Regions of Italy

Regions Regioni  (Italian)
Template:Italy Labelled Map Scalable
Category	Unitary state
Location	Italian Republic
Number	20
Populations	125,666 (Aosta Valley) – 10,060,574 (Lombardy)
Areas	3,261 km2 (1,259 sq mi) (Aosta Valley) – 25,832 km2 (9,974 sq mi) (Sicily)
Government	Regional Government, National Government
Subdivisions	Province

The regions of Italy (Italian: regioni d'Italia) are the first-level constituent entities of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are 20 regions, of which five have a broader amount of autonomy than the other 15 regions. Under the Italian Constitution, each region is an autonomous entity with defined powers. With the exception of the Aosta Valley, each region is divided into a number of provinces.

History

During the Kingdom of Italy, regions were administrative districts of the central state. Under the Republic, they were granted a measure of political autonomy by the 1948 Italian Constitution. The original draft list comprised the Salento region (which was eventually included in the Apulia). Friuli and Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were identified as separate regions in the first draft. They were later merged into Abruzzo e Molise in the final constitution of 1948. They were separated in 1963.

Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional elections of 1970. The ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions where it was historically rooted (the red belt of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches).

Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a constitutional reform in 2001 (brought about by a centre-left government and confirmed by popular referendum), which granted them residual policy competence. A further federalist reform was proposed by the regionalist party Lega Nord and in 2005, the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform that would have greatly increased the power of regions.

The proposals, which had been particularly associated with Lega Nord, and seen by some as leading the way to a federal state, were rejected in the 2006 Italian constitutional referendum by 61.7% to 38.3%. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55.3% in favor in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria.

Political control

File:Winning Coalitions in Italian Regions.svg

Regions colored by the winning coalition (as of September 2020)

Number of regions governed by each coalition since 1995:

  Centre-left

  Centre-right

  Others

Regions

Flag	Region Italian name (if different)	Status	Population January 2019		Area		Pop. density	HDI	Capital	President		Number of comuni	Prov. or metrop. cities
			Number	%	km²	%
File:Flag of Abruzzo.svg	Abruzzo	Ordinary	1,311,580	2.17%	10,832	3.59%	121	0.890	L'Aquila	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Marco Marsilio Brothers of Italy	305	4
File:Flag of Valle d'Aosta.svg	Aosta Valley Valle d'Aosta	Autonomous	125,666	0.21%	3,261	1.08%	39	0.878	Aosta	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color;"|	Erik Lavévaz Valdostan Union	74	1
File:Flag of Apulia.svg	Apulia Puglia	Ordinary	4,029,053	6.68%	19,541	6.48%	206	0.852	Bari	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"|	Michele Emiliano Democratic Party	258	6
File:Flag of Basilicata.svg	Basilicata	Ordinary	562,869	0.93%	10,073	3.34%	56	0.857	Potenza	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Vito Bardi Forza Italia	131	2
File:Flag of Calabria.svg	Calabria	Ordinary	1,947,131	3.23%	15,222	5.04%	128	0.850	Catanzaro	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Jole Santelli Forza Italia	404	5
File:Flag of Campania.svg	Campania	Ordinary	5,801,692	9.61%	13,671	4.53%	424	0.847	Naples	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"|	Vincenzo De Luca Democratic Party	550	5
File:Fictional Emilia-Romagna Flag.svg	Emilia-Romagna	Ordinary	4,459,477	7.39%	22,453	7.44%	199	0.915	Bologna	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"|	Stefano Bonaccini Democratic Party	328	9
File:Flag of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.svg	Friuli Venezia Giulia	Autonomous	1,215,220	2.01%	7,924	2.63%	153	0.898	Trieste	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Massimiliano Fedriga League	215	4
File:Lazio Flag.svg	Lazio	Ordinary	5,879,082	9.74%	17,232	5.71%	341	0.909	Rome	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"|	Nicola Zingaretti Democratic Party	378	5
File:Flag of Liguria.svg	Liguria	Ordinary	1,550,640	2.57%	5,416	1.79%	286	0.896	Genoa	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Giovanni Toti Cambiamo!	234	4
File:Flag of Lombardy.svg	Lombardy Lombardia	Ordinary	10,060,574	16.67%	23,864	7.91%	422	0.907	Milan	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Attilio Fontana League	1,509	12
File:Flag of Marche.svg	Marche	Ordinary	1,525,271	2.53%	9,401	3.12%	162	0.896	Ancona	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Francesco Acquaroli Brothers of Italy	228	5
File:Flag of Molise.svg	Molise	Ordinary	305,617	0.51%	4,461	1.48%	69	0.867	Campobasso	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Donato Toma Forza Italia	136	2
File:Bandiera della regione Piemonte.svg	Piedmont Piemonte	Ordinary	4,356,406	7.22%	25,387	8.41%	172	0.892	Turin	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Alberto Cirio Forza Italia	1,182	8
File:Flag of Sardinia, Italy.svg	Sardinia Sardegna	Autonomous	1,639,591	2.72%	24,100	7.99%	68	0.863	Cagliari	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Christian Solinas Sardinian Action Party	377	5
File:Sicilian Flag.svg	Sicily Sicilia	Autonomous	4,999,891	8.28%	25,832	8.56%	194	0.845	Palermo	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color"|	Nello Musumeci Diventerà Bellissima	390	9
File:Flag of Trentino-South Tyrol.svg	Trentino-South Tyrol Trentino-Alto Adige	Autonomous	1,072,276	1.78%	13,606	4.51%	79	0.919	Trento	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Arno Kompatscher South Tyrolean People's Party	291	2
File:Flag of Tuscany.svg	Tuscany Toscana	Ordinary	3,729,641	6.18%	22,987	7.62%	162	0.903	Florence	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"|	Eugenio Giani Democratic Party	273	10
File:Flag of Umbria.svg	Umbria	Ordinary	882,015	1.46%	8,464	2.81%	104	0.889	Perugia	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Donatella Tesei League	92	2
File:Flag of Veneto.svg	Veneto	Ordinary	4,905,854	8.13%	18,020	5.97%	267	0.896	Venice	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"|	Luca Zaia League	571	7
File:Flag of Italy.svg	Italy Italia	—	60,359,546	100.00%	301,747	100.00%	200	0.887	Rome	style="background:Template:Independent politician/meta/color;"|	Sergio Mattarella Independent	7,926	107

Macroregions

Macroregions are the first-level NUTS of the European Union.^(it)

Map	Macroregion Italian name	Regions	Major city	Population January 2019		Area (km²)		Population density (km−2)
				Number	%	km²	%
File:Italian NUTS1 NorthWest.svg	North-West Nord-Ovest	Aosta Valley Liguria Lombardy Piedmont	Milan	16,093,286	26.66%	57,928	19.18%	278
File:Italian NUTS1 NorthEast.svg	North-East Nord-Est	Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Trentino-South Tyrol Veneto	Bologna	11,652,827	19.31%	62,003	20.63%	187
File:Italian NUTS1 Central.svg	Centre Centro	Lazio Marche Tuscany Umbria	Rome	12,016,009	19.91%	58,085	19.23%	208
File:Italian NUTS1 South.svg	South Sud	Abruzzo Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Molise	Naples	13,957,942	23.12%	73,800	24.43%	191
File:Italian NUTS1 Islands.svg	Islands Isole or Insulare (adj)	Sardinia Sicily	Palermo	6,639,482	11.00%	49,932	16.53%	135

Status

Every region has a statute that serves as a regional constitution, determining the form of government and the fundamental principles of the organization and the functioning of the region, as prescribed by the Constitution of Italy (Article 123). Although all the regions except Tuscany define themselves in various ways as an "autonomous Region" in the first article of their Statutes, fifteen regions have ordinary statutes and five have special statutes, granting them extended autonomy.

Regions with ordinary statute

These regions, whose statutes are approved by their regional councils, were created in 1970, even though the Italian Constitution dates back to 1948. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had residual legislative powers. The regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law (Article 117). Yet their financial autonomy is quite modest: they just keep 20% of all levied taxes, mostly used to finance the region-based healthcare system.

Autonomous regions with special statute

File:Autonomous Regions of Italy.svg

Autonomous regions

Article 116 of the Italian Constitution grants home rule to five regions, namely Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Aosta Valley and Friuli Venezia Giulia, allowing them some legislative, administrative and financial power to a varying extent, depending on their specific statute. These regions became autonomous in order to take into account cultural differences and protect linguistic minorities. Moreover, the government wanted to prevent their secession from Italy after the Second World War.

Institutions

Each region has an elected parliament, called Consiglio Regionale (regional council), or Assemblea Regionale (regional assembly) in Sicily, and a government called Giunta Regionale (regional committee), headed by a governor called Presidente della Giunta Regionale (president of the regional committee) or Presidente della Regione (regional president). The latter is directly elected by the citizens of each region, with the exceptions of Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regions where the president is chosen by the regional council.

Under the 1995 electoral law, the winning coalition receives an absolute majority of seats on the council. The president chairs the giunta, and nominates or dismisses its members, called assessori. If the directly elected president resigns, new elections are called immediately.

In the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region, the regional council is made up of the joint session of the two provincial councils of Trentino and of South Tyrol. The regional president is one of the two provincial commissioners.

Representation in the Senate

File:Italian senators.png

Number of senators currently assigned to each Region.

Article 57 of the Constitution of Italy establishes that the Senate of the Italian Republic is elected on a regional basis (excluding 6 senators elected by Italians residing abroad and a small number of senators for life) by Italian citizens aged 25 or older.

The 309 senators are assigned to each region proportionally according to their population. However, Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than seven senators representing it, except for the Aosta Valley (which has one) and Molise (which has two).

Region	Seats	Region	Seats	Region	Seats
Template:Country data Abruzzo	7	Template:Country data Friuli-Venezia Giulia	7	Template:Country data Sardinia	8
Template:Country data Aosta Valley	1	Template:Country data Lazio	28	Template:Country data Sicily	25
Template:Country data Apulia	20	Liguria	8	Template:Country data Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	7
Template:Country data Basilicata	7	Template:Country data Lombardy	49	Template:Country data Tuscany	18
Template:Country data Calabria	10	Template:Country data Marche	8	Template:Country data Umbria	7
Template:Country data Campania	29	Template:Country data Molise	2	Template:Country data Veneto	24
Template:Country data Emilia-Romagna	22	Template:Country data Piedmont	22	Overseas constituencies	6

Economy of regions and macroregions

Flag	Name	GDP 2011, million EUR	GDP per capita 2011, EUR	GDP 2011, million PPS	GDP per capita 2011, PPS
File:Flag of Abruzzo.svg	Abruzzo	30,073	22,400	29,438	21,900
File:Flag of Valle d'Aosta.svg	Aosta Valley	4,328	33,700	4,236	33,000
File:Flag of Apulia.svg	Apulia	69,974	17,100	68,496	16,700
File:Flag of Basilicata.svg	Basilicata	10,744	18,300	10,517	17,900
File:Flag of Calabria.svg	Calabria	33,055	16,400	32,357	16,100
File:Flag of Campania.svg	Campania	93,635	16,000	91,658	15,700
File:Fictional Emilia-Romagna Flag.svg	Emilia-Romagna	142,609	32,100	139,597	31,400
File:Flag of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.svg	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	36,628	29,600	35,855	29,000
File:Lazio Flag.svg	Lazio	172,246	29,900	168,609	29,300
File:Flag of Liguria.svg	Liguria	43,998	27,200	43,069	26,700
File:Flag of Lombardy.svg	Lombardy	337,161	33,900	330,042	33,200
File:Flag of Marche.svg	Marche	40,877	26,100	40,014	25,500
File:Flag of Molise.svg	Molise	6,414	20,100	6,278	19,700
File:Bandiera della regione Piemonte.svg	Piedmont	125,997	28,200	123,336	27,600
File:Flag of Sardinia, Italy.svg	Sardinia	33,075	19,700	32,377	19,300
File:Sicilian Flag.svg	Sicily	83,956	16,600	82,183	16,300
File:Flag of Trentino-South Tyrol.svg	Trentino-Alto Adige	35,797	34,450	35,041	33,700
File:Flag of Tuscany.svg	Tuscany	106,013	28,200	103,775	27,600
File:Flag of Umbria.svg	Umbria	21,533	23,700	21,078	23,200
File:Flag of Veneto.svg	Veneto	149,527	30,200	146,369	29,600

Code	Name	GDP 2011, million EUR	GDP per capita 2011, EUR	GDP 2011, million PPS	GDP per capita 2011, PPS
ITE	Centre	340,669	28,400	333,475	27,800
ITD	North-East	364,560	31,200	356,862	30,600
ITC	North-West	511,484	31,700	500,683	31,000
ITG	Islands	117,031	17,400	114,560	17,000
ITF	South	243,895	17,200	238,744	16,800
-	Extra-regio	2,771	–	2,712	–

See also

• Italian NUTS level 1 regions
• Regional Council (Italy)
• Presidents of Regions of Italy
• List of Italian regions by GDP
• List of Italian regions by GRP per capita
• List of Italian regions by Human Development Index
• Flags of regions of Italy
• ISO 3166-2:IT

Other administrative divisions

• Provinces of Italy
• Municipalities of Italy

External links

• CityMayors article
• Regional Governments of Italy on Italia.gov.it
• Regional Governments of Italy on Governo.it

Template:Regions of Italy

Template:Articles on first-level administrative divisions of European countries