Piedmont (Piemonte) enjoys an unrivaled seat among the world's very finest wine regions. Located in northwest Italy it is the home of more DOCG wines than any other Italian region, among them such well known and respected names as Barolo, Barbaresco, and Barbera d'Asti. Piedmont sits, as its name suggests, at the foot of the Western Alps, which encircle its northern and western sides and forms its naturally formidable border with Provence, France. To its southeast lie the northernmost Apennine Mountains. These low coastal hills divide Piedmont from its long, thin neighbor Liguria, and the Mediterranean beyond.