Province of Perugia

Province of Perugia
Province
Coat of arms
Map highlighting the location of the province of Perugia in Italy
Country	Italy
Region	Umbria
Capital(s)	Perugia
Comuni	59
Government
• President	Nando Mismetti (PD)
Area
• Total	6,334 km2 (2,446 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2015)
• Total	664,155
• Density	100/km2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	06010-06089, 06100
Telephone prefix	075, 0578, 0742, 0743
Vehicle registration	PG
ISTAT	054
Website	www.provincia.perugia.it

The Province of Perugia (Italian: Provincia di Perugia) is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered all of Umbria until 1927, when the province of Terni was carved out of its southern third. The province of Perugia has an area of 6,334 km² covering two-thirds of Umbria, and a total population of about 660,000. There are 59 comunes (Italian: comuni) in the province. The province has numerous tourist attractions, especially artistic and historical ones, and is home to the Lake Trasimeno, the largest lake of Central Italy. It historically the ancestral origin of the Umbri, while later it was a Roman province and then part of the Papal States until the late 19th century.

Probably the Etruscans founded Perugia in the 6th century B.C.. The Umbra and Tiber Valleys are located in the province. The eastern part of the province is a hilly region while the rest was covered by forests. The province lies in the basin of the river Tiber and its tributaries Chiaseio, Nestore, Naja and Chiana. The southern regions are less hilly. Silk, corn and grass are some of the most important agricultural products of the province. The 1840 version of the Penny Cyclopaedia records that Perugia supplied almost half of the butcher's meat required in the city of Rome. The large number of cattle was fed on grass growing on the plain areas irrigated by the water of Tiber and its tributaries. After the province of Rome, Viterbo and Spoleto e Rieti the Perugian province was the fourth most important of the Papal States. The largest lake in central Italy, Lake Trasimeno is located in the Province of Perugia. The lake has three islands – Polvese, Maggiore and Minore. The lake has a circumference of about 30 miles but is relatively shallow. It is fed by springs in the nearby hills.

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Wikipedia