A (plural: ) is a subdivision of certain Italian towns and cities. The word is from (‘sixth’), so it is thus used only for towns divided into six districts. The best-known example is the ''sestieri'' of Venice, but

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city h ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

and

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...

, for example, were also divided into ''sestieri''. The medieval Lordship of Negroponte, on the island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poi ...

, was also at times divided into six districts, each with a separate ruler, through the arbitration of Venice, which were known as ''sestieri''. The island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, a Venetian colony (the " Kingdom of Candia") from the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

, was also divided into six parts, named after the ''sestieri'' of Venice herself, while the capital Candia retained the status of a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of Venice. The island of

Burano Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, near Torcello at the northern end of the lagoon, known for its lace work and brightly coloured homes. The primary economy is tourism. Geography Burano is from Venice, a 45-minute t ...

north of Venice is also subdivided into ''sestieri''. A variation of the word is occasionally found: the ''comune'' of

Leonessa :''Leonessa is also the name of a ''frazione'' of Bassano Romano.'' Leonessa is a town and '' comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Province of Rieti in the Lazio region of central Italy. Its population in 2008 was around 2,700. Situated i ...

, for example, is divided into or sixths. Other Italian towns with fewer than six official districts are frequently divided into analogous ''quartieri'' (4, whence the English word "quarter" to mean a neighbourhood) or ''terzieri'' (3); some towns merely refer to these neighbourhoods by the non-number-specific '' rioni''. {{lang, it, Sestieri, quartieri, terzieri, rioni, and their analogues are usually no longer administrative divisions of these towns, but historical and traditional communities, most often seen in their sharpest relief in the town's annual ''

palio Palio is the name given in Italy to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a '' comune'' against each other. Typically, they are fought in costume and commemorate s ...

''.

See also