A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the

Fascist era Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

(1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territorial subdivisions in the country. In the autonomous region of the

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

, a ''frazione'' is officially called ''hameau'' in French. In

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

, a ''frazione'' is called ''Fraktion'' in German and ''frazion'' in Ladin.

Description

The term ''frazioni'' refers to the villages or hamlets that often make up a ''comune'' in rural Italian areas. Subdivision of a ''comune'' is optional; some ''comuni'' have no ''frazioni'', but others have several dozen. The ''comune'' usually has the same name of the ''

capoluogo A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed ac ...

'', but not always, in which case it is called a ''comune sparso''. In practice, most ''frazioni'' are small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s or

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, occasionally just a clump of houses. Not every hamlet is classified as a ''frazione''; those that are not are often referred to as ''

località A ''località'' is an inhabited place in Italy that is not accorded a more significant distinction in administrative law, such as a '' frazione'', ''comune'', '' municipio'', '' circoscrizione'', or ''quartiere''. The word is cognate to English ' ...

'', for example, in the telephone book. In some cases, ''frazioni'' are more populous than the ''capoluogo'' of the ''comune''. Due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of the ''capoluogo'', the town hall and its administrative functions can move to one of the ''frazioni'': the ''comune'' still retains the name of the ''capoluogo''.

History

Historically, many ''frazioni'' came into being during the Fascist era, when a major effort was made to consolidate and rationalize the territorial subdivisions of the country. Sometimes, a ''frazione'' represents a former ''comune'' that was believed to be no longer viable. Until 2000, the central government established the ''frazioni'' and defined their borders, except in the case of the five

autonomous regions An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree o ...

(see

regions of Italy The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italy, Italian Republic, constituting its second Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, #Autonomous regio ...

), where this was controlled at the regional level. By the Legislative Decree 267/2000 to implement amendments to Title V of the Italian Constitution, the individual ''comuni'' now define the ''frazioni'' within their borders.

Officers

Under the former legislation, a ''frazione'' had the option of having a submayor (''prosindaco''), who was appointed by the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

(''sindaco'') of the ''comune'', often on the recommendation of deliberative bodies such as the communal council (''consiglio'') or the ''giunta'', or as a result of a petition by enough residents of the ''frazione'' involved; although there was no official provision for ''frazioni'' to group together with the appointment of a single ''prosindaco'', this did happen quite often. Under current law, however, Article 54 of the d.lgs. 267/2000 provides that a mayor may delegate mayoral functions at the ''frazione'' level to a councillor of the ''comune''. In many ''comuni'', in addition to their advisory function, the ''frazioni'' have their clerks and recorders of deeds, but they do not maintain their own civil records.

References

{{Types of administrative country subdivision Types of administrative division Italian words and phrases

Description

History

Officers

See also

References