expedition of the Thousand conquered Sicily for Piedmont from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Since the following year Catania was part of the newly unified Italy, whose history it shares since then. During World War II, Catania was heavily bombed by the Allied air forces, owing to the presence of two of the main Axis airfields in Sicily (Gerbini and Fontanarossa) and for its strategically important port and marshalling yard. Altogether, the city suffered eighty-seven air raids. The heaviest took place in the spring and summer of 1943, before and during the Allied invasion of Sicily; they caused heavy damage to the city (among others, twenty-eight churches and most historic palaces suffered damage), killed 750 inhabitants and prompted most of the population to flee to the countryside. After heavy fighting across eastern Sicily, Catania was eventually captured by the British 8th Army on 5 August 1943. After the conflict, and the constitution of the Italian Republic (1946), Catania attempted to catch up with the economic and social development of Italy's richer northern regions. The problems faced in Catania were emblematic of those faced by other towns in the Mezzogiorno, namely a heavy gap in industrial development and infrastructures, and the threat of the mafia. This notwithstanding, during the 1960s (and partly during the 1990s) Catania enjoyed development and a period of economic, social, and cultural success. In the first decade of the 21st century, Catania's economic and social development somewhat faltered and the city is again facing economic and social stagnation. This was aggravated by the economic crisis left by the Forza Italia administration of mayor Scapagnini in 2008. Administrative divisions Metropolitan City The Metropolitan City of Catania was established in 2015 and replaced the former Province of Catania. It includes the city proper and 57 comuni (municipalities). The population of the Metropolitan City is 1,107,702. Metropolitan area The Metropolitan area of Catania includes the comune of Catania (311,584 inhabitants) and 26 surrounding comuni forming an urban belt (498,650 inhabitants). The total population of the Metropolitan area of Catania is therefore 810,234. The comuni of the Metropolitan area are: Aci Bonaccorsi Aci Castello Aci Catena Aci Sant'Antonio Acireale Belpasso Biancavilla Camporotondo Etneo Catania Gravina di Catania Mascalucia Misterbianco Motta Sant'Anastasia Nicolosi Paternò Pedara Ragalna San Giovanni la Punta San Gregorio di Catania San Pietro Clarenza Sant'Agata li Battiati Santa Maria di Licodia Santa Venerina Trecastagni Tremestieri Etneo Valverde Viagrande