A frazione, in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other subdivisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere. The word is cognate to English fraction. Most comuni have several frazioni, occasionally several dozens, while some have none. The subdivision is optional. In practice, most frazioni are small villages or hamlets, occasionally a mere clump of houses, although being such a place is not requisite, nor is every hamlet a frazione by any means: those that are not are often referred to as località, as for example in the telephone book. In some occasions frazioni can be more populated than the principal town of the comune (the capoluogo). Very occasionally, due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of the capoluogo, the town hall and its administrative functions can move to one of the frazioni: the comune, however, still retains the name of the capoluogo. In Italy, the comune, (plural comuni) is the basic administrative unit of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality. ... Municipio (Spanish and Italian) and Município (Portuguese) are the terms used for the following subnational entities: // Município Município (Brazil) Município (Portugal), more commonly called concelho Municipio Municipio (Colombia) Municipio (Italy), more commonly called comune Municipio (Mexico) Municipio (Puerto Rico) Municipio (Spain) Municipio (Venezuela) See also Munic... Circoscrizione is a district in Italy. ... A quartiere (plural: quartieri) is a subdivision of certain Italian towns. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Historically, many frazioni came into being during the Fascist period, when a major effort was made to consolidate and rationalize the territorial subdivisions of the country. Sometimes, a frazione represents a former comune felt at some point to be no longer viable. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Formerly, they were established, and their borders defined, by the central government, except in the case of the five autonomous regions (see Regions of Italy), where this was done at the regional level. Under the terms, however, of Legislative Decree 267/2000 in implementation of amendments to Title V of the Italian Constitution, the frazioni are now defined at the comune level. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Regions of Italy were granted a degree of regional autonomy in the 1948 constitution, which states that the constitutions role is: to recognize, protect and promote local autonomy, to ensure that services at the State level are as decentralized as possible, and to adapt the principles and laws... Look up Region in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Under the former legislation, a frazione had the option of having a prosindaco (submayor), who was appointed by the mayor (il sindaco) of the comune, often on the recommendation of deliberative bodies such as the communal council (consiglio) or the giunta, or as a result of a petition by enough residents of the frazione involved; although there was no official provision for groups of frazioni joining forces with the appointment of a single prosindaco, the case was frequent enough. Under current law, however, Article 54 of the Constitution provides that a mayor may delegate mayoral functions at the frazione level to a councillor of the comune. A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ...

In many comuni, in addition to their advisory function, the frazioni are endowed with their own clerks and recorders of deeds, but do not maintain their own civil records.