Provinces of Italy

PROVINCES OF ITALY

Italy's cities, counties, towns and villages are divided up into various categories, with the hierarchy typically as follows: Region, Province, Comune, Frazione. The largest areas are the twenty regions and then most of those regions are divided up into a series of provinces. The region with the largest amount of provinces is Lombardy which has twelve, while the smallest number can be found in Trentino Alto Adige/South Tyrol, Umbria, Molise and Basilicata, each of which have just two.

There are a number of anomalies to the system; the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia is no longer divided into provinces, but has a new system of 18 districts known as UTI, such as UTI Giuliana which now includes the regional capital of Trieste. The region of Valle d'Aosta doesn't have any provinces, while the two provinces of Trentino Alto Adige/South Tyrol are both classed as autonomous.

Typically, the provinces are named after the major city in a particular area such as Perugia Province or Vicenza Province, to give two examples. However, this isn't always the case, with provinces such as Verbano Cusio Ossola taking its name from three different areas in Piedmont, Barletta Andria Trani which represents three cities in Puglia or Lombardy's Monza and Brianza whose name is made up of both a city and a geographical area. Sardinia currently has five provinces, a reduced number after the two former provinces of Carbonia-Iglesias and Medio Campidano were subsumed into the new South Sardinia Province in 2016.

The provinces that contain Italy's largest cities such as Rome and Milan, have now been recategorised as "metropolitan cities". In most regions, where there is a metropolitan city province, that province is the home of the regional capital such as in the case of the Metropolitan City of Venice or the Metropolitan City of Bari. However, in the case of Calabria, we have Catanzaro Province which is home to the regional capital of Catanzaro, while the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria is home to the more populous city of Reggio Calabria that nevertheless, is not the regional capital. In Sicily there are three metropolitan city provinces including the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and the metropolitan city provinces of Catania and Messina.

I've listed out all of the Provinces of Italy below, divided up by region with links to each one. The first province under each region is the home of that region's capital with the others following suit in alphabetical order.

There are currently 102 official provinces in Italy, a figure that doesn't include the four former provinces of Friuli Venezia Giulia that is now divided into 18 UTIs, or the region of Valle d'Aosta which doesn't have any provinces.

After the regions and then provinces, the next level down is the commune (comune singular or comuni plural in Italian), which are usually smaller towns such as Volterra in Tuscany or Tropea in Calabria for example. Of this category of town there are currently around 8,000 in total. The smallest category called frazione (singular - frazioni plural), relates to smaller towns or villages on the outskirts of the larger towns. As each comune has numerous frazioni, the total number of frazioni is way in excess of the 8,000 comuni.

Northern Italy

Provinces of Lombardy

Mandello del Lario, Lecco Province, Lombardy

There are twelve provinces in Lombardy:

Metropolitan City of Milan
Bergamo Province
Brescia Province
Como Province
Cremona Province
Lecco Province
Lodi Province
Mantova Province
Monza and Brianza
Pavia Province
Sondrio Province

Provinces of Emilia Romagna

Fiumalbo, Modena Province, Emilia Romagna

There are nine provinces in Emilia Romagna:

Metropolitan City of Bologna
Ferrara Province
Forlì - Cesena
Modena Province
Parma Province
Piacenza Province
Ravenna Province
Reggio Emilia Province
Rimini Province

Provinces of Piedmont

Mondovì, Cuneo Province, Piedmont

There are eight provinces in Piedmont:

Metropolitan City of Turin
Alessandria Province
Asti Province
Biella Province
Cuneo Province
Novara Province
Verbano Cusio Ossola
Vercelli Province

Provinces of Veneto

Pellestrina Island, Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto

There are seven provinces in Veneto:

Metropolitan City of Venice
Belluno Province
Padova Province
Rovigo Province
Treviso Province
Vicenza Province
Verona Province

Provinces of Liguria

Camogli, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria

There are four provinces in Liguria:

Metropolitan City of Genoa
Imperia Province
La Spezia Province
Savona Province

Provinces of Friuli Venezia Giulia

Castello di Miramare, UTI Giuliana, Friuli Venezia Giulia

Friuli Venezia Giulia is no longer split into provinces. As of 2017, the region was divided up into a series of 18 UTI (Unioni Territoriali Intercomunali - Inter-communal Territorial Unions) zones, with the regional capital of Trieste now coming under the UTI Giuliana.

The four former provinces of Friuli Venezia Giulia were:

Trieste Province (see UTI Giuliana)
Gorizia Province
Pordenone Province
Udine Province

Provinces of Trentino Alto Adige South Tyrol

Bressanone, South Tyrol Province

There are two autonomous provinces in Trentino Alto Adige/South Tyrol:

Trentino Province
South Tyrol Province

Valle d'Aosta

Morgex, Valle d'Aosta

The region of Valle d'Aosta is not split up into provinces, just a series of 74 communes (comuni in Italian), which are essentially smaller towns. The one city in the region is Aosta, which is also the regional capital.