The Regions There are 20 Italian Regions: 5 with special autonomy for ethnic, historical and peripheral reasons Valle d'Aosta Trentino-Alto Adige Friuli-Venezia Giulia Sardegna Sicilia and 15 with ordinary autonomy Piemonte Lombardia Veneto Liguria Emilia-Romagna Toscana Umbria Marche Lazio Abruzzo Molise Campania Puglia Basilicata Calabria Each Region has a statute governing its organs, their relations and means of functioning within the Region itself, while the general electoral system remains under State law. The statutes of the Regions with special autonomy are approved with constitutional laws, while those of the Regions with ordinary autonomy are resolved by the individual Consigli Regionali and approved with parliamentary laws. The matters entrusted to the care of the Regions are constitutionally defined. Those for the five special Regions being contained in their respective statutes and for the rest in Article 117 of the Constitution. While the areas of action for the Regions with special autonomy vary from case to case and are particularly wide, those for the Regions with ordinary statutes are the following: - Administrative organization: ordering of the offices and dependent corporation; communal districts, local police. - Public services: social assistance; health; craft and profes sional instruction; local museums and libraries; transport of regional importance; internal navigation. - Economic development: tourism and the hotel industry; road maintenance and construction; public works of regional importance; quarrries, peat-bogs, agriculture; crafts; mineral waters and spas. - Environment: urban planning; protection of fauna, hunting and fishing, forests and flora; defence of the soil; measures against pollution. The Regions's legislative competence are however restricted by the need of the State to maintain overall unity. Regions with special autonomy are empowered for primary, secondary and effective legislation, while those with ordinary autonomy only for secondary and effective legislation. The three types of legislative competence are distinguished by their limitations. Very generally it can be said that: primary competence is only subject to constitutional restrictions; secondary competence also to the fundamental principles contained in the State laws applying to the particular matter; and effective competence is limited by the specific State laws that the Region is required to apply, organize and integrate at a local level. The Regional Organs The regional entities have three necessary organs: Consiglio Regionale, Giunta Regionale and its Presidente. The Consiglio is a collective organ, elected by proportional representation of the citizens every five years. Its function is to legislate, control and plan, as well as to elect the executive organs. In essence, the Consiglio decides on everything concerning the regional political direction. The Giunta Regionale is the collective organ, composed of Assessori and Presidente, to which is entrusted, on an agreed basis, policy initiatives, financial proposals, principal acts of planning and ordinary administrative activity. Finally, the President directs the work of the Junta, puts into effect its political programme and represents the Region externally. The Regions' administrative activities are implemented by way of decisions made in the Consiglio Regionale and Giunta Regionale or through presidential decrees. In some of the latter cases signature is delegated to the relevant Assessore (councillor). The Regions' administrative acts cannot be executed until they have been checked by the Commissione Statale di Controllo sulle Regioni (Article 124 of the Constitution), presided over by the Commissario del Governo. This commission has general control of legitimacy and exceptionally (in specified cases) of merit; in the first case it has the power to annul and in the second to refer back to the Regions for re-examination.