Italy has 7,904 municipalities, and the distance between the largest and the smallest is enormous: Rome has 2,770,226 residents, Morterone, in the province of Lecco, has 29. Rome is about 95,500 times bigger.

The 50 largest, from Rome down to Pesaro (95,950), hold 14,357,357 people, about 24% of all Italians. The 50 smallest together have just 3,485 residents, roughly 0.13% of Rome’s population.

The 50 largest: Rome is twice the size of anyone else

Rome has 2,770,226 residents, just over twice as many as Milan (1,374,582), the second largest. Naples (922,094) and Turin (858,205) follow, then Palermo (637,885), Genoa (566,410), Bologna (391,686), Florence (368,419), Bari (317,205) and Catania (300,356). Those ten alone account for 8,507,068 people, about 14% of the country.

After Catania the numbers drop fast. Verona (258,031) and Venice (256,083) come next, then Messina (222,329), Padua (209,730), Prato (201,410) and Trieste (200,609), the last municipalities above 200,000. Forty-four of the 50 largest have more than 100,000 residents, and the list ends with Pesaro at 95,950.

A few surprises sit in the middle of the ranking. Giugliano in Campania, near Naples, is 34th with 122,364 residents, ahead of the provincial capitals Bergamo, Trento, Vicenza and Bolzano. Two pairs of cities share a province: Naples and Giugliano in Campania, and Forlì and Cesena.

Area and density: compact Naples and Milan, sprawling Rome and Ravenna

Size on the map and size in population are very different things. Rome covers 1,287.24 km², seven times Milan’s 181.68 km², and its density is 2,152 inhabitants per km². Naples packs 922,094 people into 118.94 km², the highest density of the 50 at 7,752 per km². Milan (7,566) and Turin (6,598) come next, followed by Palermo (3,972), Monza (3,703) and Florence (3,601).

Monza and Pescara are the dense small cities of the list, each with only about 33 to 34 km² (33.09 and 34.33) and densities above 3,400.

The opposite end is made of large territories with moderate populations. Ravenna spreads over 653.81 km² for 156,463 residents, a density of just 239. Sassari (547.03 km², density 224), Foggia (509.25 km², 290) and Perugia (449.61 km², 366) are similar. Sassari has the lowest density of the 50, followed by Ravenna, Andria (242) and Arezzo (253). Venice, with 415.89 km² of lagoon and mainland, sits at 616.

The 50 smallest: a story of Piedmont’s valleys

Morterone (29 residents, Lecco) is the smallest municipality in Italy, followed by Pedesina (36, Sondrio), Briga Alta (41, Cuneo), Moncenisio (41, Turin), Ingria (45, Turin) and Macra (46, Cuneo). The 50th smallest, Roascio in Cuneo, has 91.

The province codes in the source point to the Alps: 32 of the 50 smallest municipalities are in Piedmont, and 19 of them are in the province of Cuneo alone. Turin has five, Vercelli four, and Alessandria three. Altitude explains much of it. Twenty of the 50 lie at 1,000 m or higher, up to Rhêmes-Notre-Dame in Aosta Valley (1,725 m) and Argentera in Cuneo (1,684 m). A few sit in the plains, such as Maccastorna in Lodi (45 m), Villa Biscossi in Pavia (90 m) and Collobiano in Vercelli (143 m).

Density is extremely low. Briga Alta has 0.79 inhabitants per km², Rhêmes-Notre-Dame 0.96 and Argentera 1.02, versus Italy’s national figure of 196. Rhêmes-Notre-Dame is also the largest of the 50 at 86.83 km² with only 83 residents. At the other end, tiny Blello in Bergamo (2.20 km², 75 residents) has the highest density of the group at 34 per km².

Taken together, the 50 smallest municipalities cover 1,080.63 km², less than Rome’s 1,287.24 km² alone.

Table 1: the 50 largest municipalities

Resident population on 1 January 2021. Province codes are the standard two-letter Italian codes.

Rank	Municipality	Prov.	Residents	Surface (km²)	Density (inh./km²)	Altitude (m)
1	Rome	RM	2,770,226	1,287.24	2,152	20
2	Milan	MI	1,374,582	181.68	7,566	122
3	Naples	NA	922,094	118.94	7,752	17
4	Turin	TO	858,205	130.06	6,598	239
5	Palermo	PA	637,885	160.59	3,972	14
6	Genoa	GE	566,410	240.29	2,357	19
7	Bologna	BO	391,686	140.86	2,781	54
8	Florence	FI	368,419	102.32	3,601	50
9	Bari	BA	317,205	117.41	2,702	5
10	Catania	CT	300,356	182.80	1,643	7
11	Verona	VR	258,031	198.91	1,297	59
12	Venice	VE	256,083	415.89	616	2
13	Messina	ME	222,329	213.76	1,040	3
14	Padua	PD	209,730	93.03	2,255	12
15	Prato	PO	201,410	97.35	2,069	61
16	Trieste	TS	200,609	85.10	2,357	2
17	Brescia	BS	197,304	90.33	2,184	149
18	Parma	PR	195,998	260.60	752	57
19	Taranto	TA	190,717	249.86	763	15
20	Modena	MO	186,414	183.17	1,018	34
21	Reggio Calabria	RC	173,026	239.04	724	31
22	Reggio Emilia	RE	170,601	230.68	740	58
23	Perugia	PG	164,721	449.61	366	493
24	Ravenna	RA	156,463	653.81	239	4
25	Livorno	LI	155,370	104.71	1,484	3
26	Rimini	RN	150,240	135.79	1,106	5
27	Cagliari	CA	149,572	84.58	1,768	6
28	Foggia	FG	147,467	509.25	290	76
29	Ferrara	FE	131,669	405.14	325	9
30	Salerno	SA	129,206	59.85	2,159	4
31	Latina	LT	127,560	277.62	459	21
32	Monza	MB	122,522	33.09	3,703	162
33	Sassari	SS	122,506	547.03	224	225
34	Giugliano in Campania	NA	122,364	94.63	1,293	97
35	Bergamo	BG	119,993	40.15	2,989	249
36	Trento	TN	118,879	157.87	753	194
37	Pescara	PE	118,766	34.33	3,459	4
38	Forlì	FC	117,407	228.20	514	34
39	Siracusa	SR	117,053	207.82	563	17
40	Vicenza	VI	111,113	80.58	1,379	39
41	Terni	TR	107,982	212.43	508	130
42	Bolzano	BZ	107,467	52.29	2,055	262
43	Piacenza	PC	102,731	118.23	869	61
44	Novara	NO	102,225	103.05	992	162
45	Ancona	AN	99,273	124.87	795	30
46	Udine	UD	98,156	57.19	1,716	113
47	Andria	BT	97,489	402.88	242	151
48	Arezzo	AR	97,373	384.75	253	296
49	Cesena	FC	96,520	249.46	387	44
50	Pesaro	PU	95,950	152.81	628	11

Table 2: the 50 smallest municipalities

Rank counts from the largest (7,904 municipalities in total), so 7,904 is the smallest. A ‡ marks names that were garbled in the source and could not be identified with certainty; see the notes below.

Rank	Municipality	Prov.	Residents	Surface (km²)	Density (inh./km²)	Altitude (m)
7,855	Roascio	CN	91	6.42	14	458
7,856	Gorreto	GE	90	18.88	4.77	533
7,857	Carrega Ligure	AL	88	55.26	1.59	958
7,858	Elva	CN	87	26.22	3.32	1,637
7,859	Piazzolo	BG	87	4.15	21	702
7,860	Collobiano	VC	86	9.22	9.32	143
7,861	Sambuco	CN	85	46.14	1.84	1,184
7,862	Castellania Coppi	AL	85	7.21	12	400
7,863	Oncino	CN	85	47.36	1.79	1,220
7,864	“Stay” ‡	CN	84	14.09	5.96	1,250
7,865	Malvicino	AL	83	9.04	9.19	420
7,866	Rhêmes-Notre-Dame	AO	83	86.83	0.96	1,725
7,867	Carapelle Calvisio	AQ	83	14.79	5.61	910
7,868	Celle di Macra	CN	82	31.11	2.64	1,270
7,869	Cissone	CN	82	5.90	14	661
7,870	Monasterolo Casotto	CN	81	7.68	11	726
7,871	Spriana	SO	80	7.68	10	754
7,872	Montelapiano	CH	80	8.27	9.68	740
7,873	Baradili	OR	80	5.57	14	165
7,874	Canosio	CN	79	48.45	1.63	1,225
7,875	Argentera	CN	78	76.26	1.02	1,684
7,876	Marcetelli	RI	76	11.08	6.86	930
7,877	Salza di Pinerolo	TO	75	15.89	4.72	1,210
7,878	Isasca	CN	75	5.08	15	660
7,879	Blello	BG	75	2.20	34	815
7,880	Montebello sul Sangro	CH	75	5.38	14	810
7,881	Pietraporzio	CN	74	55.19	1.34	1,246
7,882	Carcoforo	VC	73	22.80	3.20	1,304
7,883	“Tax” ‡	PC	70	24.13	2.90	906
7,884	Olmo Gentile	AT	70	5.62	12	615
7,885	Fascia	GE	70	11.25	6.22	900
7,886	Rocca de’ Giorgi	PV	68	10.50	6.48	219
7,887	“Branch” ‡	VC	67	43.27	1.55	917
7,888	Maccastorna	LO	65	5.75	11	45
7,889	Igliano	CN	64	3.40	19	532
7,890	Villa Biscossi	PV	63	4.88	13	90
7,891	Castelmagno	CN	59	49.31	1.20	1,141
7,892	“Rodent” ‡	GE	59	12.81	4.61	981
7,893	Massello	TO	56	38.26	1.46	1,188
7,894	“Ball” ‡	CN	54	3.11	17	616
7,895	Marmora	CN	53	41.13	1.29	1,225
7,896	Cervatto	VC	52	9.54	5.45	1,004
7,897	Ribordone	TO	48	43.60	1.10	1,023
7,898	Torresina	CN	47	3.82	12	704
7,899	Macra	CN	46	24.66	1.87	875
7,900	Ingria	TO	45	14.75	3.05	816
7,901	Moncenisio	TO	41	4.50	9.11	1,461
7,902	Briga Alta	CN	41	52.18	0.79	1,310
7,903	Pedesina	SO	36	6.30	5.71	1,032
7,904	Morterone	LC	29	13.71	2.12	1,070

Source: Istat, resident population as of 1 January 2021.