Regions of Italy

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Italian Republic

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The Regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the state. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special statutes.

Proposals for greater regional autonomy (even going as far as federalism) have been made an issue in Italian politics in recent years, aided by the emergence of parties such as the Lega Nord. In 2005 the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform of the Constitution that would have entailed greatly increasing the powers of the regions in areas such as health and education. In June 2006 the proposals, which had been particularly associated with Berlusconi’s partners in government, the Northern League, and seen by some as leading the way to a federal state, were rejected in a referendum by 61.7% to 38.3%.

[edit] Status

Every region has a statute that serves as a regional constitution. Fifteen regions have ordinary statutes and five have special statutes.

[edit] Regions with ordinary statute

These regions, whose statutes are approved by their regional councils, were created in the 1970s, even though the Italian Constitution dates back to 1947. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had legislative as well as administrative powers, but financially they are still heavily dependent on the central state.

[edit] Autonomous regions with special statute

Five regions (namely Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Aosta Valley and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) have been granted special status of autonomy. Their statutes are constitutional laws approved by the Italian Parliament, granting them relatively broad powers in relation to legislation and administration, but also significant financial autonomy. They keep between 60% (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and 100% (Sicily) of all taxes and decide how to spend the revenues.

These regions became autonomous in order to take into account that they host linguistic minorities (German-speaking in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, French-speaking in Aosta Valley, Slovenians in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) or are geographically isolated (the two islands, but also Friuli-Venezia Giulia).

Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol constitutes a special case. The region itself is nearly powerless and the powers granted by the region's statute are mostly exercised by the two autonomous provinces within the region, Trento and Bolzano. The regional institutions play a coordinating role.

[edit] List of Regions

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions (regioni, singular regione). The five special regions are marked by an asterisk (*).

Regions of Italy   Region Capital Area (km²) Population 1 Abruzzo L'Aquila 10,794 1,324,000 2 Basilicata Potenza 9,992 591,000 3 Calabria Catanzaro 15,080 2,007,000 4 Campania Naples 13,595 5,811,000 5 Emilia-Romagna Bologna 22,124 4,276,000 6 Friuli-Venezia Giulia* Trieste 7,855 1,222,000 7 Lazio Rome 17,207 5,561,000 8 Liguria Genoa 5,421 1,610,000 9 Lombardy Milan 23,861 9,642,000 10 Marche Ancona 9,694 1,553,000 11 Molise Campobasso 4,438 320,000 12 Piedmont Turin 25,399 4,401,000 13 Apulia Bari 19,362 4,076,000 14 Sardinia* Cagliari 24,090 1,666,000 15 Aosta Valley* Aosta 3,263 126,000 16 Tuscany Florence 22,997 3,677,000 17 Trentino-Alto Adige* Trento 13,607 1,007,000 18 Umbria Perugia 8,456 884,000 19 Sicily* Palermo 25,708 5,030,000 20 Veneto Venice 18,391 4,832,000 [edit] Institutions Each region has an elected Consiglio Regionale (regional council), which elects a Giunta Regionale' (regional government) headed by the regional President, who is elected directly by the citizens. The President nominates and can dismiss the members of the Giunta. If the President resigns new elections are immediately called. Presidents of Regions of Italy Region President Term Party Aosta Valley Augusto Rollandin 2008–2013 UV Piedmont Mercedes Bresso 2005–2010 PD Lombardy Roberto Formigoni 2005–2010 FI–PdL Veneto Giancarlo Galan 2005–2010 FI–PdL Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Lorenzo Dellai 2007–2009 Civica–PD Friuli-Venezia Giulia Renzo Tondo 2008–2013 FI–PdL Liguria Claudio Burlando 2005–2010 PD Emilia-Romagna Vasco Errani 2005–2010 PD Tuscany Claudio Martini 2005–2010 PD Marche Gian Mario Spacca 2005–2010 PD Umbria Maria Rita Lorenzetti 2005–2010 PD Lazio Piero Marrazzo 2005-2010 PD Abruzzo Ottaviano Del Turco 2005–2010 PD Molise Michele Iorio 2005–2010 FI–PdL Campania Antonio Bassolino 2005–2010 PD Apulia Nichi Vendola 2005–2010 PRC Basilicata Vito De Filippo 2005–2010 PD Calabria Agazio Loiero 2005–2010 PD Sicily Raffaele Lombardo 2008–2013 MpA Sardinia Renato Soru 2004–2009 PD [edit] See also Italian NUTS level 1 regions Regional Council (Italy) Presidents of Regions of Italy Provinces of Italy Municipalities of Italy Flags of regions of Italy [edit] External links CityMayors article (Italian)Regional Governments of Italy on Italia.gov.it (Italian)Regional Governments of Italy on Governo.it v • d • e Regions of Italy Abruzzo · Aosta Valley · Apulia · Basilicata · Calabria · Campania · Emilia-Romagna · Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Lazio · Liguria · Lombardy · Marche · Molise · Piedmont · Sardinia · Sicily · Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol · Tuscany · Umbria · Veneto v • d • e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of European countries Albania · Andorra · Armenia2 · Austria · Azerbaijan3 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus2 · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France1 · Georgia1 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan1 · Kosovo4 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia1 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey1 · Ukraine · United Kingdom 1 Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border. 4 Partially recognised. Table of administrative country subdivisions by country