[29] South of the Alps are a succession of low hills of morainic origin that were formed during the Last Glacial Period and small, barely fertile plateaux with typical heaths and conifer woods.

The most important is Stelvio National Park, established in 1935[33]—the fourth largest Italian natural park, with typically alpine wildlife such as red deer, roe deer, ibex, chamois, foxes, ermine and golden eagles; and the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino, which was instituted in 1974 on the Lombard side of the river Ticino to protect one of the last major examples of fluvial forest in northern Italy.

[40] In the Alpine foothills with oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), numerous lakes have a mitigating influence, allowing typically Mediterranean crops (olive, citrus fruit) to grow.

[43] The geological structure of Lombardy derives from the orogeny of the Alps due to the collision between the African and Eurasian plates which generated the Alpine chain from the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene.

[46] Because of high levels of industrialisation and the lack of wind due to the region being enclosed between mountain ranges, air pollution remains a severe problem in Lombardy and northern Italy.

In March 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA)[47] published images taken from its satellites that show a large stain composed of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles above the Po Valley area.

Well-preserved rock drawings left by ancient Camuni in the Valcamonica depicting animals, people, and symbols were made over 8,000 years before the Iron Age,[52] based on about 300,000 records.

[53] The many artefacts found in a necropolis near Lake Maggiore and the Ticino demonstrate the presence of the Golasecca Bronze Age culture that prospered in western Lombardy between the ninth and the 4th centuries BC.

As in other areas of Italy, this led to a growing self-acknowledgement of the cities, whose increasing wealth made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power that was represented by the German emperors and their local legates.

[63] From the 14th century onward, the instability created by the internal and external struggles ended in the creation of noble seigniories, the most significant of whom were the Viscontis (later Sforzas) in Milan and of the Gonzagas in Mantua.

The eastern part of modern-day Lombardy, including the cities Bergamo and Brescia, was controlled by the Republic of Venice, which had begun to extend its influence in the area from the 14th century onwards.

The city of Milan, in the early 1990s, was the origin of the series of scandals known as Tangentopoli which emerged from the judicial investigations of the Milanese prosecutor's office known as Mani pulite, which then spread to the rest of the country.

The productivity of agriculture is enhanced by the use of fertilisers and the traditional abundance of water, which has been boosted since the Middle Ages by the construction of irrigation systems that were partly designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

The world's largest sturgeon farm is located in Calvisano, about 30 km (19 mi) south of the city centre,[125] producing 25 tonnes of caviar annually, which is exported worldwide.

[152] Other important tourist flows concern the Alpine valleys (in particular Valtellina)[153] and the numerous historical-artistic cities, rich in monuments and testimonies of the Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance.

[12] The population is highly concentrated in the Milan metropolitan area (2,029 inh./km2) and the Alpine foothills that compose the southern section of the provinces Varese, Como, Lecco, Monza and Brianza and Bergamo, (1,200 inh./km2).

[170] The official coat of arms of Lombardy consists of a Camunian rose, an ancient solar symbol common to some proto-Celtic peoples, present in 94 of the approximately 140,000 Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, in the province of Brescia.

Officially adopted together with the banner with regional law n. 85 of 12 June 1975,[172] the coat of arms was introduced on the proposal of the then councilor for culture Alessandro Fontana[173] and was designed in the same year by Pino Tovaglia, Bob Noorda, Roberto Sambonet [it] and Bruno Munari.

[174][175] The banner consists of a reproduction of the Carroccio, a large four-wheeled chariot bearing the city insignia around which the militias of the Medieval communes of northern Italy gathered and fought, whose autonomy it represented, and of the coat of arms of the region.

[178] After the decisive defeat of Legnano, the emperor accepted a six-year armistice (the so-called "Venice truce"), until the Peace of Constance, following which the medieval municipalities of northern Italy agreed to remain faithful to the Empire in exchange for full local jurisdiction over their territories.

First courses in Lombard cuisine range from risottos to soups and stuffed pasta (in broth or not), and a large choice of second-course meat or fish dishes, due to the many lakes and rivers of Lombardy.

In Mantua, festivals feature tortelli di zucca (ravioli with pumpkin filling) accompanied by melted butter and followed by turkey stuffed with chicken or other stewed meats.

[184] It is a cluster of homogeneous varieties used by at least 3,500,000 native speakers in Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions, such as the eastern part of Piedmont and the southern Switzerland cantons of Ticino and Grisons.

[208] Milanese literature had a strong development in the 18th century: some important names emerged, including the famous poet Giuseppe Parini, who wrote some compositions in the Lombard language.

[211] Milanese poetic production took on such important dimensions that in 1815 the scholar Francesco Cherubini published a four-volume anthology of Lombard literature, which included texts written from the 17th century to his day.

These settlements are a unique group of exceptionally well-preserved and culturally rich archaeological sites, which constitute one of the most important sources for the study of early agrarian societies in the region.

Two of the sites are in modern-day Lombardy: the fortifications (the castrum and the Torba Tower), and the church of Santa Maria foris portas ("outside the gates") has Byzantinesque frescoes at Castelseprio, and the monastic complex of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia at Brescia.

[221][222] The Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci represent architectural and painting styles of the 15th-century Renaissance period.

[225] Crespi d'Adda is a historic settlement and an outstanding example of the 19th and early 20th-century "company towns" built in Europe and North America by enlightened industrialists to meet the workers' needs.

The architectural project of the Milan Metro, created by Franco Albini and Franca Helg, and the signs, designed by Bob Noorda, received the Compasso d'Oro award in 1964.