This article is about the administrative division. For the association, see Comunes Collective. This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) Administrative divisions of Italy Regions (black borders) Provinces (grey borders) Comuni (white borders) In Italy, the comune (plural comuni) is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality. Contents 1 Importance and function 2 Subdivisions 3 Homonymy 4 See also 5 References 6 External links // Importance and function The comune provides many of the basic civil functions: registry of births and deaths, registry of deeds, contracting for local roads and public works, etc. It is headed by a mayor (sindaco) assisted by a legislative body, the Consiglio Comunale, and an executive body, the Giunta Comunale. Mayor and members of Consiglio Comunale are elected together by resident citizens: the coalition of the elected Mayor (who needs an absolute majority in the first or second round of voting) gains the three fifths of the Council's seats. The Giunta Comunale is chaired by mayor who appoint others members, called assessori. The offices of the comune are housed in a building usually called the Municipio, or Palazzo Comunale. Since the start of 2009 there have been 8,100 comuni in Italy; they vary considerably in area and population.

For example, the comune of Rome (Lazio) has an area of 1,285.30 km² and a population of 2,726,539, and is both the largest and the most populated comune in Italy; Fiera di Primiero, in the province of Trento, is the smallest comune by area, with only 0.15 km², and Morterone (province of Lecco) is the smallest by population, with only 33 inhabitants. The smallest non-alpine comune in Italy is Montelapiano, the fourth is Carapelle Calvisio, both in the mountainous region of Abruzzo. The density of comuni varies widely by province and region: the province of Bari, for example, has 1,564,000 inhabitants in 48 municipalities, or over 32,000 inhabitants per municipality; whereas the Aosta Valley has 121,000 inhabitants in 74 municipalities, or 1,630 inhabitants per municipality – roughly twenty times more communal units per inhabitant. There are inefficiencies at both ends of the scale, and there is concern about optimizing the size of the comuni so they may best function in the modern world, but planners are hampered by the historical resonances of the comuni, which often reach back many hundreds of years, or even a full millennium: while provinces and regions are creations of the central government, and subject to fairly frequent border changes, the natural cultural unit is indeed the comune, – for many Italians, their hometown: in recent years especially, it has thus become quite rare for comuni either to merge or to break apart.

Many comuni also have a Polizia Municipale (municipal police) which is responsible for public order duties. Traffic control is their main function in addition to controlling commercial establishments to ensure they open and close according to their license. Subdivisions A comune usually comprises: a principal town or village, that almost always gives its name to the comune; such a town is referred to as the capoluogo (“head place”, or “capital”; c.f. the French chef-lieu) of the comune; the word comune is also used in casual speech to refer to the town hall. other outlying areas called frazioni (singular: frazione, abbreviated fraz., literally “fraction”), each usually centred on a small town or village. These frazioni have usually never had any independent historical existence, but occasionally are former smaller comuni consolidated into a larger. They may also represent settlements which predated the capoluogo: the ancient town of Pollentia, for instance, today known as Pollenzo, is a frazione of Bra. In recent years the frazioni have become more important thanks to the instituction of the "Consiglio di Frazione", a local form of government which can interact with the comune and show it the local needs, requests and claims. Yet smaller places are called località (literally “localities” and often, as in the phonebook, abbreviated Loc.).

Sometimes, a frazione might be more populated than the capoluogo; and very occasionally, due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of the latter, the town hall and its administrative functions move to one of the frazioni: but the comune still retains the name of the capoluogo. In some cases, a comune might not have a capoluogo but only some 'frazioni': in these cases, it is called a "comune sparso" (sparse municipality) and the frazione which houses the town hall is called "sede municipale" (compare county seat). Homonymy There are not many homonymous Italian municipalities. There are only eight cases in 16 comuni:1 Brione: Brione (BS) and Brione (TN) Calliano: Calliano (AT) and Calliano (TN) Castro: Castro (BG) and Castro (LE) Livo: Livo (CO) and Livo (TN) Peglio: Peglio (CO) and Peglio (PU) Samone: Samone (TN) and Samone (TO) San Teodoro: San Teodoro (ME) and San Teodoro (OT) Valverde: Valverde (CT) and Valverde (PV) See also Circoscrizione Communes of France Contrada Frazione List of comuni of Italy List of Italian communes (2009) Località Medieval commune Municipality Municipio Quartiere Rione Rioni of Rome Sestiere Terziere References ^ (Italian) Complete list and infos on Comuni-italiani.it External links

Comuniverso.it - All of the Italian Municipalities Municipalities of Italy by Regions and by Provinces - Tuttitalia.it Media related to Municipalities of Italy at Wikimedia Commons The Wiktionary definition of comune (Italian) ANCI - National Association of Italian Comunes v · d · eArticles on third-level administrative divisions of countries Albania · Algeria · Angola · Argentina · Belgium · Benin · Bhutan · Burkina Faso · Burma · Burundi · Cambodia · Cameroon · Chad · Chile · China · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · East Timor · England · Ecuador · Estonia · Ethiopia · Finland · France · Germany  · Guinea · Greece · Haiti · India · Indonesia · Italy · Japan · Kenya · Liberia · Lebanon · Lesotho · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Mali · Mozambique · Nepal · Northern Ireland  · Niger · Panama · Papua New Guinea · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Scotland  · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Slovakia · South Africa · Spain · Sri Lanka · Switzerland · Tajikistan · Thailand · Ukraine · United States · Vietnam · Wales · Zimbabwe Table of administrative divisions by country v · d · eTypes of administrative country subdivisions Smallcaps indicate a type used by ten or more countries. Current English terms

Autonomous area · Bailiwick · Banner (Autonomous banner) · Block · Borough (County borough · Metropolitan borough) · Cadastral division · Canton · Capital (Federal capital) · Circle · Circuit · City (Autonomous city · Chartered city · Independent city) · Colony · Commune · Community (Autonomous community · Residential community) · Condominium · Constituency · Council · County (Administrative county · Autonomous county · Metropolitan county) · Department · District (Autonomous district · Capital district · City district · Federal district · Metropolitan district · Municipal district · Subdistrict · Regional district) · Division · Duchy · Eldership · Federal dependency · Governorate · Hamlet · Insular area · Local administrative unit · Local Government Area · Municipality (Direct-controlled municipality · District municipality · Regional municipality · Regional county municipality · Rural municipality · Specialized municipality) · Neighbourhood · Parish (Civil parish) · Periphery · Prefecture (Autonomous prefecture · Subprefecture · Super-prefecture) · Principality (Co-principality) · Protectorate · Province (Autonomous province) · Quarter · Regency · Region (Autonomous region · Capital region · Special administrative region) · Republic (Autonomous republic) · Reservation (Reserve) · Riding · Shire · Special Area · State · Suzerainty · Territory (Autonomous territorial unit · Capital territory · Dependent territory · National territory · Union Territory) · Town · Townland · Township (Civil township) · Urban (urbanized) area · Village (Summer village) · Ward Current non-English and loanword terms

Amt · Arrondissement · Bairro · Bakhsh · Baladiyah · Barangay · Bezirk / Regierungsbezirk · Comarca · Comune · Daïra · Deme · Frazione · Freguesia · Gmina · İl · Judeţ · Kommun · Località · Megye · Nome · Oblast · Okrug · Ostān · Powiat · Raion · Ranchería · Shabiyah · Shahr · Shahrestān · Sýsla · Taluka · Tehsil · Vingtaine · Voivodeship · Wilayah · Woreda Defunct and historical English terms Agency · Barony · Burgh · Diocese · Exarchate · Free imperial city · Hide · Hundred · Imperial Circle · March · Praetorian prefecture · Presidency · Residency · Rural district · Sanitary district · Tithing · Urban district · Viscountcy (Viscounty) Defunct and historical non-English terms Commote · Heerlijkheid · Katepanikion · Liwa · Naucrary · Pagus · Pargana · Plasă · Satrapy · Theme See also: Census division · Electoral division · Political division · Arabic terms for country subdivisions · French terms for country subdivisions · Spanish terms for country subdivisions