Frazione

Afrazione(pl.:frazioni) is a type of subdivision of acomune(municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Mostfrazioniwere created during theFascist era(1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territorial subdivisions in the country.

In the autonomous region of theAosta Valley,afrazioneis officially calledhameauinFrenchandArpitan.InSouth Tyrol,afrazioneis calledFraktioninGermanandfrazioninLadin.

Description

The termfrazionirefers to the villages or hamlets that often make up acomune(a type ofmunicipal-levelgovernment) in rural Italian areas.Subdivision of acomuneis optional; somecomunihave nofrazioni,but others have several dozen. Thecomuneusually has the same name of thecapoluogo,but not always, in which case it is called acomune sparso.

In practice, mostfrazioniare smallvillagesorhamlets,occasionally just a clump of houses. Not every hamlet is classified as afrazione;those that are not are often referred to aslocalità,for example, in the telephone book. In some cases,frazioniare more populous than thecapoluogoof thecomune.Due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of thecapoluogo,the town hall and its administrative functions can move to one of thefrazioni:thecomunestill retains the name of thecapoluogo.

History

Historically, manyfrazionicame into being during the Fascist era, when a major effort was made to consolidate and rationalize the territorial subdivisions of the country. Sometimes, afrazionerepresents a formercomunethat was believed to be no longer viable.

Until 2000, the central government established thefrazioniand defined their borders, except in the case of the fiveautonomous regions(seeregions of Italy), where this was controlled at theregionallevel. By the Legislative Decree 267/2000 to implement amendments to Title V of the Italian Constitution, the individualcomuninow define thefrazioniwithin their borders.

Officers

Under the former legislation, afrazionehad the option of having a submayor (prosindaco), who was appointed by themayor(sindaco) of thecomune,often on the recommendation of deliberative bodies such as the communal council (consiglio) or thegiunta,or as a result of a petition by enough residents of thefrazioneinvolved; although there was no official provision forfrazionito group together with the appointment of a singleprosindaco,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 thefrazionelevel to a councillor of thecomune.

In manycomuni,in addition to their advisory function, thefrazionihave their clerks and recorders of deeds, but they do not maintain their own civil records.

See also

• Circoscrizione
• Località
• Quartiere
• Rione
  • Rioniof Rome
• Sestiere
• Terziere