Italy began with 59 provinces and kept adding more for 140 years
When the Kingdom of Italy was born in 1861 it had 59 provinces. Wars, annexations, losses and endless subdivision pushed the tally to 110 by 2004. Then the state tried to shrink them, sparking a decade of abolitions, court rulings and reversals, especially in Sardinia.
Provinces sit between the region and the comune, Italy's basic municipality. Their core jobs include local police and fire services and transport matters such as car registration and minor roads, and most take the name of their capital city. Each also hosts a prefect representing central government and a questore commanding the State Police. Aosta Valley, too small to subdivide, handles provincial duties itself, while South Tyrol and Trentino are autonomous provinces with legislative powers equal to a region's.
The count tracked Italy's borders. The 1861 kingdom lacked Veneto, Lazio and other areas; annexing Veneto, Friuli and Mantua in 1866 added nine provinces, and taking Rome from the Papal States in 1870 lifted the total to 69. Gains after the First World War brought Trento, Trieste and, in 1924, Fiume, Pola and Zara, for 76. A royal charter in 1927 created 17 more at once. The Paris Peace Treaties of February 1947 took away Fiume, Pola and Zara, so the new Republic started with 91, and Trieste itself returned only in 1954.
Subdivision then resumed. Pordenone, Isernia and Oristano appeared between 1968 and 1974, eight more arrived in 1992, including Biella and Rimini, and a 2004 batch with Monza and Brianza reached 110.
The reversal came with the 2014 Delrio law. Provinces became second-level bodies whose presidents and councils are chosen by local mayors and councillors rather than voters, and since 2015 without pay. Fourteen big-city provinces, from Milan to Naples, turned into metropolitan cities. Sardinia abolished its provinces after a 2012 referendum, saw a court call that unconstitutional in January 2014, reorganised them in 2016, created South Sardinia in 2017 and scrapped it again on 1 June 2025. Today Italy counts 110 second-level bodies of various kinds.
Source: Provinces of Italy
