ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a comprehensive classification of the 148 local urban systems of medium, medium-large and large size. The reciprocal effect is also probable, i.e. that usually the local urban systems that fit best into the global networks receive and transmit impulses within their regional structure that tend to strengthen and expand. The image of Italian urbanisation that emerges from study, while it confirms some well-known lines, underlines trends and potential conditions capable of throwing new light on the relationship to the European urban system. The great municipal traditions, the ‘thickness’ of the local milieu and the strong identity that characterises many Italian cities are the components of a historical and cultural substratum that explains many aspects of the urban vitality of contemporary Italy and which represents a resource that should not be neglected. Particularly striking is the dynamism of the medium-sized and medium-large urban systems.
