Alsace (French: Alsace [al.zas]; Alsatian: ’s Elsass [ˈɛlsɑs]; German: Elsass, pre-1996 also: Elsaß [ˈɛlzas]; Latin: Alsatia) is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area (8,280.2 km²), and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca.