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Provisions for at least some degree of regional autonomy were made in the 1948 constitution. However, five regions ( Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-South Tyrol, and Aosta Valley) have been granted a special autonomy statute based on cultural grounds and on the presence of important minorities. Trentino-South Tyrol has a double capital, one for the Trentino zone (prevalence of Italian speakers) and another one for the South Tyrol zone (prevalence of German and Ladin speakers). Each region has an elected council and a Giunta Regionale (executive committee) headed by a president. The Giunta is responsible to the council and is required to resign if it fails to retain the council's confidence. Government is thus analogous to the national government in structure.
Provincial and communal governments follow similar principles: councils and giunte headed by provincial presidents or communal mayors.
Regional autonomy has been made an issue in Italian politics in recent years, no doubt aided by the emergence of parties such as the Lega Nord.
| Region | Capital |
|---|---|
| 1. Abruzzo (sometimes Abruzzi) | L'Aquila |
| 2. Aosta Valley (Val d'Aoste, Valle d'Aosta) | Aosta (Aoste) |
| 3. Apulia (Puglia) | Bari |
| 4. BasilicataBasilicata is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Puglia to the east, Calabria to the south, it has one short coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea and another of the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea to the south-east. The region | PotenzaPotenza is a town and comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is the capital of the Potenza province. Area of the commune: 173. 95 km2 Area of the province: 6545 km2 Population of the commune (2001 census): 69,060 Population of the provinc |
| 5. CalabriaA region in southern Italy, Calabria occupies the "toe" of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. It is bounded in the north by the region of Basilicata, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea. Calabria faces the island of Si | CatanzaroCatanzaro was at one time the lace capital of the world with a large silkworm breeding, it produced all the laces and linens used in the Vatican. The old town was built over three hills (St. Trifone or St. Rocco Hill; Episcopate's Hill; St. Giovanni Hill) |
| 6. CampaniaCampania is a region of Southern Italy, bordering on Lazio to the north-west, Molise to the north, Puglia to the north-east, Basilicata to the east, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. The region covers 13,595 km² and has a population of 5. The name direc | Naples (Napoli) |
| 7. Emilia-RomagnaEmilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. It forms a rough triangle, bounded on the East by the Adriatic Sea, on the North by the Po river and on the South by the Appennine rang | Bologna |
| 8. Friuli-Venezia Giulia | Trieste |
| 9. Latium (Lazio) | Rome (Roma) |
| 10. Liguria | Genoa (Genova) |
| 11. Lombardy (Lombardia) | Milan (Milano) |
| 12. Marches (Marche) | Ancona |
| 13. Molise | Campobasso |
| 14. Piedmont (Piemonte) | Turin (Torino) |
| 15. Sardinia (Sardegna) | Cagliari |
| 16. Sicily (Sicilia) | Palermo |
| 17. Trentino-South Tyrol (Trentino-Südtirol/Alto Adige) | Trento and Bolzano-Bozen |
| 18. Tuscany (Toscana) | Florence (Firenze) |
| 19. Umbria | Perugia |
| 20. Veneto | Venice (Venezia) |