Central Italy (Italian: Italia centrale or just Centro) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency.
Central Italy encompasses four of the country’s 20 regions:
The southernmost and easternmost parts of Lazio (Sora, Cassino, Gaeta, Cittaducale, Formia, and Amatrice districts) are often included in Southern Italy (the so-called Mezzogiorno) for cultural and historical reasons, since they were once part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and southern Italian dialects are spoken.
As a geographical region, however, Central Italy may also include the regions of Abruzzo and Molise, which are usually part of Southern Italy for cultural and historical reasons.