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In Italy, the ''comune''''' (plural '''''comuni'' ) is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.

Importance and function

The ''comune'' provides many of the basic civil functions: registry of births and deaths, registry of deeds, contracting for local roads and public works,�etc. It is headed by a mayor (''sindaco'') assisted by a legislative body, the ''Consiglio Comunale'', and an executive body, the ''Giunta Comunale''. Mayor and members of ''Consiglio Comunale'' are elected together by resident citizens: the coalition of the elected Mayor (who needs an absolute majority in the first or second round of voting) gains the three fifths of the Council's seats. The ''Giunta Comunale'' is chaired by mayor who appoint others members, called ''assessori''. The offices of the ''comune'' are housed in a building usually called the ''Municipio'', or ''Palazzo Comunale''. Since the start of 2009 there have been 8,100 ''comuni'' in Italy; they vary considerably in area and population. For example, the ''comune'' of Rome (Lazio) has an area of 1,285.30�km² and a population of 2,726,539, and is both the largest and the most populated ''comune'' in Italy; Fiera di Primiero, in the province of Trento, is the smallest ''comune'' by area, with only 0.15�km², and Morterone (province of Lecco) is the smallest by population, with only 33�inhabitants. The smallest non-alpine ''comune'' in Italy is Montelapiano, the fourth is Carapelle Calvisio, both in the mountainous region of Abruzzo. The density of ''comuni'' varies widely by province and region: the province of Bari, for example, has 1,564,000 inhabitants in 48�municipalities, or over 32,000�inhabitants per municipality; whereas the Aosta Valley has 121,000 inhabitants in 74�municipalities, or 1,630�inhabitants per municipality – roughly twenty times more communal units per inhabitant. There are inefficiencies at both ends of the scale, and there is concern about optimizing the size of the comuni so they may best function in the modern world, but planners are hampered by the historical resonances of the comuni, which often reach back many hundreds of years, or even a full millennium: while provinces and regions are creations of the central government, and subject to fairly frequent border changes, the natural cultural unit is indeed the ''comune'', – for many Italians, their hometown: in recent years especially, it has thus become quite rare for ''comuni'' either to merge or to break apart. Many ''comuni'' also have a ''Polizia Municipale'' (municipal police) which is responsible for public order duties. Traffic control is their main function in addition to controlling commercial establishments to ensure they open and close according to their license.

Subdivisions

A ''comune'' usually comprises:
a principal town or village, that almost always gives its name to the ''comune''; such a town is referred to as the ''capoluogo'' (“head place”, or “capital”; c.f. the French chef-lieu) of the ''comune''; the word ''comune'' is also used in casual speech to refer to the town hall.
other outlying areas called ''frazioni'' (singular: ''frazione'', abbreviated ''fraz.'', literally “fraction”), each usually centred on a small town or village. These ''frazioni'' have usually never had any independent historical existence, but occasionally are former smaller ''comuni'' consolidated into a larger. They may also represent settlements which predated the ''capoluogo'': the ancient town of Pollentia, for instance, today known as Pollenzo, is a ''frazione'' of Bra. In recent years the ''frazioni'' have become more important thanks to the instituction of the "''Consiglio di Frazione''", a local form of government which can can interact with the ''comune'' and show it the local needs, requests and claims. Yet smaller places are called ''località'' (literally “localities” and often, as in the phonebook, abbreviated ''Loc.''). Sometimes, a ''frazione'' might be more populated than the ''capoluogo''; and very occasionally, due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of the latter, the town hall and its administrative functions move to one of the ''frazioni'': but the ''comune'' still retains the name of the ''capoluogo''. In some cases, a ''comune'' might not have a ''capoluogo'' but only some 'frazioni': in these cases, it is called a "''comune sparso''" ( municipality) and the ''frazione'' which houses the town hall is called "''sede municipale''" (compare county seat).

Homonymy

There is not a lot of homonymy between Italian municipalities. It exists only in 8 cases for 16 ''comuni'':
Brione: Brione (BS) and Brione (TN)
Calliano: Calliano (AT) and Calliano (TN)
Castro: Castro (BG) and Castro (LE)
Livo: Livo (CO) and Livo (TN)
Peglio: Peglio (CO) and Peglio (PU)
Samone: Samone (TN) and Samone (TO)
San Teodoro: San Teodoro (ME) and San Teodoro (OT)
Valverde: Valverde (CT) and Valverde (PV)

See also

Circoscrizione
Communes of France
Contrada
Frazione
List of comuni of Italy
List of Italian communes (2009)
Località
Medieval commune
Municipality
Municipio
Quartiere
Rione
* Rioni of Rome
Sestiere
Terziere

References

External links

ANCI - National Association of Italian Comunes