Importance and function

It is headed by a mayor (''sindaco'') assisted by a legislative body, the ''Consiglio Comunale'', and an executive body, the ''Giunta Comunale''. Mayor and members of ''Consiglio Comunale'' are elected together by resident citizens: the coalition of the elected Mayor (who needs an absolute majority in the first or second round of voting) gains the three fifths of the Council's seats. The ''Giunta Comunale'' is chaired by mayor who appoint others members, called ''assessori''. The offices of the ''comune'' are housed in a building usually called the ''Municipio'', or ''Palazzo Comunale''. Since the start of 2009 there have been 8,100 ''comuni'' in Italy; they vary considerably in area and population.

For example, the ''comune'' of Rome (Lazio) has an area of 1,307.71 km² and a population of 2,761,477, and is both the largest and the most populated ''comune'' in Italy; Fiera di Primiero, in the province of Trentino, is the smallest ''comune'' by area, with only 0.15 km², and Pedesina (province of Sondrio) is the smallest by population, with only 34 inhabitants. The smallest non-alpine ''comune'' in Italy is Montelapiano (CH), the fourth is Carapelle Calvisio (AQ), both in the mountainous region of Abruzzo.

The density of ''comuni'' varies widely by province and region: the province of Bari, for example, has 1,564,000 inhabitants in 48 municipalities, or over 32,000 inhabitants per municipality; whereas the Aosta Valley has 121,000 inhabitants in 74 municipalities, or 1,630 inhabitants per municipality – roughly twenty times more communal units per inhabitant. There are inefficiencies at both ends of the scale, and there is concern about optimizing the size of the comuni so they may best function in the modern world, but planners are hampered by the historical resonances of the comuni, which often reach back many hundreds of years, or even a full millennium: while provinces and regions are creations of the central government, and subject to fairly frequent border changes, the natural cultural unit is indeed the ''comune'', – for many Italians, their hometown: in recent years especially, it has thus become quite rare for ''comuni'' either to merge or to break apart.

Many ''comuni'' also have a ''Polizia Municipale'' (municipal police) which is responsible for public order duties. Traffic control is their main function in addition to controlling commercial establishments to ensure they open and close according to their license.

Subdivisions

Sometimes, a ''frazione'' might be more populated than the ''capoluogo''; and very occasionally, due to unusual circumstances or to the depopulation of the latter, the town hall and its administrative functions move to one of the ''frazioni'': but the ''comune'' still retains the name of the ''capoluogo''.

In some cases, a ''comune'' might not have a ''capoluogo'' but only some 'frazioni': in these cases, it is called a "''comune sparso''" (sparse municipality) and the ''frazione'' which houses the town hall is called "''sede municipale''" (compare county seat).

Homonymy

See also

References

External links

Category:Administrative divisions Category:Subdivisions of Italy

The new underground auditorium of the Pirelli Tower in Milan is dedicated to him.

Biography

Debut

Gaber began to play as rehabilitation for an injury to his hand which required constant but not strenuous activity to recover his motor skill. Since his health as a child was not the best and his older brother Marcello played guitar, he was encouraged to play as well. The outcome was good both in terms of his health and artistically, and at only fourteen years of age he was engaged to play at a New Eve's party and earned his first paycheck of 1,000 lire.

Subsequently he began to frequent the ''Santa Tecla'', a venue in Milan where he had the chance to meet musicians of the time, including Luigi Tenco, Gianfranco Reverberi, Adriano Celentano, Ricky Gianco, and Mogol, who obtained a contract for Gaber with Dischi Ricordi. He then played with the Rocky Mountains Old Time Stompers (replacing Tony Dallara who had left to pursue a solo career) and with Rolling Crew.

Because neither Tenco nor Gaber were yet members of the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers they could not trademark the song "Ciao ti dirò" ("I'll Say Hi to You", inspired by Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock"), which was signed off by Giorgio Calabrese and Giampiero Reverberi despite being composed by Tenco and Gaber.

The two went on to continue writing music together, developing at the same time a close friendship. In 1958 they toured Germany together with Adriano Celentano, Enzo Jannacci, Paolo Tomelleri e Gianfranco Reverberi.

Gaber paired up with Enzo Jannacci as ''I Due Corsari'' ("The Two Privateers"), who made their debut at the end of 1958 with two vinyl singles - "Come Facette Mammeta", a classic song of Neapolitan humour, and "Non occupatemi il telefono" ("Don't Hog the Telephone"). They continued to release singles with Dischi Ricordi throughout the following year, and in 1960 released their first album, ''Giorgio Gaber - Enzo Jannacci''.

After a sentimental-artistic companionship with singer and actress Maria Monti, he married Ombretta Colli in 1965, then a student of languages (Chinese and Russian) at the University of Milan.

He took part to Festival di Sanremo four times, with the songs "Benzina e cerini" ("Petrol and Matches") in 1961, "Così felice" ("So Happy") in 1964, "Mai, Mai, Mai Valentina" ("Never, Never, Never Valentina") in 1966 and "...E allora dai" ("...Well Come On Then!") in 1967.

''Il signor G''

In 1974 he was given the Premio Tenco in the first edition of that musical award. Later Gaber also received the Targa Tenco in 2001 for his song "La razza in estinzione" ("The Dying Race") and in 2003 for the album ''Io non mi sento italiano'' ("I Don't Feel Italian"). After the Tenco award Gaber abandoned television and began to tour only in theatres, as one of the founders of the ''teatro canzone'' genre. He would appear again in TV, although sporadically, only in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Giorgio Gaber died, after a long illness, on 1 January 2003 in his country house in Montemagno near Camaiore (Lucca, Tuscany). He is buried in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan.

Discography

There is also a large discography of LPs and 45s related to his production of pop music songs and ballads. ''Ja-Ga brothers'' (1983) with Enzo Jannacci, is the reprinting of the 1960 recordings of the two singers.

See also

External links

References

Category:1939 births Category:2003 deaths Category:People from Milan Category:Italian guitarists Category:Italian singer-songwriters Category:Italian writers Category:Italian actors Category:Italian people of Slovenian descent Category:Burials at the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano

Awards

Selected filmography

References

External links

Category:1972 births Category:Italian actors Category:Living people