The Province of Parma () is a province in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy. Its largest town and capital is the city of Parma. It is made up of 47 comuni. It has an area of and a total population of around 450,000. The province is bordered by the Province of Reggio Emilia to the east, the Piacenza to the west, Lombardy's provinces of Cremona and Mantova to the north and by Liguria's provinces of La Spezia and Genoa and Tuscany's Province of Massa and Carrara to the south. History In 1861, Italian provinces were established on the French republican model. Italian Fascism saw the end of elections in the Province of Parma in the 1920s until the end of the Second World War. Geography The province is divided into three zones from north to south: the pianura (plains), the collina (hills) and the montagna (mountains). The Po river acts as a boundary with the nearby province of Cremona in the plains. The main centres of the collina and montagna are situated along the course of the main rivers, which descend from the Parmesan Apennine Mountains. Roughly, each zone comprises one third of the total area. The Plains: The part in the North of the Province comprises Parma, Fidenza and various smaller towns, and covers from the Po river to the foothills at an altitude of 50 to 100 m amsl. This area has a continental climate, with cold winters (minimum temperatures around −1 °C in the city centres, −3 °C to −4° in the countryside on average) with an average of 45 to 60 cm of snow each year, hot and humid summers (maximum temperatures over 30 °C on average). During autumns and springs it is not uncommon to encounter fog, with an average of 31 days of fog a year in the city of Parma and higher values on the countryside, particularly in the area close to the Po river. During summer, thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail can hit the area. This is the part of the Province that hosts the vast majority of the industrial production, while the rest of the land is extensively used to grow crops, mainly wheat, tomatoes (with Mutti and various other producers based here) and alfalfa to feed the cows whose milk is used to produce Parmesan cheese. The hills: The centre part of the Province comprises only smaller towns, built