English overview

Introduction

Regions are the bricks of administrative organisation, according to the Italian constitutional system. They are entitled of several important functions, some of them coming from the Constitutional Chart of 1948, the other ones attributed by national laws voted by the Parliament.

Currently, Italy is divided in 20 Regions. Among the different bodies in which our State is organised, there are other two administrative structures, called respectively “Provincia” (Province) and “Comune” (Commune; municipality, in Britain), below the level represented by the “Regione”.

The Province usually takes its name from the bigger and most important city/town we can find on its own area (there are, for example, the Province of Milan, Pisa, Brescia, Padova etc.); we have around 100 Provinces, on the Italian territory. The Province is governed by the President, who heads the Local Government called “Giunta”, whose members are called “Assessori” (Councillors, in Britain).

The “Consiglio” is the general assembly where all the political parties are represented and local decisions are taken, through an organisation based on commissions where all the matters concerning a specific sector of activity (agriculture, transports etc.) are discussed.

The Province's mission

Province of Brescia has an area of 4.784,36 sq.km and includes 206 municipalities.

The Province is responsible for many administrative tasks, attributed by the State or the corresponding Region.

The most important are the following: protection of the environment (ground, natural areas/parks etc.), regulation of the use of waters and natural energies transports and ways of communication, health services, secondary education, data processing and technical assistance to the local Authorities coordination of economical, tourist, social, cultural and sport activities.

There are also important tasks like planning the activities of the Communes, through pluriennal programs, for general and specific sectors development. With reference to the different sectors, we can see how the Province of Brescia is working in some one of these.

In the agricultural sector, for example, the Province of Brescia is promoting the local production, organising fairs - at the local and international level - where citizens and specialized people trying different kinds of food and drinks.

In the cultural field, an important project made by the Province of Brescia consists of putting on-line and available for all citizens the titles of more than one million of books held by more than 150 libraries spread in the whole Province.

There is also a project to improve the road network within the Province's territory like a new 31-km-long joint between the highway "Venice – Milan" and the most industrial part of the Province of Brescia, "Valle Trompia" (where the density of small and medium enterprises is one of the highest in Europe). This means a reduction of the traffic passing now through several Communes of the Province, with a sure improvement of the living conditions for many citizens and quicker ways for trade.

The Province of Brescia is a renowned zone for tourism, especially in the many beautiful places around the Lake of Garda and on the mountains. An agreement has been reached by the Province with a national telephone company (Tim) to send tourist information by sms (short message service): the information concerns the availability of hotels, camping and other kind of accommodations for tourists, as well as the calendar of the main seasonal events.

There are also many current projects in the technological innovation field.