Comune

Municipalities of Italy
Category	Regionalised unitary state
Location	Italian Republic
Created by
Number	7,896
Populations	33 (Morterone) – 2,751,747 (Rome)
Areas	0.1124 km2 (0.0434 sq mi) (Atrani) – 1,286.7305 km2 (496.8094 sq mi) (Rome)
Government	Comunal Government, Provincial Government, Regional Government, National Government
Subdivisions	, and

Administrative divisions of Italy:
Regions (black borders)
Provinces (dark gray borders)
(light grey borders)

A (; Template:Plural form: , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (Template:Literally).

Formed according to the principles consolidated in medieval municipalities, the is provided for by article 114 of the Constitution of Italy. It can be divided into , which in turn may have limited power due to special elective assemblies.

In the autonomous region of the Aosta Valley, a is officially called a in French.

Overview

The provides essential public services: registry of births and deaths, registry of deeds, and maintenance of local roads and public works. Many have a (Template:Literally), which is responsible for public order duties. The also deal with the definition and compliance with the (Template:Literally), a document that regulates the building activity within the communal area.

All communal structures or schools, sports and cultural structures such as communal libraries, theaters, etc. are managed by the . must have their own communal statute and have a climatic and seismic classification of their territory for the purposes of hazard mitigation and civil protection. also deal with the waste management.

It is headed by a mayor ( or ) assisted by a legislative body, the (Template:Literally), and an executive body, the (Template:Literally). The mayor and members of the are elected together by resident citizens: the coalition of the elected mayor (who needs a relative majority or an absolute majority in the first or second round of voting, depending on the population) gains three fifths of the 's seats.

The is chaired by the mayor, who appoints others members, called , one of whom serves as deputy mayor (). The offices of the are housed in a building usually called the , or (Template:Literally).

As of January 2021, there were 7,904 in Italy; they vary considerably in size and population. For example, the of Rome, in Lazio, has an area of 1,287.36 km² (497.05 sq mi) and a population of 2,758,454 inhabitants, and is both the largest and the most populated.

Mural crown for the title of . It is located in the upper part of the coat of arms of the .

Atrani in the province of Salerno (Campania) is the smallest by area, with only 0.1206 km² (0.0466 sq mi), and Morterone (Lombardy) is the smallest by population. Many present-day trace their roots along timescales spanning centuries and at times millennia.

The northernmost is Predoi, the southernmost one Lampedusa e Linosa, the westernmost Bardonecchia and the easternmost Otranto. The with the longest name is San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore, while the with the shortest name are Lu, Ro, Ne, Re and Vo'.

The population density of the varies widely by province and region. The province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, for example, has 381,091 inhabitants in 10 , or over 39,000 inhabitants per ; whereas the province of Isernia has 81,415 inhabitants in 52 , or 1,640 inhabitants per —roughly 24 times more communal units per inhabitant.

The coats of arms of the are assigned by decree of the Prime Minister of Italy by the Office of State Ceremonial and Honors, Honors and Heraldry Service (division of the Presidency of the Council born from the transformation of the Royal , eliminated pursuant to the provisions final of the Constitution of Italy).

Subdivisions

Number of and population in Italy

Year	Number	Population	Pop/
1861	7,720	22,171,946	2,872
1871	8,383	27,295,509	3,256
1881	8,260	28,951,546	3,505
1901	8,263	32,963,316	3,989
1911	8,324	35,841,563	4,306
1921	9,195	39,396,757	4,285
1931	7,311	41,043,489	5,614
1936	7,339	42,398,489	5,777
1951	7,810	47,515,537	6,084
1961	8,035	50,623,569	6,300
1971	8,056	54,136,547	6,720
1981	8,086	56,556,911	6,994
1991	8,100	56,885,336	7,023
2001	8,101	56,995,744	7,036
2011	8,092	59,433,744	7,345
2021	7,904	59,236,213	7,494

Administrative subdivisions within vary according to their population size.

with at least 250,000 residents are divided into (roughly equivalent to French arrondissements or London boroughs) to which the delegates administrative functions such as the running of schools, social services and waste collection; the delegated functions vary from to . These bodies are headed by an elected president and a local council.

Smaller usually comprise:

• A main city, town or village, that almost always gives its name to the ; such a place is referred to as the (Template:Literally; cf.Tooltip confer the French ) of the ; the word is also used in casual speech to refer to the city hall.
• Outlying areas often called (Template:Singular: , abbreviated: ; Template:Literally), each usually centred on a small town or village. These usually never had pasts as independent settlements, but occasionally are former smaller consolidated into a larger one. They may also represent settlements which predate the . The ancient town of Pollentia (today Pollenzo), for instance, is a of Bra. In recent years the have become more important due to the institution of the (Template:Literally), a local form of government which can interact with the to address local needs, requests and claims. Even smaller places are called (abbreviated: ; Template:Literally).
• Smaller administrative divisions called , which are similar to districts and neighbourhoods.

Sometimes a might be more populated than the ; and rarely, owing to unusual circumstances (such as depopulation), the town hall and its administrative functions can be moved to one of the , but the still retains the name of the .

In some cases, a might not have the same name as the . In these cases, it is a (Template:Literally) and the which hosts the town hall () is a (compare county seat).

Rione

Some towns refer to neighborhoods within a as a (; Template:Plural form: ) or a (Template:Plural form: ). The term originated from the administrative divisions of Rome, and is derived from the Latin word regio (Template:Plural form: regiones), 'region'. All currently extant rioni are located in Municipio I of Rome. The term has been adopted as a synonym of in the Italian . Terzieri, quartieri, sestieri, rioni, and their analogues are usually no longer administrative divisions of these towns, but historical and traditional communities, seen especially in towns' annual Palio.

Terziere

A (Template:Plural form: ) is a subdivision of several towns in Italy. The word derives from Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Literally) and is thus used only for towns divided into three neighborhoods. Terzieri are most commonly found in Umbria, for example in Trevi, Spello, Narni and Città della Pieve; towns divided into terzieri in other regions include Lucca in Tuscany, and Ancona and Macerata in the Marches. The medieval Lordship of Negroponte, on the island of Euboea, was also divided into three distinct rulerships, which were known as terzieri.

Quartiere

A (; Template:Plural form: ) is a territorial subdivision, properly used, for towns divided into four neighborhoods (; Template:Literally) by the two main roads. It has been later used as a synonymous of neighbourhood, and an Italian town can be now subdivided into a larger number of quartieri. The Swiss town of Lugano (in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino) is also subdivided into quarters.

The English word quarter to mean an urban neighbourhood (e.g. the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana) is derived from the cognate old French word quartier.

Sestiere

The sestieri of Venice:

  Cannaregio

  Castello

  San Marco

  Dorsoduro

  San Polo

  Santa Croce

A (Template:Plural form: ) is a subdivision of certain Italian towns and cities. The word is from (Template:Literally), so it is thus used only for towns divided into six districts. The best-known example is the sestieri of Venice, but Ascoli Piceno, Genoa, Milan and Rapallo, for example, were also divided into sestieri. The medieval Lordship of Negroponte, on the island of Euboea, was also at times divided into six districts, each with a separate ruler, through the arbitration of Venice, which were known as sestieri. The island of Crete, a Venetian colony (the Kingdom of Candia) from the Fourth Crusade, was also divided into six parts, named after the sestieri of Venice herself, while the capital Candia retained the status of a comune of Venice. The island of Burano north of Venice is also subdivided into sestieri.

A variation of the word is occasionally found: the comune of Leonessa, for example, is divided into or sixths.

Homonymy

There are not many perfect homonymous . There are only five cases in 10 :

• Castro: Castro, Apulia and Castro, Lombardy
• Livo: Livo, Lombardy and Livo, Trentino
• Peglio: Peglio, Lombardy and Peglio, Marche
• Samone: Samone, Piedmont and Samone, Trentino
• San Teodoro: San Teodoro, Sardinia and San Teodoro, Sicily

This is mostly due to the fact the name of the province or region was appended to the name of the in order to avoid the confusion. Two provincial capitals share the name : Reggio nell'Emilia, the capital of the province of Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia-Romagna region, and Reggio di Calabria, the capital of the homonymous metropolitan city, in the Calabria region. Many other towns or villages are likewise partial homonyms (e.g. Anzola dell'Emilia and Anzola d'Ossola, or Bagnara Calabra and Bagnara di Romagna).

Title of city

Mural crown for the title of ('city')

The title of (Template:Literally) in Italy is granted to that have been awarded it by decree of the King of Italy (until 1946) or of the provisional head of state (from 1946 to 1948) or, subsequently, of the President of the Republic (after 1948), on the proposal of the Ministry of the Interior, to which the concerned sends an application for a concession, by virtue of their historical, artistic, civic or demographic importance.

The endowed with the title of usually carry the golden crown above their coat of arms, except with different provisions in the decree approving the coat of arms or in the presence). "The crown of the city ([...]) is formed by a golden circle opened by eight city gates (five visible) with two cordoned walls on the margins, supporting eight towers (five visible) joined by curtain walls, all in gold and black walled."

Statistics

Largest by area

The following is a list of the largest in Italy, in descending order of surface area, according to ISTAT data referring to 9 October 2011. The provincial capitals are highlighted in bold.

Rome

Rank		Region	Province	Area (km2)
1	Rome	Lazio	Rome	1,287.36 km2 (497.05 sq mi)
2	Ravenna	Emilia-Romagna	Ravenna	653.82 km2 (252.44 sq mi)
3	Cerignola	Apulia	Foggia	593.93 km2 (229.32 sq mi)
4	Noto	Sicily	Syracuse	554.99 km2 (214.28 sq mi)
5	Sassari	Sardinia	Sassari	547.04 km2 (211.21 sq mi)
6	Monreale	Sicily	Palermo	530.18 km2 (204.70 sq mi)
7	Gubbio	Umbria	Perugia	525.78 km2 (203.00 sq mi)
8	Foggia	Apulia	Foggia	509.26 km2 (196.63 sq mi)
9	L'Aquila	Abruzzo	L'Aquila	473.91 km2 (182.98 sq mi)
10	Grosseto	Tuscany	Grosseto	473.55 km2 (182.84 sq mi)
11	Perugia	Umbria	Perugia	449.51 km2 (173.56 sq mi)
12	Ragusa	Sicily	Ragusa	444.67 km2 (171.69 sq mi)
13	Altamura	Apulia	Bari	431.38 km2 (166.56 sq mi)
14	Caltanissetta	Sicily	Caltanissetta	421.25 km2 (162.65 sq mi)
15	Venice	Veneto	Venice	415.90 km2 (160.58 sq mi)
16	Viterbo	Lazio	Viterbo	406.23 km2 (156.85 sq mi)
17	Ferrara	Emilia-Romagna	Ferrara	405.16 km2 (156.43 sq mi)
18	Andria	Apulia	Barletta-Andria-Trani	402.89 km2 (155.56 sq mi)
19	Matera	Basilicata	Matera	392.09 km2 (151.39 sq mi)
20	Città di Castello	Umbria	Perugia	387.32 km2 (149.55 sq mi)
21	Gravina in Puglia	Apulia	Bari	384.74 km2 (148.55 sq mi)
22	Arezzo	Tuscany	Arezzo	384.70 km2 (148.53 sq mi)
23	Olbia	Sardinia	Sassari	383.64 km2 (148.12 sq mi)
24	Caltagirone	Sicily	Catania	383.38 km2 (148.02 sq mi)
25	Manciano	Tuscany	Grosseto	372.51 km2 (143.83 sq mi)
26	Enna	Sicily	Enna	358.75 km2 (138.51 sq mi)
27	Manfredonia	Apulia	Foggia	354.54 km2 (136.89 sq mi)
28	Spoleto	Umbria	Perugia	348.14 km2 (134.42 sq mi)
29	Corigliano-Rossano	Calabria	Cosenza	346.56 km2 (133.81 sq mi)
30	Cortona	Tuscany	Arezzo	342.97 km2 (132.42 sq mi)

Smallest by area

The following is a list of the smallest in Italy, in ascending order of surface area, according to ISTAT data referring to 9 October 2011.

Atrani

Rank		Region	Province	Area (km2)
1	Atrani	Campania	Salerno	0.1206 km2 (0.0466 sq mi)
2	Miagliano	Piedmont	Biella	0.6678 km2 (0.2578 sq mi)
3	Fiorano al Serio	Lombardy	Bergamo	1.0601 km2 (0.4093 sq mi)
4	Conca dei Marini	Campania	Salerno	1.1281 km2 (0.4356 sq mi)
5	Roccafiorita	Sicily	Messina	1.1682 km2 (0.4510 sq mi)
6	Solza	Lombardy	Bergamo	1.2278 km2 (0.4741 sq mi)
7	Maslianico	Lombardy	Como	1.2885 km2 (0.4975 sq mi)
8	San Lorenzo al Mare	Liguria	Imperia	1.2886 km2 (0.4975 sq mi)
9	Crosio della Valle	Lombardy	Varese	1.4407 km2 (0.5563 sq mi)
10	Ferrera di Varese	Lombardy	Varese	1.5265 km2 (0.5894 sq mi)
11	Casavatore	Campania	Naples	1.5267 km2 (0.5895 sq mi)
12	Piario	Lombardy	Bergamo	1.5451 km2 (0.5966 sq mi)
14	Vajont	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	Pordenone	1.5860 km2 (0.6124 sq mi)
15	Arizzano	Piedmont	Verbano-Cusio-Ossola	1.5995 km2 (0.6176 sq mi)
16	Longone al Segrino	Lombardy	Como	1.6045 km2 (0.6195 sq mi)
17	Viganò	Lombardy	Lecco	1.6049 km2 (0.6197 sq mi)
18	Brunello	Lombardy	Varese	1.6200 km2 (0.6255 sq mi)
19	Camparada	Lombardy	Monza e Brianza	1.6337 km2 (0.6308 sq mi)
20	Caines	Trentino-Alto Adige	South Tyrol	1.6345 km2 (0.6311 sq mi)
21	Curti	Campania	Caserta	1.6894 km2 (0.6523 sq mi)
22	Castel Rozzone	Lombardy	Bergamo	1.7066 km2 (0.6589 sq mi)
23	Lozza	Lombardy	Varese	1.7100 km2 (0.6602 sq mi)
24	Aci Bonaccorsi	Sicily	Catania	1.7243 km2 (0.6658 sq mi)
25	Calvignasco	Lombardy	Milan	1.7272 km2 (0.6669 sq mi)
26	Ventotene	Lazio	Latina	1.7454 km2 (0.6739 sq mi)
27	Lirio	Lombardy	Pavia	1.7457 km2 (0.6740 sq mi)
28	Masciago Primo	Lombardy	Varese	1.8082 km2 (0.6981 sq mi)
29	Montello	Lombardy	Bergamo	1.8156 km2 (0.7010 sq mi)
30	Carzano	Trentino-Alto Adige	Trentino	1.8202 km2 (0.7028 sq mi)

Highest by altitude

The following is a list of the first by altitude, in descending order. The indicated altitude coincides with the height above sea level of the town hall.

Sestriere

Rank		Region	Province	Altitude (meters above the sea level)
1	Sestriere	Piedmont	Turin	2,035 m (6,677 ft)
2	Chamois	Aosta Valley	—	1,818 m (5,965 ft)
3	Livigno	Lombardy	Sondrio	1,816 m (5,958 ft)
4	Claviere	Piedmont	Turin	1,760 m (5,770 ft)
5	Rhêmes-Notre-Dame	Aosta Valley	—	1,725 m (5,659 ft)
6	Ayas	Aosta Valley	—	1,699 m (5,574 ft)
7	Argentera	Piedmont	Cuneo	1,684 m (5,525 ft)
8	Valgrisenche	Aosta Valley	—	1,664 m (5,459 ft)
9	La Magdeleine	Aosta Valley	—	1,644 m (5,394 ft)
10	Elva	Piedmont	Cuneo	1,637 m (5,371 ft)
11	Gressoney-La-Trinité	Aosta Valley	—	1,635 m (5,364 ft)
12	Ceresole Reale	Piedmont	Turin	1,620 m (5,310 ft)
13	Pontechianale	Piedmont	Cuneo	1,614 m (5,295 ft)
14	Bionaz	Aosta Valley	—	1,606 m (5,269 ft)
15	Bellino	Piedmont	Cuneo	1,572 m (5,157 ft)
16	Corvara in Badia	Trentino-Alto Adige	South Tyrol	1,568 m (5,144 ft)
17	Selva di Val Gardena	Trentino-Alto Adige	South Tyrol	1,563 m (5,128 ft)
18	Sauze di Cesana	Piedmont	Turin	1,560 m (5,120 ft)
19	Cogne	Aosta Valley	—	1,544 m (5,066 ft)
20	Valsavarenche	Aosta Valley	—	1,541 m (5,056 ft)
21	Valtournenche	Aosta Valley	—	1,528 m (5,013 ft)
22	Pragelato	Piedmont	Turin	1,524 m (5,000 ft)
23	Curon Venosta	Trentino-Alto Adige	South Tyrol	1,520 m (4,990 ft)
24	Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses	Aosta Valley	—	1,519 m (4,984 ft)
25	Sauze d'Oulx	Piedmont	Turin	1,509 m (4,951 ft)
26	Foppolo	Lombardy	Bergamo	1,508 m (4,948 ft)
27	Torgnon	Aosta Valley	—	1,489 m (4,885 ft)
28	Predoi	Trentino-Alto Adige	South Tyrol	1,475 m (4,839 ft)
29	Livinallongo del Col di Lana	Veneto	Belluno	1,475 m (4,839 ft)
30	Canazei	Trentino-Alto Adige	Trentino	1,465 m (4,806 ft)

Largest by population

List of the first by population in descending order, according to ISTAT data updated to 28 February 2022. The regional capitals are in bold.

Milan

Rank		Region	Province	Inhabitants
1	Rome	Lazio	Rome	2,758,454
2	Milan	Lombardy	Milan	1,371,606
3	Naples	Campania	Naples	912,954
4	Turin	Piedmont	Turin	846 067
5	Palermo	Sicily	Palermo	628 883
6	Genoa	Liguria	Genoa	560 155
7	Bologna	Emilia-Romagna	Bologna	392,593
8	Florence	Tuscany	Florence	367,051
9	Bari	Apulia	Bari	316,113
10	Catania	Sicily	Catania	297,761
11	Verona	Veneto	Verona	257,176
12	Venice	Veneto	Venice	254,367
13	Messina	Sicily	Messina	219,565
14	Padua	Veneto	Padua	208,561
15	Prato	Tuscany	Prato	200,647
16	Trieste	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	Trieste	200,454
17	Parma	Emilia-Romagna	Parma	196,982
18	Brescia	Lombardy	Brescia	196,727
19	Taranto	Apulia	Taranto	188,848
20	Modena	Emilia-Romagna	Modena	185,628
21	Reggio Calabria	Calabria	Reggio Calabria	171,546
22	Reggio Emilia	Emilia-Romagna	Reggio Emilia	169,100
23	Perugia	Umbria	Perugia	163,614
24	Ravenna	Emilia-Romagna	Ravenna	155,968
25	Livorno	Tuscany	Livorno	153,901
26	Rimini	Emilia-Romagna	Rimini	150,068
27	Cagliari	Sardinia	Cagliari	148,697
28	Foggia	Apulia	Foggia	146,213
29	Ferrara	Emilia-Romagna	Ferrara	131,066
30	Salerno	Campania	Salerno	127,840

by demographic ranges

The data is updated as of 1 January 2021.

Map of Italy's population density at the 2011 census

Demographic range			Population
	Number	%	Residents	%
more than 500,000 inhab.	6	0.08%	7,170,310	12.10%
from 250,000 to 499,999 inhab.	6	0.08%	1,874,966	3.16%
from 100,000 to 249,999 inhab.	32	0.40%	4,749,945	8.02%
from 60,000 to 99,999 inhab.	58	0.73%	4,446,634	7.50%
from 20,000 to 59,999 inhab.	404	5.11%	13,253,362	22.37%
from 10,000 to 19,999 inhab.	698	8.83%	9,662,013	16.31%
from 5,000 to 9,999 inhab.	1,179	14.92%	8,331,631	14.06%
from 3,000 to 4,999 inhab.	1,087	13.75%	4,222,171	7.13%
from 2,000 to 2,999 inhab.	921	11.65%	2,258,907	3.81%
from 1,000 to 1,999 inhab.	1,520	19.23%	2,213,443	3.74%
from 500 to 999 inhab.	1,101	13.93%	811,919	1.37%
less than 500 inhab.	892	11.29%	262,265	0.44%
Total	7,904	100.00%	59,257,566	100.00%

Demographic ranges by macroregion

The data is updated as of 1 January 2021.

Demographic range	Number of			Resident population
	North	Centre	South	North	Centre	South
more than 500,000 inhab.	3	1	2	2,804,841	2,783,809	1,581,660
from 250,000 to 499,999 inhab.	3	1	2	907,910	359,755	607,301
from 100,000 to 249,999 inhab.	17	5	10	2,503,474	749,523	1,496,948
from 60,000 to 99,999 inhab.	16	16	26	1,289,906	1,253,707	1,903,021
from 20,000 to 59,999 inhab.	158	78	168	4,974,716	2,647,385	5,631,261
from 10,000 to 19,999 inhab.	353	115	230	4,824,497	1,655,230	3,182,286
from 5,000 to 9,999 inhab.	672	155	352	4,723,268	1,139,230	2,469,133
from 3,000 to 4,999 inhab.	620	141	326	2,404,254	549,864	1,268,053
from 2,000 to 2,999 inhab.	501	100	320	1,229,705	242,581	786,621
from 1,000 to 1,999 inhab.	793	182	545	1,155,222	270,306	787,915
from 500 to 999 inhab.	627	110	364	458,324	82,312	271,283
less than 500 inhab.	622	64	206	175,415	19,431	67,419
Total	4,385	968	2,551	27,451,532	11,753,133	20,052,901

See also

• Regions of Italy
• Metropolitan cities of Italy
• Provinces of Italy
• List of municipalities of Italy
• List of renamed municipalities in Italy
• Alphabetical list of municipalities of Italy
• Fusion of municipalities of Italy
• Municipalities of Switzerland – those in Italian-speaking areas of the country are called
• Circoscrizione
• Frazione
• Località
• Rioni of Rome

External links

• Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani Template:In lang