Provinces of Italy

In Italy, a province (provincia) is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality (comune) and a region (regione).

Overview
A province is composed of many municipalities (comune), and usually several provinces form a region. The regions of Aosta Valley, Basilicata, Molise, Umbria are the only exception being the province coincident with the region.

The three main functions devolved to provinces are:
 * Local planning and zoning
 * Provision of local police and fire services.
 * Transportation regulation (car registration, maintenance of local roads, etc.)

The number of provinces in Italy has been steadily growing in recent years, as many new ones are carved out of older ones. Usually, the province's name is the same as that of its capital city.

Each province is headed by a President assisted by a legislative body, the Provincial Council, and an executive body, the Provincial Executive. President and members of Council are elected together by resident citizens: the coalition of the elected President (who needs an absolute majority in the first or second round of voting) gains the three fifths of the Council's seats. The Executive is chaired by the President who appoint others members, called assessori.

In each province there is also a Prefect (prefetto), a representative of the central government who heads an agency called prefettura-ufficio territoriale del governo. The Questor (questore) is the head of State's Police (Polizia di Stato) in the province and his office is called questura. There is also a province's police force depending from local government, called provincial police (polizia provinciale).

The South Tyrol and Trentino are autonomous provinces: unlike all other provinces they have the same legislative powers of regions and are not subordinated to the region they are part of, namely the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

Prior to 2014
The table shows the current Italian provinces.

After 2014
The table show the new Italian provinces, implemented by the reform of the Government of Mario Monti, will change definitively from 2014. (The names of the reformed provinces, their capital cities, ISTAT and ISO codes, and the presidents of the provinces, are still being defined).

The decree on the reorganization of the provinces, did not affect the 5 autonomous regions (Aosta Valley, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sicily, Sardinia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol). Them within their own Regional Council will decide whether to abolish some of its provinces, as in the case of Sardinia (Following the outcome of the regional referendums of 2012 it was decreed that, such institutions should be reformed or abolished by March 2013, thus remaining in office until February 28, 2013), or choose to keep them.

The names of the new provinces were announced in November 2012.



Kingdom of Italy
In 1861, at the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, there were 59 provinces. However, at that time the national territory was smaller than the current one: regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Lazio were not included in the kingdom.

In 1866, following the Third Independence War, territories of Veneto, Friuli and Mantova were annexed. There were therefore 9 provinces more: Belluno, Mantova, Padova, Rovigo, Treviso, Venezia, Verona, Vicenza and Udine, all previously part of the Austrian Empire. Eventually, in 1870, following the annexion of Rome and its province from the Papal States, provinces rose to 69.

After World War I, new territories were annexed to the country. The Province of Trento was created in 1920. Provinces of La Spezia, Trieste and Ionio in 1923. In 1924 the new provinces of Fiume, di Pola and Zara were created, rising the total number of provinces in Italy to 76.

Between the two World Wars
In 1927, following a Royal charter, a general province rearrangement took place. 17 new provinces were created (Aosta, Vercelli, Varese, Savona, Bolzano, Gorizia, Pistoia, Pescara, Rieti, Terni, Viterbo, Frosinone, Brindisi, Matera, Ragusa, Castrogiovanni, Nuoro) and the province of Caserta was suppressed. In the same year the institution of circondari, sub-provincial wards created before the unification, was abolished.

Province of Littoria (Latina) was created in 1934 and the Province of Asti in 1935. Following the annexion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the province of Zara joins the Governatorate of Dalmatia (comprising the province of Zara, Spalato e Cattaro), while in the occupied central part of today's Slovenia was created the new Province of Lubiana.

After World War II
In 1945, after the War, the province of Aosta changed name to Valle d'Aosta and Littoria to Latina; the new province of Caserta was created. With the Paris Treaties, signed on 10 February 1947, Italy lost the provinces of Istria, Carnaro and Dalmazia and part of provinces of Trieste and Gorizia. Moreover, the province of Trieste was occupied by United States and Great Britain forces. The Italian Republic had therefore 91 provinces at its birth.

Province of Ionio was renamed in Taranto in 1951, and, in 1954, the province of Trieste was returned to Italy.

Recent history
The Province of Pordenone was founded in 1968, the province of Isernia in 1970 and the Province of Oristano in 1974. In 1992 a total of 8 provinces were created: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Biella, Lecco, Lodi, Rimini, Prato, Crotone, Vibo Valentia, while Forlì was renamed Forlì-Cesena.

Four new provinces were founded in Sardinia in 2001, which went effective in 2005: Olbia-Tempio, Ogliastra, Medio Campidano e Carbonia-Iglesias; in 2004 other 3 provinces were created: Monza e Brianza, Fermo and Barletta-Andria-Trani, for a total of 110 provinces.

In May 2012, a referendum abolished the 9 provinces of Sardinia. This suppression will become effective on 1 March 2013. On 6 July 2012, plans were published to reduce the number of provinces by around 50%.

Historical abolished provinces

 * Province of Aosta (Italian: Provincia di Aosta) (1927–1945). Became the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley in 1948.
 * Province of Terra di Lavoro (Italian: Provincia di Terra di Lavoro ) (1861–1927). Was divided into the current provinces of Frosinone, Latina and Caserta.

Provinces of Istria and Dalmatia

 * Province of Zadar (Italian: Provincia di Zara) (1923–1947). Was a part of the Governorship of Dalmatia. It remained nominally a part of the Italian Social Republic after the Italian capitulation.
 * Province of Pula (Italian: Provincia di Pola) (1923–1947). Was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and was administered as a part of the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.
 * Province of Rijeka (Italian: Provincia di Fiume) (1924–1947). Was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and was administered as a part of the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.

Provinces established during World War II

 * Province of Ljubljana (Italian: Provincia di Lubiana) (1941–1943). Was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and was administered as a part of the German Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.
 * Province of Split (Italian: Provincia di Spalato) (1941–1943). Was a part of the Governorship of Dalmatia. Was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and annexed by the Independent State of Croatia.
 * Province of Kotor (Italian: Provincia di Cattaro) (1941–1943). Was a part of the Governorship of Dalmatia. Was occupied by Germany in September 1943 and annexed by the Independent State of Croatia.

Colonial provinces

 * Province of Rhodes (Italian: Provincia di Rodi ) (1923–1947) or Italian Aegean Islands (Italian: Isole italiane dell'Egeo) . It remained nominally a part of the Italian Social Republic after the Italian capitulation.


 * Italian Libya was divided into four provinces and one territory (Southern Military Territory or Territory of Saharan Libya). From 1939 onward the provinces were a part of metropolitan Italy.
 * Province of Tripoli (Italian: Provincia di Tripoli) (1937–1943).
 * Province of Misurata (Italian: Provincia di Misurata) (1937–1943).
 * Province of Benghazi (Italian: Provincia di Bengasi) (1937–1943).
 * Province of Derna (Italian: Provincia di Derna) (1937–1943).

Theoretical provinces

 * Province of the Western Alps (Italian: Provincia delle Alpi Occidentali). Planned WWII province to be created of the annexed French territories of the Alpes Maritimes (including the Principality of Monaco) and parts of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes Alpes and Savoie. The town of Briançon (Italian: Brianzone) was to act as the provincial capital.

Controversies
Provinces are often deemed useless, and many proposes have been made in recent years to eliminate them. However, the difficulty of changing a constitutional law and the opposition of some groups and politicians halted any reform proposal.