The County of Berat (Albanian: Qarku i Beratit) is one of the 12 counties of Albania. It consists of the districts Berat, Kuçovë, and Skrapar; its capital is Berat. The main cities are Berat city proper,Kucove,Polican,Ura Vajgurore, Corovode and Bogove. Berat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 2005 under criteria iii and iv) covering an area of 58.9 hectares (146 acres) and a buffer zone of 136.2 hectares (337 acres). It lies 123 km south of Tirana, the capital of Albania.

The historical, cultural and architectural heritage of the Byzantine era and of the Ottoman Empire is amply represented in the many monuments still well preserved and maintained in the Berat city of the county. It is popularly known as the "City of a Thousand Steps" and also a "Museum City."

Archaeologists have found various artifacts including silver female earrings and bronze belt-buckles in Bronze Age tumuli in Pëllumbas, one of the villages of Berat. These items are similar to other artifacts found in northern Albania (Kukës and Mat), Kosovo (Gjilane) and northwestern Greece (Pogoni).

Berat is a town located in south-central Albania and the capital of both the District of Berat and the larger County of Berat. As of 2009, the town has an estimated population of around 71,000 people. In July 2008, the old town (Mangalem district) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The current name of the town in Albanian is Berat or Berati, which is derived from the older Bel(i)grad (Белград, meaning "white city" in the South Slavic languages), under which name it was known in Greek, Latin and Slavic documents during the High and Late Middle Ages. That name was rendered as Bellegrada (Βελλέγραδα) in Greek. It is believed to have been the site of a Ancient Macedonian stronghold, Antipatreia (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιπάτρεια "city of Antipater") or Antipatrea in Latin, while during the early Byzantine Empire the name of the town was Pulcheriopolis (Greek: Πουλχεριόπολις, "city of Pulcheria"). In the Republic of Venice the city was known as Belgrad di Romania, while in the Ottoman Empire it was also known as Belgrad-i Arnavud (Albanian Belgrade) to distinguish it from Belgrade.

Rich Silverstein is Co-Chairman and a Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.

Rich grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York. After graduating from the Parsons School of Design in New York City, he moved to San Francisco. Rich worked in one-year increments as an art director for Rolling Stone magazine, Bozell & Jacobs, McCann-Erickson, Foote, Cone & Belding and Ogilvy & Mather, where he met Jeff Goodby.

Rich has won industry awards such as One Show Pencils and Cannes Lions, and along with his partner Jeff Goodby, he’s been named Creative Director of the Year by AdWeek Magazine and has been chosen to join AdWeek's National Creative All-Star Team. In 2002, he was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame , and in 2004, into The One Club Creative Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was honored to receive the CLIO Lifetime Achievement award.

He served for fifteen years on the board of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. He currently serves on the board of Specialized Bicycles and the United States Cycling Federation, along with their development committee . He helped launch racing's American Formula One Team. Rich also blogs for The Huffington Post.