Metropolitan Area (Italy)

The città metropolitana (Italian for "metropolitan city") is an Italian administrative institution created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990), later amended by 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2009 provisions,^[1] but not yet operative. The città metropolitana, as defined by law, includes a large core city and the smaller surrounding towns that are closely related to it with regard to economic activities and essential public services, as well as to cultural relations and to territorial features, that form its metropolitan area. A città metropolitana (legal name) is therefore, by all means, a metropolitan area. The main aim of the reform was to give metropolitan areas the administrative powers of a province. The original 1990 law individuated as metropolitan areas the communes of: Turin, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Bari, Naples and their respective hinterlands, reserving the autonomous regions the right to individuate metropolitan areas in their territory.^[2] The metropolitan areas individuated by the autonomous regions were: Cagliari, Catania, Messina, Palermo and Trieste. A 2009 amendment eventually added Reggio Calabria to the list.^[3] As of 2011, none of these administrative authorities has been activated, as many of the core administrations even failed to define the legal extent of their metropolitan areas. In 2005, the Italian Ministry of the Environment has produced a study on the state of metropolitan areas regulation in Italy, that contains an analysis of the local authorities already defined and suggestions on the delimitation of the remaining.^[4]

History

Administrative boundaries

Rank	Core city	Area	Institutive Law	Population
1	Rome	Not defined		4,282,000[5]
2	Milan	Not defined		3,707,000[6]
3	Naples	Not defined		3,059,000[7]
4	Turin	Not defined		2,215,000[8]
5	Bari	Not defined		1,541,000[9]
6	Florence	73 communes [10]	DCR 130/29.03.2000	1,403,000[11]
7	Palermo	27 communes	LR 9/1986 e Decreto Presidente Regione 10.08.1995	1,234,000[12]
8	Catania	27 communes	LR 9/1986 e Decreto Presidente Regione 10.08.1995	1,054,000[13]
9	Bologna	60 communes	LR 33/12.04.1995 e LR 20/24.03.2000	915,000[14]
10	Genoa	41 communes[15]	LR 12/22.07.1991 e LR 7/24.02.1997	878,000[16]
11	Venice	5 communes[17]	L.R.36/12.08.1993	809,000[17]
12	Cagliari	Not defined		760,000[18]
13	Messina	51 comnunes	LR 9/1986 e Decreto Presidente Regione 10.08.1995	662,000[19]
14	Trieste	Not defined		242,000[20]
15	Reggio Calabria	Not defined

Alternative studies

Given the situation of persisting administrative and statistical uncertainty, during the last decades a few authoritative alternative studies has been produced regarding Italian metropolitan areas. According to OECD,^[21] the largest conurbations are:

• Milan – 7.4 million
• Rome – 6.3 million
• Naples – 3.1 million
• Turin – 2.2 million

References

1. ^ Vittorio Ferri (2009). Metropolitan cities in Italy. An institution of federalism. University of Milan-Bicocca. http://www.unicreditreviews.eu/uploads/03_ferri_ing_201-236.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-23. 
2. ^ http://www.edscuola.it/archivio/norme/leggi/l142_90.html Law 8 June 1990 n. 142
3. ^ Law 5 May 2009 n. 42
4. ^ "Environmental issues in the administration of metropolitan areas". Italian Ministry of the Environment. 2005. http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/it-IT/Archivio/Pubblicazioni/Pubblicazioni/inu.html. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
5. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Roma.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Rome
6. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Milano.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Milan
7. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Napoli.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Naples
8. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Torino.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Turin
9. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Bari.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Bari
10. ^ Resolution March 29, 2000 n. 130
11. ^ Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Florence
12. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Palermo.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Palermo
13. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Catania.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Catania
14. ^ Italian Ministry of the Environment: the metropolitan area of Bologna
15. ^ Regional Law July 22, 1991, n. 12, implementing art. 17 of Law June 8, 1990, n. 142, later amended by Regional Law February, 24 1997, n. 7
16. ^ Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Genoa
17. ^ ^{a b} Italian Ministry of the Environment: the metropolitan area of Venice
18. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Cagliari.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Cagliari
19. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Messina.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Messina
20. ^ http://www.areeurbane.apat.it/site/_files/INU/Trieste.pdf Italian Ministry of Environment: the metropolitan area of Trieste
21. ^ OECD. "Competitive Cities in the Global Economy" (PDF). http://213.253.134.43/oecd/pdfs/browseit/0406041E.PDF. Retrieved 30 April 2009. ^{[dead link]}