |
Most populous municipalities
Below is the list of the most populous municipalities with more than inhabitants.
|
| 390,734 |
| 255,133 |
| 249,466 |
| 207,694 |
| 198,986 |
| 198,668 |
| 184,739 |
| 172,518 |
| 156,444 |
| 150,630 |
| 129,384 |
| 118,911 |
| 117,609 |
| 110,492 |
| 106,463 |
| 103,464 |
| 98,320 |
| 95,887 |
| 85,770 |
| 73,324 |
| 69,350 |
| 58,800 |
| 52,371 |
Languages
Italian language is the main language. Other languages include Venetian, widely spoken in Veneto and along the coast to
Trieste and
Istria, as well as in the towns of
Pordenone and
Gorizia in
Friuli, and in most of
Trentino, but only recognised by the
Veneto region; Friulian, spoken in most of
Friuli and nationally recognized, and
Ladin language, spoken by a few thousand people in the
Dolomites. Other languages are
German language, the primary language of
South Tyrol, where Italian is spoken by about two thirds of the inhabitants, and
Slovene language, recognized by Italy and spoken on the border of Italy and Istria, where the main language today is
but Italian is recognized as a minority language due to the presence of the
Istrian Italians.
Economy
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 407.9 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 23.1% of Italy's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 34,900 euros or 116% of the EU27 average in the same year.
See also
External links
