Lazio Latium
Region
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Italy
Capital	Rome
Government
• Type	President–council government
• Body	Regional Cabinet
• President	Francesco Rocca
• Legislature	Regional Council
Area
• Total	17,242 km2 (6,657 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2021)[1]
• Total	5,714,882
• Density	330/km2 (860/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	English: Lazian Italian: Laziale
GDP [2]
• Total	€197.536 billion (2021)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	IT-62
HDI (2021)	0.917[3] very high · 3rd of 21
NUTS Region	ITE
Website	www.regione.lazio.it

Lazio (UK: /ˈlætsioʊ/ LAT-see-oh, US: /ˈlɑːt-/ LAHT-, Italian: [ˈlattsjo]) or Latium (/ˈleɪʃiəm/ LAY-shee-əm, US also /-ʃəm/ -⁠shəm;^[4][5][6][7] from the original Latin name, pronounced [ˈɫati.ũː]) is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants and a GDP of more than €197 billion per year, making it the country's second most populated region^[1] and second largest regional economy after Lombardy. The capital of Lazio is Rome, which is also the capital and largest city of Italy.

Lazio is rich in a multi-millennial heritage: it sees the presence of the Etruscan civilization, then at the center of the Roman Empire, then of the Papal States, of the First French Empire and of the Italian Republic. Today it constitutes a dynamic region. Its agricultural past (especially in the Roman Campagna) is supplanted by industry, services, commerce, public services and tourism, supported by a privileged transport network thanks to its geographical position in the center of Italy and the presence of Rome within it.

Geography

Relief map of Lazio

Panorama of the Aniene Valley

Lazio comprises a land area of 17,242 km² (6,657 sq mi) and it has borders with Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo and Molise to the east, Campania to the south, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. The region is mainly flat, with small mountainous areas in the most eastern and southern districts.

The coast of Lazio is mainly composed of sandy beaches, punctuated by the headlands of Cape Circeo (541 m) and Gaeta (171 m). The Pontine Islands, which are part of Lazio, are off Lazio's southern coast. Behind the coastal strip, to the north, lies the Maremma Laziale (the continuation of the Tuscan Maremma), a coastal plain interrupted at Civitavecchia by the Tolfa Mountains (616 m). The central section of the region is occupied by the Roman Campagna, a vast alluvial plain surrounding the city of Rome, with an area of approximately 2,100 km² (811 sq mi). The southern districts are characterized by the flatlands of Agro Pontino, a once swampy and malarial area, that was reclaimed over the centuries.

The Preapennines of Latium, marked by the Tiber valley and the Liri with the Sacco tributary, include on the right of the Tiber, three groups of mountains of volcanic origin: the Volsini, Cimini and Sabatini, whose largest former craters are occupied by the Bolsena, Vico and Bracciano lakes. To the south of the Tiber, other mountain groups form part of the Preapennines: the Alban Hills, also of volcanic origin, and the calcareous Lepini, Ausoni and Aurunci Mountains. The Apennines of Latium are a continuation of the Apennines of Abruzzo: the Reatini Mountains with Terminillo (2,213 m), Mounts Sabini, Prenestini, Simbruini and Ernici which continue east of the Liri into the Mainarde Mountains. The highest peak is Mount Gorzano (2,458 m) on the border with Abruzzo.

History

The Appian Way (Via Appia), a road connecting Ancient Rome to the southern parts of Italy, remains usable even today.

The Italian word Lazio descends from the Latin word Latium, the region of the Latins, Latini in the Latin language spoken by them and passed on to the Latin city-state of Ancient Rome. Although the demography of ancient Rome was multi-ethnic, including, for example, Etruscans, Sabines and other Italics besides the Latini, the latter were the dominant constituent. In Roman mythology, the tribe of the Latini took their name from King Latinus. Apart from the mythical derivation of Lazio given by the ancients as the place where Saturn, ruler of the golden age in Latium, hid (latuisset)^[8] from Jupiter there,^[9] a major modern etymology is that Lazio comes from the Latin word "latus", meaning "wide",^[10] expressing the idea of "flat land" meaning the Roman Campagna. Much of Lazio is in fact flat or rolling. The lands originally inhabited by the Latini were extended into the territories of the Samnites, the Marsi, the Hernici, the Aequi, the Aurunci and the Volsci, all surrounding Italic tribes. This larger territory was still called Latium, but it was divided into Latium adiectum or Latium Novum, the added lands or New Latium, and Latium Vetus, or Old Latium, the older, smaller region. The northern border of Lazio was the Tiber river, which divided it from Etruria.

The emperor Augustus officially united almost all of present-day Italy into a single geo-political entity, Italia, dividing it into eleven regions. The part of today's Lazio south of the Tiber river – together with the present region of Campania immediately to the southeast of Lazio and the seat of Neapolis – became Region I (Latium et Campania), while modern Upper Lazio became part of Regio VII – Etruria, and today's Province of Rieti joined Regio IV – Samnium.

After the Gothic conquest of Italy at the end of the fifth century, modern Lazio became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, but after the Gothic War between 535 and 554 and conquest by the Byzantine Empire, the region became the property of the Eastern Emperor as the Duchy of Rome. However, the long wars against the Longobards weakened the region. With the Donation of Sutri in 728, the Pope acquired the first territory in the region beyond the Duchy of Rome.

The strengthening of the religious and ecclesiastical aristocracy led to continuous power struggles between secular lords (Baroni) and the Pope until the middle of the 16th century. Innocent III tried to strengthen his own territorial power, wishing to assert his authority in the provincial administrations of Tuscia, Campagna and Marittima through the Church's representatives, in order to reduce the power of the Colonna family. Other popes tried to do the same. During the period when the papacy resided in Avignon, France (1309–1377), the feudal lords' power increased due to the absence of the Pope from Rome. Small communes, and Rome above all, opposed the lords' increasing power, and with Cola di Rienzo, they tried to present themselves as antagonists of the ecclesiastical power. However, between 1353 and 1367, the papacy regained control of Lazio and the rest of the Papal States. From the middle of the 16th century, the papacy politically unified Lazio with the Papal States,^[11] so that these territories became provincial administrations of St. Peter's estate; governors in Viterbo, in Marittima and Campagna, and in Frosinone administered them for the papacy.

Lazio was part of the short-lived Roman Republic, after which it became a puppet state of the First French Republic under the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte. Lazio was returned to the Papal States in October 1799. In 1809, it was annexed to the French Empire under the name of the Department of Tibre, but returned to the Pope's control in 1815.

On 20 September 1870 the capture of Rome, during the reign of Pope Pius IX, and France's defeat at Sedan, completed Italian unification, and Lazio was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. In 1927, the territory of the Province of Rieti, belonging to Umbria and Abruzzo, joined Lazio. Towns in Lazio were devastated by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake.^[12]

Panoramic view of Rome from St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City)

Economy

Headquarters of Eni in EUR, Rome

Agriculture, crafts, animal husbandry and fishery are the main traditional sources of income. Agriculture is characterized by the cultivation of wine grapes, fruit, vegetables and olives. Lazio is the main growing region of kiwi in Italy.

Approximately 73% of the working population are employed in the services sector, which contribute 85.8% of regional GDP; this is a considerable proportion, but is justified by the presence of Rome, which is the core of public administration, media, utility, telecommunication, transport, tourism and other sectors. Many national and multinational corporations, public and private, have their headquarters in Rome (ENI, Italiana Petroli, Enel, Acea, Terna, TIM, Poste italiane, Leonardo, ITA Airways, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, RAI).

Lazio's limited industrial sector and highly developed service industries allowed the region to well outperform the Italian economy in 2009 in the heart of the global financial crisis, but it was strongly affected by the COVID-19 crisis of 2020–2021 due to the lock-downs.

Industrial development in Lazio is limited to the areas south of Rome. Communications and – above all – the setting of the border of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno some kilometers south of Rome have influenced the position of industry, favouring the areas with the best links to Rome and those near the Autostrada del Sole, especially around Frosinone. Additional factor was cheap energy supply from Latina Nuclear Power Plant and Garigliano Nuclear Power Plant, which are now out of the operation after Italian nuclear energy referendum.

Industry

Alfa Romeo Giulia

Travertine

Industry contributes a small part of GDP: its share is 8.9% compared to 25.0% in Veneto and 24.0% in Emilia-Romagna.^[13] In Rome it is even less with 7%, compared with 12% from tourism. Virtually no machine building or metallurgy exists in Lazio.

Firms are often small to medium in size and operate in the

• oil refining (Gaeta)
• automobile (Cassino Plant, which produced 53,422 Alfa Romeo cars in 2020 and has 3,433 employees.^[14])
• yachts and boats (Canados Shipyard in Rome-Ostia)
• engineering (Rieti, Anagni (rotor blades and composite structures;^[15] stone extractions machines Fantoni Sud), Frosinone (helicopter transmissions^[15]))
• electronic (Viterbo, Rome, Pomezia,^[15] Latina^[15]). A large Texas Instruments plant in Rieti was closed with the loss of thousands of jobs.
• building and building materials (Rome, Civitavecchia)
  • Well-developed travertine-processing industry, especially in the Ausoni-Tiburtina area (Tivoli and Guidonia Montecelio quarries).^[16]
  • ca. 70% of the national sanitary ceramics comes from Civita Castellana industrial district and Gaeta
• textile (Valle del Liri). In the district the production relationships are mostly of the subcontractor type, 40% of the companies produce semi-finished and finished products not intended for marketing.

There is some R&D activity in high technology: IBM (IBM Rome Software Lab), Ericsson, Leonardo Electronics (Rome-Tiburtina, Rome-Laurentina, Pomezia, Latina),^[15] Rheinmetall ("Radar House") and tire industry: Bridgestone (R&D center in Rome and proving grounds in Aprilia).

Agriculture

Kiwifruit

Cereals[17]	Сultivated area, ha
Durum wheat	53,398
Barley	14,294
Wheat	12,850
Maize	11,720
Oats	5,635

From fruits the most important are kiwifruit (1st place in Italy) and hazel nuts "Nocciola romana". Italy itself is the second largest producer of kiwifruit worldwide and was surpassed only by China. Infrastructure which has been used for grape growing was easily adapted for kiwifruit cultivation.

Animal husbandry

Pecorino romano cheese

2019[18]	Italy	Share %	Lazio	Share %	% Lazio in Italian Total
Cattle	5,974,947	26.0%	202,124	18.4%	3.4%
Buffalo	402,286	1.8%	60,821	5.5%	15.1%
Sheep	7,000,880	30.5%	750,529	68.2%	10.7%
Goats	1,058,720	4.6%	35,194	3.2%	3.3%
Pigs	8,510,268	37.1%	51,740	4.7%	0.6%
Total	22,947,101	100.0%	1,100,408	100.0%	4.8%

Only sheep and buffalo herds are significant nationwide. Both are kept predominantly for milk, which is used in the production of pecorino romano and mozzarella di bufala cheese. Sheep herds are the 3rd nationwide after Sardinia and Sicily. 40% of sheep are bred in province of Viterbo.

Tourism

Ostia Lido beach

Skiers on the slope at Pian de' Valli (Monte Terminillo)

Villa d'Este in Tivoli, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Tourism in Lazio is a thriving sector especially as regards tourism linked to art and monuments and places of interest in the region (Rome in particular), religious tourism (Rome and the sanctuaries of Lazio), summer seaside tourism especially in upper and lower Lazio (Santa Marinella, Ladispoli, Anzio, Nettuno, Sabaudia, San Felice Circeo, Terracina, Sperlonga, Gaeta) and summer/winter tourism in the ski resorts of the Lazio Apennines (Monte Terminillo, Leonessa, Cittareale, Monte Livata, Campo Staffi and Campocatino, Altipiani di Arcinazzo). Other points of interest in the region are the area of the Roman Castles and the areas around Lake Bracciano and Lake Bolsena, as well as the archaeological park of Ostia Antica. Civita di Bagnoregio, also known as "the dying city", has become a popular tourist destination in the country.

At national level, according to Istat data relating to 2018, Lazio is the 4th Italian region by number of arrivals, the 6th by number of presences, with an average stay per person just under 3 days. Rome, the most visited city in Italy with 28,992,098 presences, alone represents 79% of the annual regional presences.

Demographics

With a population of 5,714,882 million (as of 31 December 2021), Lazio is the second-most populated region of Italy.^[1] The overall population density in the region is 341 inhabitants per km². However, the population density widely ranges from almost 800 inhabitants per km² in the highly urbanized Rome metropolitan area to less than 60 inhabitants per km² in the mountainous and rural province of Rieti. As of January 2023, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 615,108 foreign-born immigrants live in Lazio, equal to 11.1% of the total regional population.^[21]

Largest cities or towns in Lazio Source: ISTAT;[22] estimates for 1 January 2023
	Rank		Province	Pop.	Rank		Province	Pop.
Rome Latina	1	Rome	Rome	2,757,870	11	Civitavecchia	Rome	51,625
	2	Latina	Latina	126,992	12	Ardea	Rome	49,057
	3	Guidonia Montecelio	Rome	88,602	13	Nettuno	Rome	48,033
	4	Fiumicino	Rome	81,091	14	Marino	Rome	46,347
	5	Aprilia	Latina	73,918	15	Rieti	Rieti	45,276
	6	Viterbo	Viterbo	66,012	16	Terracina	Latina	44,720
	7	Pomezia	Rome	63,712	17	Frosinone	Frosinone	43,417
	8	Anzio	Rome	58,652	18	Monterotondo	Rome	40,979
	9	Tivoli	Rome	54,673	19	Ladispoli	Rome	40,658
	10	Velletri	Rome	52,146	20	Albano Laziale	Rome	39,718

Main resident foreign populations[23]
Nationality	Population (1 January 2021)
1	Romania	192,983
2	Philippines	44,490
3	Bangladesh	41,109
4	India	32,653
5	China	25,553
6	Albania	24,233
7	Ukraine	24,149
8	Egypt	16,709
9	Poland	16,043
10	Morocco	14,899
11	Peru	14,778
12	Moldova	13,500
13	Sri Lanka	11,667
14	Nigeria	10,806

Government and politics

Rome is centre-left politically oriented by tradition, while the rest of Lazio is centre-right oriented. In the 2008 general election, Lazio gave 44.2% of its vote to the centre-right coalition, while the centre-left block took 41.4% of vote. In the 2013 general election, Lazio gave 40.7% of its vote to the centre-left block coalition, 29.3% to the centre-right coalition and 20.2 to the Five Star Movement.

Administrative divisions

Lazio is divided into four provinces and one metropolitan (province-level) city:

Cuisine

One of the most famous forms of food in Lazio is pasta. Dishes first attested inside the region's borders include:

• 
  Spaghetti alla carbonara
• 
  Bucatini all'amatriciana
• 
  Penne all'arrabbiata
• 
  Spaghetti alla gricia

Guanciale is used in several sauces. Guanciale is the cut of pork obtained from the cheek of the pig, crossed by lean veins of muscle with a component of valuable fat, of a composition different from lardo ("back fat") and pancetta ("belly fat"): the consistency is harder than pancetta and it possesses a more distinctive flavor. Guanciale is salted pork fat, different from bacon, which is smoked. It is a typical product of Lazio, Umbria and Abruzzo. Another important ingredient is pecorino romano cheese.

Vegetables are common, artichokes ("carciofi") being among the most popular:

• 
  Carciofi alla romana
• 
  Carciofi alla giudia
• 
  Carciofolata
• 
  Romanesco broccoli
• 
  Cima di rapa
• 
  Romaine lettuce

Other popular vegetables are romanesco broccoli, asparagus, fava bean, cima di rapa, romaine lettuce, pumpkin, zucchini and chicory.

Sports

Panoramic view of the Stadio Olimpico

Stadio Benito Stirpe at night in Frosinone

The region gives its name to the professional football club SS Lazio that plays in the Italian Serie A. The region has two professional clubs in the top flight, the other being AS Roma, who also play in the highest division of Italian football. Combined, the two have won five Italian championships with Roma winning three and Lazio two. The main sports stadium in Lazio is Stadio Olimpico in Rome which has housed both teams for a prolonged time and hosts Derby della Capitale between the two clubs. The stadium also hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and the 1990 FIFA World Cup final. Outside of Rome the football scene has another club playing in the Serie A, that being Frosinone.

Lazio hosts no top-line motorsports events, but the Vallelunga circuit previously hosted the Superbike World Championship in motorcycle racing.

Rome is home to many international sporting events and competitions, including:

• Italian Open Internazionali d'Italia, which take place between April and May of each year at the Foro Italico;
• Rome ePrix, the Formula E championship, has been held on the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR since 2018;
• Six Nations Championship: the home matches of the Italian national rugby team;
• International horse show "Piazza di Siena", equestrian competition held since 1922 in piazza di Siena, inside Villa Borghese;
• Golden Gala Pietro Mennea international event of athletics which takes place annually at the Stadio Olimpico;
• Rome Marathon, organized in spring with start and finish in Via dei Fori Imperiali.

See also

• Geography of Italy
• Regions of Italy
• Administrative divisions of Italy
• Roman cuisine

References

External links

• Official Touristic Site of the Regione Lazio (in English)
• Official Site of the Regione Lazio (in Italian)

41°54′N 12°43′E / 41.900°N 12.717°E / 41.900; 12.717