Regions of Italy

Provisions for at least some degree of regional autonomy were made in the 1948 constitution. However, five regions (Friuli-Venezia Giulia[?], Sardinia, Sicily, Trento-South Tyrol[?], and Aosta Valley[?]) have been granted greater autonomy on cultural grounds. Each region has an elected council and a Giunta Regionale (executive committe) headed by a president. The Giunta is responsible to the council and is required to reign 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 presidents (or mayors in the case of the communes).

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
Abruzzo (sometimes Abruzzi)	L'Aquila[?]
Aosta Valley[?] (Val d'Aoste, Valle d'Aosta)	Aosta[?] (Aoste)
Apulia (Puglia)	Bari
Basilicata	Potenza[?]
Calabria	Catanzaro[?]
Campania	Naples (Napoli)
Emilia-Romagna	Bologna
Friuli-Venezia Giulia[?]	Trieste
Latium (Lazio)	Rome (Roma)
Liguria	Genoa (Genova)
Lombardy (Lombardia)	Milan (Milano)
Marches[?] (Marche)	Ancona
Molise	Campobasso
Piedmont (Piemonte)	Turin (Torino)
Sardinia (Sardegna)	Cagliari
Sicily (Sicilia)	Palermo
Trentino-South Tyrol (Trentino-Südtirol/Alto Adige)	Trento (Trent)
Tuscany (Toscana)	Florence (Firenze)
Umbria	Perugia
Veneto	Venice (Venezia)