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Amalfi coast

Regions

All about Italy regions

There is a strong sense of regional identity in Italy, as it was not unified until 1871 when Rome became the capital. The countryside is dotted with castles, fortresses and walled villages, reminders of a turbulent past when regions fought each other for control of territory.

There are 20 regions, each of which has its own capital.

REGION

CAPITAL
Lombardy
Milan (Milano)
Trentino Alto Adige Trento
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Trieste
Veneto Venice (Venezia)
Emilia Romagna
Bologna
Marche
Ancona
Abruzzo
L’Aquila
Molise
Campobasso
Puglia
Bari
Basilicata
Potenza
Calabria
Catanzaro
Campania
Naples (Napoli)
Lazio
Rome
Umbria
Perugia
Tuscany
Florence (Firenze)
Liguria
Genoa (Genova)
Piedmont
Turin (Torino)
Aosta Valley
Aosta
Sardinia
Cagliari
Sicily
Palermo

For more information about the geography of each region we can recommend a useful Italian site (in English!). Click on www.mediasoft.it/italy.

Each region is then divided into a number of provinces which take their names from the main towns. The provinces themselves are then further divided into smaller administrative bodies called comune, which are a kind of local council.

As Italian car numberplates show the province in which they were registered, this can form the basis of a useful game for bored children when travelling! For example:

BO
Bologna
FI Firenze (Florence)
GE
Genova
MI Milano
NA
Napoli
PI
Pisa
PG
Perugia
TO
Torino (Turin)
VE
Venezia (Venice)
VI
Vicenza

Cars registered in Rome show the full word ROMA.

 

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