Topic summary
Arpitania
Arpitania (Arpitan and Italian: Arpitania, French: Arpitanie) is a cultural region in Western Alps where the Arpitan language was historically spoken and still persists today. It approximately encompasses parts of eastern France, northwestern Italy and western Switzerland, concretely:
- France (Ain, Isère, Rhône, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, the Metropolis of Lyon, and parts of Jura).
- Switzerland (Geneva, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Valais, and Vaud, i.e. all of Romandy except Jura)
- Italy (Aosta Valley and Arpitan Valleys)
Even though Arpitania has never been constituted as a united political entity, it roughly corresponds to the historical County of Savoy and its successor state the Duchy of Savoy. Currently, the only Arpitan-speaking region which formally recognises the language is the Aosta Valley, where it is protected.
Over 7,600,000 people live in Arpitania, but only around 150,000 speakers of Arpitan live here. French is the most-spoken language in Arpitania, followed by Italian. The most populous cities in Arpitania are Lyon, Geneva, and Saint-Étienne.