Who runs local government in Italy?
Italy has 20 regions with their own elected governments (five with 'special statutes' and extra autonomy), and about 7,900 comuni (municipalities) with directly elected mayors. Provinces still exist but have been indirectly elected since 2014. The state keeps a prefect in each province, who can play a strong role, including when councils are dissolved because of mafia infiltration.
Italian Republic · Unitary parliamentary republic with strong regions ('regional state') · Southern Europe
The levels of government below the nation
| Level | How it is chosen | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Regions (20; 5 with special statutes: Sicily, Sardinia, Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Friuli-Venezia Giulia) | Regional council and president directly elected | Health care (the biggest item), regional planning, transport, agriculture; regions make laws in many fields. |
| Autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano/Bozen | Elected councils that together form the regional council | Exercise most regional powers in Trentino-Alto Adige, with protections for German- and Ladin-speakers in Bolzano. |
| Provinces and metropolitan cities | Since Law 56/2014, chosen by and from local councillors; metropolitan mayor is the mayor of the main city | Secondary school buildings, provincial roads, environment; metropolitan cities plan their wider urban area. |
| Prefectures (Prefettura – Ufficio territoriale del Governo) | Prefect appointed by the national government | Public order, coordinating state offices, elections, and managing councils that have been dissolved. |
| Comuni (7,894 from February 2026) | Mayor (sindaco) and council directly elected for five years | Local planning, social services, local police, nursery and primary school buildings, waste, civil registry. |
Three questions about local power in Italy
Are local leaders elected?
Mayors, municipal councils, regional presidents and councils are directly elected. Provincial bodies are chosen indirectly. Prefects are appointed.
Which laws set up local government?
Title V of the Constitution (reformed 2001) sets out comuni, metropolitan cities, provinces and regions; the Consolidated Act on Local Authorities (TUEL, 2000) sets details. Collective land bodies are statutory; residents' committees are informal.
Who are local leaders accountable to?
Voters; the council can remove the mayor by a no-confidence vote, which triggers new elections; the national government can dissolve a council for mafia infiltration (TUEL Article 143) and send commissioners; the Court of Auditors checks spending; administrative courts.
Traditional and customary authority
No customary authority in the African or Asian sense, but some old community institutions have legal standing: collective land bodies such as the Regole of Cortina d'Ampezzo, recognised as 'collective domains' (domini collettivi) by Law 168/2017, manage forests and pastures owned in common by local families. The Catholic Church has strong social influence and runs many schools and charities, under the 1984 agreement with the state, but no local governing power.
Community and neighbourhood power
Large comuni (over 250,000 people) must have sub-municipal districts with elected councils, called municipi or circoscrizioni (Rome has 15 municipi). Smaller hamlets (frazioni) have no government of their own. Residents' committees and neighbourhood associations are informal; some cities run participatory budgets.
Points to know
- Since 1991 the national government has dissolved more than 300 municipal councils over organised-crime infiltration, mostly in the south, replacing them with appointed commissioners for 18–24 months.
- Mayors have been directly elected since 1993, with a second-round runoff in comuni over 15,000 people.
- Sardinia reorganised its provinces from 1 January 2026, creating a Metropolitan City of Sassari.
- In Aosta Valley and South Tyrol, language-group rules shape local government.
Local terms
- Comune
- Municipality, from small villages to Rome.
- Prefetto
- Prefect, the national government's appointed representative in each province.
- Regione a statuto speciale
- A region with a special statute giving it more autonomy.
Sources
- Constitution of Italy (1947, rev. 2020), Constitute Project, checked 14 October 2026
- Testo unico delle leggi sull'ordinamento degli enti locali (D.Lgs. 267/2000), Normattiva (Italian State Printing Office), checked 14 October 2026
- Legge 20 novembre 2017, n. 168 – Norme in materia di domini collettivi, Normattiva (Italian State Printing Office), checked 14 October 2026
- Codici statistici delle unità amministrative territoriali: comuni, province e regioni, ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics), checked 14 October 2026
- Italy: country profile (territorial organisation, responsibilities, finance), OECD–UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI), checked 14 October 2026
- Italy: monitoring of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (2024 report), Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CARTA-MONITOR), checked 14 October 2026
See also: Italy's official statistics and leaders · the 10 levels of power.