There are currently 110 institutional bodies of second level in Italy, including 82 ordinary provinces, 2 autonomous provinces, 4 regional decentralization entities, 6 free municipal consortia, and 15metropolitan cities, as well as theAosta Valley region (which also exercises the powers of a province).
Italian provinces (with the exception of the current Sardinian provinces) correspond to theNUTS 3 regions.[2]
A province of theItalian Republic is composed of many municipalities (comune). Usually several provinces together form a region; the region ofAosta Valley is the sole exception—it is not subdivided into provinces, and provincial functions are exercised by the region.
The three main functions devolved to provinces are:
Transportation regulation (car registration, maintenance of local roads, etc.)
The number of provinces in Italy has been steadily growing in recent years, as many new ones are carved out of older ones. Usually, the province's name is the same as that of its capital city.
According to the 2014 reform, each province is headed by aPresident (or Commissioner) assisted by a legislative body, theProvincial Council, and an executive body, the Provincial Executive. President (Commissioner) and members of Council are elected together by mayors and city councilors of each municipality of the province. The Executive is chaired by the President (Commissioner) who appoint others members, calledassessori. Since 2015, the President (Commissioner) and other members of the council will not receive a salary.[3]
In each province, there is also a Prefect (prefetto), a representative of the central government who heads an agency calledprefettura-ufficio territoriale del governo. The Questor (questore) is the head of State Police (Polizia di Stato) in the province and his office is calledquestura. There is also a provincial police force depending from local government, calledprovincial police (polizia provinciale).
TheAosta Valley region is not divided into provinces due to its size, but straight to thecomune level.
South Tyrol andTrentino are autonomous provinces, unlike all other provinces they have the same legislative powers as regions and are not subordinated toTrentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, the region they are part of.
Based on the most recent legislation, contained in the law of 7 April 2014 n. 56,[4] the council and the presidents of the provinces of the regions with ordinary statute are elected by restricted suffrage by the mayors and councilors of the province's municipalities, while in themetropolitan cities, the equivalent of the president of the province is the (elective) mayor of the capital, called "metropolitan mayor".
There are other types of entities similar to the provinces in the regions with special statutes: the free municipal consortia inSicily and theSardinian provinces are governed by extraordinary commissioners appointed by the respective regional administrations, the autonomous provinces ofTrentino-Alto Adige each elect its own president, and finally, inAosta Valley, the functions of the province are carried out by the regional administration (whose president is elected by the regional council).
Sardinia — following the outcome of the regional referendums of 2012 it was decreed that such institutions should be reformed or abolished by March 2013 (thus remaining in office until 28 February 2013).[7] In January 2014 the Sardinian Regional Administrative Court declared "unconstitutional" the abolition of the Sardinian provinces, which occurred in 2013.[8] In 2016, Sardinian provinces were reformed by Sardinia regional executive: Cagliari became ametropolitan city; the provincesOlbia-Tempio,Ogliastra,Medio Campidano, andCarbonia-Iglesias were abolished.[9] In 2017, Regional council of Sardinia approved the institution of a new province,South Sardinia. It was formed by the municipalities of province of Cagliari that did not join to metropolitan city of Cagliari, and those which formed the provinces of Medio Campidano and Carbonia Iglesias.[10] South Sardinia was disestablished on 1 June 2025 and the other reinstated, some with different names, and Sassari made a metropolitan city.[11]
Friuli-Venezia Giulia — in 2016, the regional council of Friuli-Venezia Giulia approved a law which abolished the four provinces that formed the region, and replaced them by 18 territorial unions of municipalities.[13] In 2019, the regional council of Friuli-Venezia Giulia rebranded the four provinces as the four regional decentralization entities, with their own competences, powers, and capital.[14]
After theWorld War I, new territories were annexed to Italy. Theprovince of Trento was created in 1923. Provinces ofLa Spezia andTrieste in 1923, whileIonio in 1924. In 1924 the new provinces ofFiume,Pola, andZara were created, increasing the total number of provinces in Italy to 76.
Following the annexation of a part ofYugoslavia in 1941, during theWorld War II, theprovince of Zara was enlarged and joined theGovernorate of Dalmatia (comprising the province ofZara, and the new provinces ofSpalato, andCattaro), while in the occupied central part of the present-daySlovenia the newprovince of Ljubljana was created. This lasted only until 1945, when Yugoslavia regained the lost territories after the end of the World War II.
In 1945, after the end of the World War II, the province of Aosta changed its name toAosta Valley and Littoria toLatina; the new province ofCaserta was recreated.
Moreover, the province of Trieste was occupied byUnited States andBritish forces. The Italian Republic therefore had 91 provinces at its birth. The province of Ionio was renamed asTaranto in 1951, and in 1954 theprovince of Trieste was returned to Italy.
In May 2012, a referendum abolished the eight provinces of Sardinia, and this suppression was to take effect on 1 March 2013. On 6 July 2012, new plans were published to reduce the number of provinces by around half.[15] In January 2014 the Sardinian Regional Administrative Court declared "unconstitutional" the abolition of the Sardinian provinces.[16]
In 2014 the Delrio Law[17] transformed the provinces of Italy in a reduced number of broader administrative entities.[18]
In 2014 theFriuli-Venezia Giulia ofDebora Serracchiani was the first Italian region to pass a law for abolishing its provinces, while implementing the national reform in the local administrative level.[18] The Friuli region has multiplied four provinces in 18 unions of the Italian administrative unit calledcomune.[19] After rejection of the2016 Italian constitutional referendum, the provinces of Italy were still kept alive under provisions of the Delrio Constitutional Law to be merged in a smaller number of union of provinces.[20]
Province of Terra di Lavoro (Italian:provincia di Terra di Lavoro) (1861–1927). It was divided into the current provinces ofFrosinone,Latina, andCaserta.
Province of Fiume (Italian:provincia di Fiume) (1924–1947). Created after World War I inKvarner. Enlarged during World War II. It was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and it was administered as a part of the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.
Province of Cattaro (Italian:provincia di Cattaro) (1941–1943). Created during World War II. It was a part of the Governorship of Dalmatia. It was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and partially annexed by the Independent State of Croatia.
Province ofRhodes (Italian:provincia di Rodi) (1923–1947) orItalian Aegean Islands (Italian:Isole italiane dell'Egeo). It remained nominally a part of the Italian Social Republic after the Italian capitulation.
Italian Libya was divided into four provinces and one territory (Southern Military Territory orTerritory of Saharan Libya). From 1939 onward the provinces were a part of metropolitan Italy.
Province ofCorsica (Italian:provincia della Corsica). Planned to be created after World War IIAxis powers victory, withPetru Giovacchini as possible "governor".
Province ofRagusa inDalmatia (Italian:provincia di Ragusa di Dalmazia). Planned World War II province to be created of the Italian-annexed Dalmatian territories that were areas of the ancientRepublic of Ragusa.
Provinces in islands of Greece:provincia delle Ionie;provincia delle Cicladi;provincia di Samo. Planned World War II provinces to be created of the Italian-annexed islands ofGreece (Ionian Islands,Cyclades, andSamos).
Provinces are often deemed useless by their critics, and many proposals were made in the 2010s to eliminate them.[22][23][24] The difficulty of changing theConstitution of Italy and the opposition of groups of politicians and citizens halted any proposal of reform.[25][26]
In 2013, during his speech to the Chamber of Deputies,Enrico Letta, the newly appointedPrime Minister of Italy, announced that a revision of the second part of the constitution was needed, in order to change the bicameral parliamentary system and to abolish the provinces. The proposal, presented during theRenzi government, was rejected in the2016 Italian constitutional referendum held on 4 December.
^abCalled "enti territoriali di area vasta". See"L'attuazione della legge 56 in ambito regionale" [The implementation of Law n. 56 in the Italian regions] (in Italian). 5 February 2016.Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved20 April 2021.
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