ellypunk88
Member
Italian
Can anybody tell me what's the difference between city and town?
It may help to know that technically, in the UK at least, the difference between a town and a city depends on the presence or absence of a cathedral. It remains to be seen whether this criterion is applicable to another country (ie Italy). But I believe it is. At least, it seems as good as any other criterion. And at least it's objective, rather than subjective. And we are using the Italian language, after all...
But if we're comfortable with the idea of grey areas, nobody's going to call you wrong if you say town rather than city, or vice versa, in many borderline cases. That said, Florence must be a city)). I mean, after all, it was the capital city of Italy for a (short) time... That's got to count for something. And, on an Italian scale, it's a bit big for a mere "town" (think Siena... although that's another city, in my book).
Hmmm, on the subject of Siena, it was a city the medieval period, surely. So does it get downgraded to town, through time? And what about Troy? That was small by our standards today. But in its day, hell -- it was pretty major. And we don't seem to have forgotten the fact.
EDIT: some crossing, but no apologies ;-) (actually, little duplication, I feel...)
Well, yes, I think this is the point!at the end of the day if it's quite big call it a town, if very big, a city!! As you say, nobody will actually say it's wrong! If cathedrals are important then nearly all Italian towns are going to be cities!!![]()
It may help to know that technically, in the UK at least, the difference between a town and a city depends on the presence or absence of a cathedral.
Actually this isn't correct, since there are ten 'Cathedral Towns' (such as Blackburn, Bury St Edmunds, Chelmsford, Guildford, Rochester etc) which have established Anglican cathedrals within their borders but have not yet achieved 'city' status. Also, there are 16 English and Welsh towns that have been awarded city status but which do not have Anglican cathedrals within their borders (eg Bath, Cambridge, Lancaster, Leeds, Nottingham, Plymouth, Preston etc).
Actually this isn't correct, since there are ten 'Cathedral Towns' (such as Blackburn, Bury St Edmunds, Chelmsford, Guildford, Rochester etc) which have established Anglican cathedrals within their borders but have not yet achieved 'city' status. ...
Do the people of Firenze (per esempio) feel indignant when people say that it is just a town, and not a city? Or is this indignation a peculiarly British trait?
Do the people of Firenze (per esempio) feel indignant when people say that it is just a town, and not a city? Or is this indignation a peculiarly British trait?
In Italy the difference between city and town officially doesn't exist. It is just an administrative matter if a city/town is a "città" or a "comune" or a "paese": officially a "città" is a territory -small or large, culturally significant or not it doesn't matter- which administrates an area around it. It can be called also "capoluogo di provincia" .Then the cities/towns are "divided" into smaller units, named "comune", which administrate smaller areas around them. A "paese" depends from the administrative point of view on its "comune". Normally a place becomes a "città" when it reaches economical (and not cultural) significance in the region where it lies or becomes too rich or populous. About ten years ago, for example, 5 new provinces where declared in Italy, among which Prato (infact the town had become too rich and populous for being administrated by Florence). This is the official definition of the word "città".
Then the cities/townsare "divided" into smaller units, named "comune", which administrate smaller areas around them.
A "paese" depends from the administrative point of view on its "comune".
Non ricordo se qui o sul forum English Only c'è un thread lunghissimo che tratta questo argomento...ti avverto che non è poi così semplice come discorso!Quanto deve essere grande una città per poter essere chiamata "city" in inglese? Cioè, se non sbaglio gli inglesi chiamano "city" solo le metropoli...o sto dando i numeri? Le città più piccole sono "town"...o no? Per esempio una città di 130 mila abitanti si definisce "town" o "city"? Grazie!
And it's surprisingly easy to find using the WR dictionary.Non ricordo se qui o sul forum English Only c'è un thread lunghissimo che tratta questo argomento