Administrative subdivision of Rome

The administrative subdivision of Rome consists of the 15 sub-municipalities (municipi) of Rome's municipality. Originally, the city was divided into 20 sub-municipalities, but the XIV, what is now the Comune di Fiumicino, voted in 1992 to become a full municipality itself and eventually detached from Rome. Then on 11 March 2013 the municipalities were reduced from 19 to 15.

Since 1972 the city has been divided into administrative areas, called municipi (singular: municipio), until 2001 named circoscrizioni. They were created for administrative reasons to increase decentralisation in the city. Each municipio is governed by a president and a council of four members who are elected by its residents every five years. The municipi frequently cross the boundaries of the traditional, non-administrative divisions of the city.

There were originally 20 municipi, becoming 19 in 1992 after a referendum and the subsequent separation of Fiumicino (XIX Circoscrizione) into an independent Comune. In 2013 their number was reduced to 15.

Rome is also divided into several types of non-administrative units. The historic centre is divided into 22 rioni, all of which are located within the Aurelian Walls except Prati and Borgo. These originate from the Regiones of ancient Rome, which evolved in the Middle Ages into the medieval rioni. In the Renaissance, under Pope Sixtus V, they reached again the number of fourteen, and their boundaries were finally defined under Pope Benedict XIV in 1743.

A new subdivision of the city under Napoleon was ephemeral, and there were no sensible changes in the organisation of the city until 1870, when Rome became the capital of Italy. The needs of the new capital led to an explosion both in the urbanisation and in the population within and outside the Aurelian walls. In 1874 a fifteenth rione, Esquilino, was created on the newly urbanised zone of Monti. At the beginning of the 20th century other rioni where created (the last one was Prati – the only one outside the Walls of Pope Urban VIII – in 1921). Afterward, for the new administrative subdivisions of the city the name "quartiere" was used. Today all the rioni are part of the first Municipio, which therefore coincides completely with the historical city (Centro Storico).

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Wikipedia