With an area of 3,263 km² and a population of about 120,000, it is the smallest, least populous, and least densely populated region of Italy. It is the only Italian region which has no provinces (provincial administrative functions are provided by the regional government, the province being dissolved in 1945 , and is divided into 74 comunes (Italian: comuni); see: Comunes of the Aosta Valley. Some comunes, concentrated in the valley bottomlands, are Francophone. The regional capital is Aosta/Aoste.