In Italy the industrial districts are established with the law 317 of 5/10/1991, and in the article 36 the state delegates to the Regions the task to define them.

The Lombardy Region is the first region to define the industrial districts: in november 1993 the regional council defines 21 districts. In march 2001 were re-defined 16 district and 5 meta-districts.

The Region defines tho types of district:

• Traditional specialized Districts
• Meta-districts

For the "traditional" specialized Districts 16 areas are defined in the fields of:

Production and manufactoring of metals (3)
Textile and fashion (9)
Wood and furniture (2)
Gum e plastic (1)
Electrical electronic and medical devices (1)

For the meta-districts 5 meta-areas are defined in the patterns of:

• food biotecnology
• others biotecnologies
• fashion
• design
• new materials
• information and communication technologies