Occitan (; ; ), also known as lenga d'òc (; ) by its native speakers, is a Romance language. It is spoken in southern France, Italy's Occitan Valleys, Monaco, and Spain's Val d'Aran; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to unofficially as Occitania. Occitan is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese (Calabria, Italy). . Others include Catalan in this family, as the distance between this language and other Occitan dialects (as the Gascon language) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, it was considered an Occitan dialect until the end of the 19th century.