Regions of Italy

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions that are grouped into five major geopolitical areas traditionally used. Each region is led by the President and the Regional Board, which exercise executive power, and the Regional Council, which exercises legislative power.

Table of regions

Map of regional Governments

Regions and Shields	Flag	Regional President	Party		Location	Capital	Provinces
Abruzzo (Abruzzo)		Marco Marsilio		Brothers of Italy		L'Aquila	Chieti L'Aquila Pescara Teramo
Apulia (Puglia)		Michele Emiliano		Democratic Party		Bari	Bari Barletta Brindisi Foggia Lecce I'm late.
Basilicata		Vito Bardi		Forza Italia		Potenza	Matera Potenza
Calabria		Roberto Occhiuto		Forza Italia		Catanzaro	Catanzaro Cosenza Crotona Regio de Calabria Vibo Valentia
Campania		Vincenzo De Luca		Democratic Party		Naples	Avellino Benevento Caserta Naples Salerno
Sardinia (“Sardegna”)		Christian Solinas		(PSd'Az)		Cagliari	Cagliari South Sardinia Nuoro Oristan Sácer
Emilia-Romaña (Emilia-Romagna)		Stefano Bonaccini		Democratic Party		Bologna	Bologna Ferrara Forlì - Dinner Modena Parma Placing Rávena Reggio Emilia Rimini
Friul-Venice Julia (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)		Massimiliano Fedriga		Lega		Trieste	Gorizia Pordenone Trieste ONE
Lazio (Lazio)		Nicola Zingaretti		Democratic Party		Rome	Frosinone Latin America Rieti Rome Viterbo
Liguria		Giovanni Toti		Change!		Genoa	Genoa Printing La Spezia Savona
Lombardy (Lombardy)		Attilio Fontana		Lega		Milan	Bergamo Brescia Like Cremona Lecco Lodi Mantua Milan Monza and Brianza Pavia Sondrio Varese
Brands (Marche)		Francesco Acquaroli		Brothers of Italy		Ancona	Ancona Ascoli Piceno Fermo Macerata Pesaro and Urbino
Molise		Donato Toma		Forza Italia		Campobasso	Campobasso Isernia
Piedmont (Piemonte)		Alberto Cirio		Forza Italia		Turin	Alessandria Asti Biella Cuneum Novara Turin Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Vercelli
Sicily		Renato Schifani		Forza Italia		Palermo	Agrigento Caltanissetta Catania Enna Mesina Palermo Ragusa Syracuse Trapani
Tuscany		Eugenio Giani		Democratic Party		Florence	Arezzo Grosseto Florence Livorno Lucca Massa and Carrara Pisa Pistoia Prato Siena
Trentino-Alto Adigio (“Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol”)		Maurizio Fugatti		Lega		Train	Bolzano Train
Umbría (Umbria)		Donatella Tesei		Lega		Perugia	Perusa Terni
Aosta Valley (Valle d'Aosta)		Donatella Tesei		Union Valdostana		Aosta
Véneto (Veneto)		Luca Zaia		Lega		Venice	Belluno Padua Rovigo Treviso Venice Verona Vice

Location and names

The following table shows the 20 regions that make up the territory of Italy, grouped by geopolitical area, indicating the capital, acronym and the number that identifies it on the map located on the right.

Numbered regions of Italy.

Area	Region (of Italian: Regione)	Capital (from Italian: Capitale)	Acronym	Map
Northwest Italy	Liguria (from Italian: Liguria)	Genoa (from Italian: Genova)	LIG	10
	Lombardy (from Italian: Lombardy)	Milan (from Italian: Milano)	LOM	11
	Piedmont (from Italian: Piemonte)	Turin (from Italian: Torino)	PMN	14
	Aosta Valley (from Italian: Valle d'Aosta)♪	Aosta (from Italian: Aosta)	VAO	2
North-Eastern Italy	Emilia-Romaña (from Italian: Emilia-Romagna)	Bologna (from Italian: Bologna)	EMR	7
	Friul-Venice Julia (from Italian: Friuli-Venezia Giulia)♪	Trieste (from Italian: Trieste)	FVG	8
	Trentino-Alto Adigio (from Italian: Trentino-Alto Adige)♪	Train (from Italian: Train)	TAA	17
	Veneto (from Italian: Veneto)	Venice (from Italian: Venezia)	VEN	20
Central Italy	Abruzos (from Italian: Abruzzo)	L'Aquila (from Italian: L'Aquila)	ABR	1
	Lacio (from Italian: Lazio)	Rome (from Italian: Rome)	LAZ	9
	Brands (from Italian: Marche)	Ancona (from Italian: Ancona)	MAR	12
	Molise (from Italian: Molise)	Campobasso (from Italian: Campobasso)	MOL	13
	Tuscany (from Italian: Tuscany)	Florence (from Italian: Firenze)	TOS	18
	Umbría (from Italian: Umbria)	Perusa (from Italian: Perugia)	UMB	19
Southern Italy	Basilicata (from Italian: Basilicata)	Potenza (from Italian: Potenza)	BAS	4
	Calabria (from Italian: Calabria)	Catanzaro (from Italian: Catanzaro)	CAL	5
	Campania (from Italian: Campania)	Naples (from Italian: Napoli)	CAM	6
	Apulia (from Italian: Puglia)	Bari (from Italian: Bari)	PUG	3
Italy	Sardinia (from Italian: Sardegna)♪	Cagliari (Cagliari)	SAR	15
	Sicily (from Italian: Sicily)♪	Palermo (from Italian: Palermo)	SIC	16

* autonomous regions with special status.

Administration

In Italian law, the Region is an autonomous territorial entity, endowed with its own bodies and functions.

Typology

The Constitution of the Italian Republic recognizes two types of regions, those governed by the ordinary regional statute and those governed by a special statute. The regional statute is the main normative document of the regions that defines the operation and organizations, always in harmony with the constitution.

Regions with ordinary statute

15 of the 20 Italian regions have an ordinary statute. The statute is approved and modified by the Regional Council by an absolute majority, and must then be approved in a referendum.

The financial autonomy provided for in the constitution has not yet become effective, but the regions have the IRAP (Regional Tax on Productive Activity) and a part of the VAT.

The agencies of the regions began their functions in 1970.

Autonomous regions with special status

Regions with special status

5 regions are endowed with a special statute, approved by the Italian parliament as provided for in the constitution.

The special statute guarantees greater autonomy, especially in the financial field, than the ordinary regions. For example, the Trentino-Alto Adige region (900,000 inhabitants) has a budget corresponding to the Veneto region, with 4.5 million inhabitants. Also for this reason several neighboring municipalities have requested to become part of these (richer) autonomous regions, with the permission of the constitution. On the other hand, the regions have notable legislative and administrative powers in the field of education and health.

4 autonomous regions were established by the Constituent Assembly in 1948: Sicily and Sardinia due to their strong autonomist and separatist movements, Valle d'Aosta to protect the French-speaking minority and Trentino-Alto Adige for the protection of German-speakers as described determined in the Paris Agreement. In 1963 the region was constituted with special status Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and in 1972 the new special status for Trentino-Alto Adige came into force.

Autonomous provinces

The Trentino-Alto Adige region is made up of the autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. These provinces are endowed with the powers (also legislative) corresponding to those of the regions. They are also called provinces with special status.

Organs

The bodies of the regions indicated in the constitution are:

• the regional council (from Italian: Consiglio regionale)
• the regional board (from Italian: Giunta regionale)
• President of the Regional Board

These bodies, of constitutional opinion, cannot be altered by statutes or regional laws.

The regions are represented by the President of the Region, or better President of the regional Board, who is directly elected by the people, unless the regional statute do not consider the election by the council. If the President loses confidence, dies, resigns or is permanently impeded, the Council is dissolved and new elections are held.

The regions are endowed with a regional Council, elected by the citizens of legal age residing in the region. In Sicily, an autonomous region, it is called the Regional Assembly and its members, who bear the title of honourables (from Italian: onorevoli), are called deputies and not advisers. The Council exercises the legislative power for the matters that the constitution and the special statutes for the autonomous regions assign exclusive or concurrent authority to it.

The administrative functions correspond to the Regional Board, made up of advisers and headed by the President of the Region. In Sicily the board is called the regional government.

Autonomy

The autonomies recognized to the regions and guaranteed at the constitutional level that differ from those of the state and smaller territorial entities are five:

Statutory autonomy

Only regions with ordinary statutes are endowed with this autonomy, since the special statutes of the Autonomous Regions have the rank of constitutional laws. Each ordinary region adopts with regional law a statute that determines the form of government and the fundamental principles of organization and operation.

Legislative autonomy

As a consequence of the constitutional reform of 2001, the general legislative power corresponds to the State and the Regions; competence is attributed by subject.

The powers to legislate can be:

• exclusive State
• exclusive Regions
• concurrent

Regulatory autonomy

The regions have regulatory power over matters of exclusive competence and over those for which the State and the Regions have concurrent type of competence. They also have regulatory power in matters of exclusive competence of the State if they have been delegated to it.

The regulatory power of the Regions is exercised by the Regional Boards, unless the regional statute assigns it to the Regional Council, which is the case in Sardinia and Valle d'Aosta.

Administrative autonomy

The administrative autonomy of the regions, like all public administrations, must adhere to the principles of subsidiarity, differentiation and probity.

The regions, via regional law, can delegate the administrative functions of which they are holders in the municipalities, the provinces or the Metropolitan cities.

Financial autonomy

The regions have financial autonomy of income and expenses. Defining and applying taxes and own income. They also decide how to distribute the proceeds from taxes related to their territory, they have their own assets and can borrow only to make investments.

The constitution does not allow them to establish taxes on trade with other regions.

Subdivisions

With the exception of Valle d'Aosta, the regions are divided into provinces (currently 106), and the lowest level of administrative subdivision is the municipality (Italian: comune).

The Metropolitan cities, super-provinces endowed with communal jurisdiction, despite being contemplated in the constitution, have not yet been established.

Regional data

Population

The following table contains data on population, area and population density, capital, number of municipalities and provinces that belong to each of the 20 Italian regions. The regions are ordered according to their population.

• ISTAT data (year 2013)

Per capita income

The following table shows the per capita income in the different macro-regions and regions of Italy according to Eurostat data. In the special case of Trentino-Alto Adige, each of the autonomous provinces is considered independently as regions.

• Source: ISTAT, in relation to 2012, data in euro.

Acronyms