The national settlement system of Italy at the beginning of the 1990s.

Abstract

"The paper presents recent changes in the Italian settlement system and variations in urban hierarchical relations. Functional classification of towns and their new position compared with the situation at the beginning of [the] 1980s is...proposed in terms of three categories of cities, medium-sized towns and small towns. The analysis and verification attempted in this study have revealed a marked reduction in the number of small towns as well as shifts in functional characteristics within urban areas in Italy."