Regions of Italy

The regions of Italy (Italian: regioni d'Italia) are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Constitution of Italy, each region is an autonomous entity with defined powers. With the exception of the Aosta Valley (since 1945) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (since 2015), each region is divided into a number of provinces.

History

During the Kingdom of Italy, regions were mere statistical 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 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, but were later merged into Abruzzi e Molise in the final constitution of 1948, before being 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% "no" to 38.3% "yes". The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55.3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria.

Political control

Number of regions governed by each coalition since 1995:

Regions

Flag	Region Italian name (if different)	Status	Population 1 January 2025	Area	Pop. density (p/km2)	HDI 2022	Capital	President	Number of comuni
Number	%	km2	%
	Abruzzo	Ordinary	1,268,430	2.16%	10,832 km2 (4,182 sq mi)	3.59%	117.1	0.889	L'Aquila	Marco Marsilio Brothers of Italy	305	4
	Aosta Valley Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'Aoste	Autonomous	122,714	0.21%	3,261 km2 (1,259 sq mi)	1.08%	37.63	0.887	Aosta	Renzo Testolin Valdostan Union	74	1
	Apulia Puglia	Ordinary	3,874,166	6.63%	19,541 km2 (7,545 sq mi)	6.48%	198.3	0.854	Bari	Antonio Decaro Democratic Party	257	6
	Basilicata	Ordinary	529,897	0.92%	10,073 km2 (3,889 sq mi)	3.34%	52.61	0.862	Potenza	Vito Bardi Forza Italia	131	2
	Calabria	Ordinary	1,832,147	3.13%	15,222 km2 (5,877 sq mi)	5.04%	120.4	0.845	Catanzaro	Roberto Occhiuto Forza Italia	404	5
	Campania	Ordinary	5,575,025	9.48%	13,671 km2 (5,278 sq mi)	4.53%	407.8	0.854	Naples	Roberto Fico Five Star Movement	550	5
	Emilia-Romagna	Ordinary	4,465,678	7.51%	22,453 km2 (8,669 sq mi)	7.44%	198.5	0.921	Bologna	Michele De Pascale Democratic Party	330	9
	Friuli-Venezia Giulia Furlanija-Julijska Krajina/Friûl-Vignesie Julie/Friaul-Julisch Venetien	Autonomous	1,194,095	2.03%	7,924 km2 (3,059 sq mi)	2.63%	150.5	0.903	Trieste	Massimiliano Fedriga League	215	4
	Lazio	Ordinary	5,710,272	9.69%	17,232 km2 (6,653 sq mi)	5.71%	331.4	0.914	Rome	Francesco Rocca Independent	378	5
	Liguria	Ordinary	1,509,908	2.56%	5,416 km2 (2,091 sq mi)	1.79%	278.8	0.898	Genoa	Marco Bucci Independent	234	4
	Lombardy Lombardia	Ordinary	10,035,481	16.89%	23,864 km2 (9,214 sq mi)	7.91%	420.5	0.912	Milan	Attilio Fontana League	1,506	12
	Marche	Ordinary	1,481,252	2.53%	9,401 km2 (3,630 sq mi)	3.12%	158.5	0.901	Ancona	Francesco Acquaroli Brothers of Italy	225	5
	Molise	Ordinary	287,966	0.49%	4,461 km2 (1,722 sq mi)	1.48%	64.56	0.872	Campobasso	Francesco Roberti Forza Italia	136	2
	Piedmont Piemonte	Ordinary	4,255,702	7.21%	25,387 km2 (9,802 sq mi)	8.41%	167.6	0.898	Turin	Alberto Cirio Forza Italia	1,181	8
	Sardinia Sardegna	Autonomous	1,561,339	2.68%	24,100 km2 (9,300 sq mi)	7.99%	64.79	0.868	Cagliari	Alessandra Todde Five Star Movement	377	5
	Sicily Sicilia	Autonomous	4,779,371	8.14%	25,832 km2 (9,974 sq mi)	8.56%	185.0	0.845	Palermo	Renato Schifani Forza Italia	391	9
	Trentino-South Tyrol Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	Autonomous	1,086,095	1.83%	13,606 km2 (5,253 sq mi)	4.51%	79.82	Trentino: 0.920	Trento	Arno Kompatscher South Tyrolean People's Party	282	2
South Tyrol: 0.910
	Tuscany Toscana	Ordinary	3,660,834	6.23%	22,987 km2 (8,875 sq mi)	7.62%	159.3	0.907	Florence	Eugenio Giani Democratic Party	273	10
	Umbria	Ordinary	851,954	1.46%	8,464 km2 (3,268 sq mi)	2.81%	100.7	0.897	Perugia	Stefania Proietti Independent	92	2
	Veneto	Ordinary	4,851,851	8.23%	18,345 km2 (7,083 sq mi)	5.97%	264.5	0.900	Venice	Alberto Stefani League	563	7
	Italy Italia	—	58,934,177	100.00%	302,068.26 km2 (116,629.21 sq mi)	100.00%	195.1	0.892	Rome	Sergio Mattarella Independent	7,904	107

Macroregions

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

Map	Macroregion Italian name	Regions	Major city	Population January 2022	Area (km2)	Population density (km2)	MEPs
Number	%	km2	%
	Centre Centro	Lazio Marche Tuscany Umbria	Rome	11,740,836	19.91%	58,085 km2 (22,427 sq mi)	19.23%	202	15
	North-West Nord-Ovest	Aosta Valley Liguria Lombardy Piedmont	Milan	15,848,100	26.87%	57,928 km2 (22,366 sq mi)	19.18%	274	20
	South Sud	Abruzzo Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Molise	Naples	13,451,861	22.81%	73,800 km2 (28,500 sq mi)	24.43%	182	18
	North-East Nord-Est	Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Veneto	Bologna	11,561,676	19.60%	62,003 km2 (23,939 sq mi)	20.63%	186	15
	Islands Isole or Insulare	Sardinia Sicily	Palermo	6,380,649	10.82%	49,932 km2 (19,279 sq mi)	16.53%	128	8

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 keep just 20% of all levied taxes, mostly used to finance the region-based healthcare system.

Autonomous regions with special statute

Article 116 of the Italian Constitution grants home rule to five regions: the Aosta Valley, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, 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 them from potentially seceding or being taken away from Italy after its defeat in World War II.

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

Article 57 of the Constitution of Italy originally established that the Senate of the Republic was to be elected on a regional basis by Italian citizens aged 25 or older (unlike the Chamber of the Deputies, which was elected on a national basis and by all Italian citizens aged 18 or older). No region could have fewer than 7 senators, except for the two smallest regions: Aosta Valley (1 senator) and Molise (2 senators). From 2006 to 2020, 6 out of 315 senators (and 12 out of 630 deputies) were elected by Italians residing abroad.

After two constitutional amendments were passed respectively in 2020 (by constitutional referendum) and 2021, however, there have been changes. The Senate is still elected on a regional basis, but the number of senators was reduced from 315 to 200, who are now elected by all citizens aged 18 or older, just like deputies (themselves being reduced from 630 to 400). Italians residing abroad now elect 4 senators (and 8 deputies).

The remaining 196 senators are assigned to each region proportionally according to their population. The amended Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than 3 senators representing it, barring Aosta Valley and Molise, which retained 1 and 2 senators respectively.

Region	Seats	Region	Seats	Region	Seats
Abruzzo	4	Friuli-Venezia Giulia	4	Sardinia	5
Aosta Valley	1	Lazio	18	Sicily	16
Apulia	13	Liguria	5	Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	6
Basilicata	3	Lombardy	31	Tuscany	12
Calabria	6	Marche	5	Umbria	3
Campania	18	Molise	2	Veneto	16
Emilia-Romagna	14	Piedmont	14	Overseas constituencies	4

Economy of regions and macroregions

Name	GDP 2018, million EUR	GDP per capita 2018, EUR	GDP 2011, million PPS	GDP per capita 2011, PPS
Abruzzo	33,900	25,800	29,438	21,900
Aosta Valley	4,900	38,900	4,236	33,000
Apulia	76,600	19,000	68,496	16,700
Basilicata	12,600	22,200	10,517	17,900
Calabria	33,300	17,000	32,357	16,100
Campania	108,000	18,600	91,658	15,700
Emilia-Romagna	161,000	36,200	139,597	31,400
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	38,000	31,200	35,855	29,000
Lazio	198,000	33,600	168,609	29,300
Liguria	49,900	32,100	43,069	26,700
Lombardy	388,800	38,600	330,042	33,200
Marche	43,200	28,300	40,014	25,500
Molise	6,500	20,900	6,278	19,700
Piedmont	137,000	31,500	123,336	27,600
Sardinia	34,900	21,200	32,377	19,300
Sicily	89,200	17,800	82,183	16,300
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	41,700	39,200	35,041	33,700
Tuscany	118,000	31,500	103,775	27,600
Umbria	22,500	25,400	21,078	23,200
Veneto	163,000	33,200	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
ITC	North-West	511,484	31,700	500,683	31,000
ITD	North-East	364,560	31,200	356,862	30,600
ITF	South	243,895	17,200	238,744	16,800
ITG	Islands	117,031	17,400	114,560	17,000
-	Extra-regio	2,771	–	2,712	–