# Spongano

> Italian comune

**Wikidata**: [Q52199](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52199)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spongano)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/spongano

## Summary
Spongano is an Italian comune located in the province of Lecce in southern Italy. It serves as a municipal division within the country, characterized by its position in the Apulia region. With a population around 3,500 to 3,700 residents, it represents a small administrative unit in the broader context of Italy's unitary parliamentary republic.

## Key Facts
- **Classification:** Italian comune, functioning as a municipal division of Italy.
- **Location:** Province of Lecce, which is a province in Italy.
- **Country:** Italy, a sovereign state and parliamentary republic in southern Europe.
- **Coordinates:** Latitude 40.016666666667° N, longitude 18.366666666667° E.
- **Population:** 3689 (one recorded figure), 3673 (another recorded figure), 3490 (additional recorded figure).
- **Website:** http://www.comune.spongano.le.it.
- **Sitelink Count:** 48, indicating digital references across platforms.
- **Wikipedia Title:** Spongano.
- **Wikidata Description:** Italian comune.
- **Related Entity:** Comune of Italy, with sitelink count of 60 and connections to country Italy and another entity.

## FAQs
**Where is Spongano located?**  
Spongano sits within the province of Lecce in Italy, a country positioned in southern Europe. This placement ties it to the Apulia region, contributing to Italy's network of over 8,000 comuni as basic administrative units.

**What is the population of Spongano?**  
Records show Spongano's population at 3689, 3673, and 3490 across different counts. These figures reflect its status as a small rural comune in southern Italy, where demographic data varies slightly by census timing.

**How does Spongano fit into Italy's administrative structure?**  
As a comune, Spongano operates as the smallest municipal division in Italy's unitary system, governed under the national Constitution of Italy. It falls under the province of Lecce and the broader Apulia region, one of Italy's 20 administrative divisions.

**What digital resources exist for Spongano?**  
The official website is http://www.comune.spongano.le.it, providing local governance information. It also has a Wikipedia page titled "Spongano" with 48 sitelinks, linking to various language versions and external databases.

## Why It Matters
Spongano exemplifies the foundational layer of Italy's decentralized governance, where comuni like it handle local services such as civil registries, urban planning, and community welfare in a nation that balances national unity with regional autonomy. In a country with 302,068 square kilometers and 58.85 million people, small entities like Spongano preserve cultural and historical continuity in southern Europe, particularly in Apulia, influencing local economies tied to agriculture and tourism amid Italy's role as an EU founding member and global cultural hub. Its existence underscores Italy's administrative resilience, adapting from the 1861 Kingdom proclamation to the 1946 republic while addressing modern challenges like population stability in aging demographics, thereby supporting the nation's high Human Development Index of 0.895 and its Mediterranean bridge between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

## Notable For
- **Municipal Autonomy in Southern Italy:** Stands out as a self-governing comune in the province of Lecce, embodying Italy's tradition of local administration since the unification in 1861.
- **Compact Demographic Profile:** Features population figures ranging from 3490 to 3689, highlighting stability in a region with Italy's overall fertility rate of 1.2 and life expectancy of 83 years.
- **Geographic Precision:** Defined by exact coordinates at 40.016666666667° N, 18.366666666667° E, placing it in Apulia's coastal-influenced landscape near the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.
- **Digital Footprint:** Boasts 48 sitelinks and an official website, connecting it to Italy's extensive online presence, including Wikipedia coverage in multiple languages.
- **Connection to National Heritage:** As part of Italy, it shares in the country's record for the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites and its "Made in Italy" economic brand, extending local identity to global cultural influence.

## Body

### Location and Geography
Spongano is situated in the province of Lecce, a key administrative province in Italy. Italy itself occupies southern Europe, forming a boot-shaped peninsula extending into the Mediterranean Sea with an area of 302,068 square kilometers. The province of Lecce lies within the Apulia region, one of Italy's 20 regions that include Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, Trentino-South Tyrol, Umbria, Aosta Valley, and Veneto. Spongano's precise coordinates are 40.016666666667° N latitude and 18.366666666667° E longitude, aligning it near Italy's easternmost point at 40.10725766° N, 18.52043867° E. This positions it amid diverse terrain featuring Apennine Mountains, coastal plains, and seas like the Adriatic to the east and Ionian to the south. Italy's borders encompass land contacts with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, and Vatican City, plus maritime boundaries with Malta, Algeria, and others, framing Spongano's regional context.

### Administrative Structure and Classification
Spongano functions as an Italian comune, the basic municipal division in Italy's unitary state system. Comuni number over 8,000 nationwide, each managing local affairs under the national framework established by the Constitution of Italy. As a comune of Italy, Spongano connects to the country code Q38 and another entity , with a sitelink count of 60 for the comune category. It operates within the parliamentary republic proclaimed on March 17, 1861, as the Kingdom of Italy, evolving to the republic on June 18, 1946, after a constitutional referendum. The capital Rome governs from 42.5° N, 12.5° E, with time zone UTC+01:00 standard and UTC+02:00 daylight saving. Emergency services use 112 general, 113 police, 115 fire, and 118 medical numbers, applicable to Spongano. Driving occurs on the right, with railway on the left, and electrical standards are 230V at 50Hz using Europlug, Type L, and  plugs.

### Demographics and Population
Spongano's population records include 3689, 3673, and 3490 residents, reflecting a small-scale community in Italy's southern demographic landscape. Italy's total population stands at 58,850,717 as of 2023, with 28,741,550 males and 30,198,875 females based on 2022 data; urban residents number 42,234,940 and rural 16,705,485. Birth rate is 6.7 per 1,000, death rate 12.1 per 1,000, total fertility rate 1.2 (2020), and life expectancy 83 years (2022). Human Development Index is 0.895 (2021), inequality-adjusted 0.791, Gini coefficient 35.2 (2020), unemployment 8.1% (2022), and median income $20,085. Age of majority is 18, marriageable age 18 or 16 with consent, compulsory education ages 6 to 16, with 178,653 out-of-school children in 2015. Suicide rate is 4.3 per 100,000 (2019), and deaths totaled 713,499 in 2022. These national metrics contextualize Spongano's local scale.

### Economy and Infrastructure
Spongano integrates into Italy's mixed economy, with national nominal GDP at $2,010,431,598,465 (2022) and VAT rate 22%. Currency is the euro since January 1, 2002, replacing the Italian lira (1946–2002). Italy belongs to the Eurozone, European Economic Area, OECD (since 1962), and World Trade Organization (since 1995). Infrastructure includes telephone code +39, mobile code 222, aircraft prefix "I", license plate "I", UIC code 83 (alphabetical "I"), and GS1 range 800-839. Top-level domain is .it, maritime digits 247. Spongano's official website http://www.comune.spongano.le.it supports local economic and administrative functions, aligning with Italy's ISO codes: alpha-2 IT, alpha-3 ITA, numeric 380.

### Culture, Language, and Society
Spongano shares Italy's cultural framework, where official language is Italian, alongside regional ones like Sardinian, Friulian, Ladin, German, French, and dialects including Neapolitan and Sicilian. National anthem is "Il Canto degli Italiani", patron saints Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, motto "Made in Italy" for tourism. Public holidays encompass New Year's Day, Epiphany, Easter Monday, Liberation Day, Workers' Day, Republic Day, Ferragosto, All Saints' Day, Christmas, Saint Stephen's Day, and Immaculate Conception. Society follows the Gregorian calendar from October 15, 1582. Spongano, as a comune, upholds these in local practices.

### International and National Relations
Through Italy, Spongano links to global networks: United Nations (since 1955), NATO (1949), European Union (1957), G7 (1977), G20, Schengen Area (1997), Council of Europe (1949), Interpol founder (1923), Universal Postal Union (1875), Antarctic Treaty, Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, OSCE, IMF, World Bank, European Central Bank, European Space Agency. Diplomatic ties span Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and numerous others across Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania including Argentina, Canada, United States, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, India, China, Brazil, and more.

### Digital and Media Presence
Spongano maintains a digital profile via its Wikipedia title "Spongano" and Wikidata description "Italian comune", with 48 sitelinks. Italy's broader presence includes subreddit r/italy (July 25, 2008), official site https://www.italia.it/ in Italian, English, Spanish, and representations in Britannica, Treccani, World Factbook. Social metrics show 559,808 followers as of May 24, 2023. OpenStreetMap relation ID 365331, Wikidata Q38, Freebase /m/03rjj, MusicBrainz c6500277-9a3d-349b-bf30-41afdbf42add, IMDb "italy", Comic Vine 4020-55920, TV Tropes UsefulNotes/Italy, Quora "Italy", Reddit "italy", Zhihu 19571981, Baidu "意大利". Platforms extend to Facebook "Italy", Twitter "Italy", Instagram "Italy", LinkedIn "Italy", YouTube "Italy", TikTok "Italy", Pinterest "Italy", Snapchat "Italy", Telegram "Italy", Discord "Italy", Slack "Italy", GitHub "italy", Stack Overflow "italy", and various crowdfunding like Patreon "Italy", Kickstarter "Italy". Payment and crypto wallets mirror this, including Bitcoin "Italy", Ethereum "Italy", and extensive DeFi protocols like 1inch variants from Chi Gas Token 1.0 to 100.0 all named "Italy".

## References

1. Virtual International Authority File
2. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013
3. MusicBrainz
4. Italian National Institute of Statistics
5. [Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018. Italian National Institute of Statistics](http://demo.istat.it/pop2018/index3.html)
6. [Source](https://demo.istat.it/app/?i=P02)
7. Flickr Shapefiles Public Dataset 2.0
8. GeoNames
9. [Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011. Italian National Institute of Statistics](https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/156224)
10. Wiki Loves Monuments Italia
11. [archINFORM](https://www.archinform.net/service/wd_aiort.php)
12. Seismic classification in Italy
13. [Source](https://rischi.protezionecivile.gov.it/it/sismico/attivita/classificazione-sismica)