frazione

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.
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n. fraction, Hamlet