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The Po Valley (Italian Pianura Padana or Val Padana) is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends some 600 km in an east-west direction, including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po river; it runs from the Western Alps to the Adriatic Sea. The flatlands of Veneto and Friuli are often considered apart since they do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain. The altitude varies from sea level (and below in the Polesine subregion, where the Po approaches its delta) to about 500 meters high (1600 ft) in the southern Piedmontese province of Cuneo, also known as the Provincia granda. It is crossed by a number of affluents of the Po river from both sides, waters running down from the Alps in the north and from the Apennines in the south. Po's major affluents include Tanaro, Scrivia, Trebbia, Panaro and Secchia in the south, Dora Riparia, Dora Baltea, Sesia, Ticino (draining Lago Maggiore, Adda (draining Lake Como), Oglio (draining Lake Iseo) and Mincio (draining Lake Garda and called Sarca in its upper reaches) in the north. The plain was literally created by the Po and its tributaries over relatively short geological times. Huge quantities of silt ran down from the Alps with the superficial waters over an immense span of time, gradually closing what had been a maritime gulf, the northernmost extremity of the Adriatic Sea. Around 5 million years ago the silting process had built a deep sedimentary layer, thicker in the lower parts, more permeable in the upper reaches. This slow, unrelenting phenomenon continues to the present day - in perspective, the upper Adriatic could be almost completely closed by the advancing Po Delta in what is, geologically speaking, a very short time. The Po valley's western-central section, north of the Po river can broadly be divided into an upper, drier part, often not particularly suited for agriculture (the Piedmontese "vaude" and "baragge", the Lombard "brughiere" and "Groane"), and a southern, very fertile, and well irrigated section, known in Lombardy and western Emilia as "la Bassa", "the Low (plain)". This last part was settled and farmed in Etruscan and Roman times, and has been completely devoted to agriculture since the Middle Ages, when efforts from monastic orders, feudal lords and towns (Comuni) converged. The northern part, suffering a relative lack of water because of its heavier and more porous soil, has become the center of economic development and industry in Italy, and has now become an almost continuous megalopolis stretching from Turin to Trieste. At least 22 million people inhabit the plain, including also Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
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