: frazioni) is a type of subdivision of a comune (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town.
The term frazioni refers to the villages or hamlets that often make up a comune in rural Italian areas.
Historically, many frazioni came into being during the Fascist era, when a major effort was made to consolidate and rationalize the territorial subdivisions of the country.
By the Legislative Decree 267/2000 to implement amendments to Title V of the Italian Constitution, the individual comuni now define the frazioni within their borders.
Under the former legislation, a frazione had the option of having a submayor (prosindaco), who was appointed by the mayor (sindaco) of the comune, often on the recommendation of deliberative bodies such as the communal council (consiglio) or the giunta, or as a result of a petition by enough residents of the frazione involved; although there was no official provision for frazioni to group together with the appointment of a single prosindaco, this did happen quite often.