Small municipalities in decline Since 2001, 82 bell towers have been cancelled

CBy 2024 the number of Italian Municipalities has fallen to 7,896. A merger concerned the province of Como. Three others took shape in Veneto. In fact, the new municipalities of Setteville were established, born from the aggregation of Alano di Piave and Quero Vas, in the Belluno area, and of Santa Caterina d’Este, formed by the union between Carceri and Vighizzolo d’Este, in the Padua area. Finally, in the Vicenza area, Sovizzo joined Gambugliano, maintaining the name of the first town.

Therefore, at the end of a process that concluded in December with the green light from the regional council, we went from six local authorities to three, currently under extraordinary administration, until the municipal elections of next June 9th will know the name of the new mayor.

With this transition in the region the number of bell towers drops to 560: just over half (286, i.e. 51%) still have less than 5 thousand inhabitants, while 37 are below the threshold of one thousand residents, with Belluno and Vicenza in the lead for micro local authorities, at 17 and nine respectively. The Region has encouraged mergers: in August the Veneto Council took steps to lower the referendum quorum to 30%: the process for establishing the new bodies involves consultations among residents. In the meantime, the incentives for those who complete the integrations are also increasing: in fact, legislation has recently been approved which extends the duration of the disbursement of state contributions by a further 5 years, which will therefore be received for 15 years.

The decrease in the number of municipalities is a process that began at the beginning of the 2000s: the maximum number was recorded in 2001, when in Italy there were 8,101; since then there has been a decline of 205 units. A slow process – highlighted by the Think Tank Nord Est Foundation, a laboratory of proposals and planning for the territories of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, which has always promoted aggregations between local authorities – if compared with that of other European countries: in fact, between 2006 and 2023, in Italy the contraction was only 2.5%, in Greece 68%, in the Netherlands 25%, in Germany 13%, in Austria 11% and in France 5%. Today Italy is the fourth European country in the EU for municipal bodies, behind France, Germany and Spain. The Belpaese therefore remains a land of bell towers.

As mentioned, however, the change, although very gradual, is underway. From 2001 to 2024, 21 municipalities disappeared in Veneto, in Trentino Alto Adige as many as 57, the highest number in the country, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, only 4, as highlighted by Think Tank Nord Est’s calculations based on Istat data. At the beginning of the 2000s there were 1,139 municipalities in the three regions; now there are 1,057 left.

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