  thumb|160px|gallic phalerae  (a type of military decoration) found in lombardy; museo santa giulia (brescia) cisalpine gaul (gallia cisalpina), also called gallia citerior or gallia togata, was the part of northern italy inhabited by celts (gauls) since the 4th century bc. conquered by the roman republic in the 220s bc, it was a roman province from c. 81 bc until 42 bc, when it was merged into roman italy. until that time, it was considered part of gaul, precisely that part of gaul on the "hither side of the alps" (from the perspective of the romans), as opposed to transalpine gaul ("on the far side of the alps"). gallia cisalpina was further subdivided into gallia cispadana and gallia transpadana, i.e. its portions south and north of the po river, respectively. the roman province of the 1st century bc was bounded on the north and west by the alps, in the south as far as placentia by the river po, and then by the apennines and the river rubicon, and in the east by the adriatic sea. in 49 bc all inhabitants of cisalpine gaul received roman citizenship,cassius dio xli, 36. and eventually the province was divided among four of the eleven regions of italy: regio viii gallia cispadana, regio ix liguria, regio x venetia et histria and regio xi gallia transpadana. ==history== ===early history===  thumb|ethno-linguistic map of the italian peninsula during the 6th century bc thumb|peoples of northern italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries bc there are no historical sources on gauls south of the alps prior to the 4th century bc. but it seems likely that the early celts, who were the bearers of the hallstatt culture north 
Ancient_Italian_history Pre-Roman_Gaul Provinces_of_Roman_Gaul