The highest mountain in the region is Cima del Redentore, in the Sibillini Mountains (), with an altitude of .
Umbria is divided into two provinces:
The 10 communi with more people living in it are:
Valle d'Aosta
Valle d'Aosta (Val d'Aosta or Val d'Aoste) is a mountainous region in the northwest. In the English language it is usually called the "Aosta Valley".
The region has two official name: "Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta" (in Italian) and "Région Autonome Vallée d'Aoste" (in French). The capital is Aosta.
The valley goes up towards Mont Blanc. It is the route out of Italy to the North-West. It was used by Roman armies, and the proof is in the archaeological artefacts found in Aosta. The town has been both French and Italian over the past few centuries, and the street names in Aosta are in both languages.
It is the smallest region in Italy, with an area of , and a population of about 126,883. It is the only Italian region which has no provinces. The regional government has taken all the administrative functions of a province. The region is divided into 74 "comuni".
Its frontier to the north is with Switzerland (Canton Valais), to the west with France (region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), to the south and east with the Italian region of Piedmont.
The Valle d'Aosta is a small valley, the valley of the Dora Baltea river, with some smaller side valleys. It is in the middle of the Alps, surrounded by four of the tallest mountains throughout Italy and Europe:
In the Valle d'Aosta, a region with many mountains and close to the borders with other countries, the mountain passes are very important. Even though now there some tunnels, the passes are important. They add a historical and geographical perspective which is important to tourism and tradition.
The main mountain passes between the Val d'Aosta and other valleys are:
The southern part of the territory is occupied by the Gran Paradiso National Park, created in 1922 to protect plants and animals in danger of extinction.
The valleys were made by glaciers moving at a time when the entire region was covered by them. Currently, glaciers occupy only the highest peaks.
The Dora Baltea () river flows along the whole Valle d'Aosta, from the northwest to the southeast; it is long and is a tributary of the Po river.
The 74 "comuni" - with the exception of Aosta - of the Valle d'Aosta are organized in mountain communities (, ). There are eight mountain communities:
The 10 "comuni" of the Valle d'Aosta with the higher populations (January 2017) are:
A person from the Valle d'Aosta is called a "Valdotian" (, ).
The total population of Valle d'Aosta in 1 January 2017 was 126,883, of which 61,976 were male and 64,907 were female.
Evolution of the population in the Aosta Valley
Italian and French are the region's official languages and are used for the regional government's acts and laws, though Italian is much more widely spoken in everyday life. Of the population of the valley 96% speaks Italian as either a first or second language. Of the population 70% speaks French as either first or second language. School education is given equally in both Italian and French.
The regional language is a dialect of Franco-Provençal called Valdôtain (locally, "patois"). It is spoken as native tongue and as second language by about 58% of the population, according to a poll taken by the Fondation Émile Chanoux in 2002. The residents of the villages of Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Gressoney-La-Trinité and Issime, in the Lys Valley, speak two dialects of Walser German origin called "Titsch" and "Töitschu" respectively.
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc ("Monte Bianco" in Italian) is a mountain in the Alps. Its height is 4810.90 metres. When Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) in the Caucasus is left out, Mont Blanc is often considered the highest point in Europe.
Mont Blanc is on the Italy/France border.
Shiite Crescent
Shiite Crescent is used as political and geo-political term to describe the different countries whose majority is Shia or who had a strong Shia minority in the population. Is often used to describe the potential of a cooperation of these countries in the Middle East policy.
The nations where Shi'a Muslims form a dominant majority are Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Iran, Bahrain and Iraq. The shape of these countries put together resembles a crescent or half moon. Large minorities also exist in Turkey, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India, UAE, and Syria.
Tibet
Xizang Autonomous Region, also called the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Its capital is Lhasa. English speakers often call this region Tibet, but Tibet can also mean any place where the Tibetan culture is local to.
Tibet's main religion is Buddhism. Their traditions make it a place of interest to many people. The local monks are sometimes said to have special, superhuman abilities. The writings of Tibetan monks are sometimes shared with outsiders, and are known for their insight. The "Tibetan Book of the Dead" contains rituals for the dead and dying, somewhat similar to the Catholic last rites. Some Tibetans practice a religion called Bon. People who study Bon disagree where Bon came from, how old it is, and if it can be called a kind of Buddhism. The religious leader of Tibet's Buddhists is called the Dalai Lama. He was forced to leave the country when the Chinese Army took over. The Dalai Lama presently lives in exile in India, but often visits other countries. Many monks and other religious people also were forced to leave the country, and many of them started Buddhist and Bon centers in cities around the world.
Tibet formed from communities living along the Yarlung Tsangpo, the longest river in Tibet. Namri Songtsen united these communities under one king around 600 CE, with the city of Lhasa becoming capital. His son Songtsen Gampo took control of land beyond Lhasa and the Yarlung Tsangpo and started the Tibetan Empire. Tibetan writers say that Buddhists came to Tibet for the first time while Songtsen Gampo was king. Trisong Detsen, king from 755-794 CE, gave a lot of support to Buddhism. He helped build a monastery at Samye, which became very important. During Trisong Detsen's time as king, the Tibetan Empire had control over large areas of land. Tibet's borders touched Central Asia and Afghanistan at the west, Bangladesh at the south, and China at the east. After the king Langdarma was killed in 842, the Tibetan Empire collapsed, and Tibet was no longer united under one king.
In the late 900s and 1000s, people started new Buddhist and Bon traditions. Three of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism were started during this time, as well as the first Bon monasteries. People who study Tibet's history call this time the Tibetan Renaissance. In 1042, the Indian Buddhist master Atisha came to Tibet. Atisha inspired a reform of Tibet's monasteries and wrote an important guidebook for people to gain enlightenment. These kinds of guidebooks are called lamrim, and all of the lamrim books in Tibet are based on Atisha's book. The largest school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelug school, was started by people inspired by Atisha, particularly the monk Tsongkhapa (1357-1419). Tsongkhapa's writings on philosophy became the new norm in Tibet.