for many sporting, cultural and other purposes. County identity is heavily reinforced in the local culture by allegiances to county teams in hurling and Gaelic football. Each Gaelic Athletic Association county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland and the Gaelic Athletic Association. Italy In Italy the word county is not used; the administrative sub-division of a region is called . Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative subdivisions called ('communes'). There are currently 110 provinces in Italy. In the context of pre-modern Italy, the Italian word generally refers to the countryside surrounding, and controlled by, the city state. The provided natural resources and agricultural products to sustain the urban population. In contemporary usage, can refer to a metropolitan area, and in some cases large rural/suburban regions providing resources to distant cities. Lithuania (plural ) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994 Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county. Norway Norway has been divided into 11 counties (, ; singular: ) since 2020; they previously numbered 19 following a local government reform in 1972. Until that year Bergen was a separate county, but today it is a municipality within the county of Vestland. All counties form administrative entities called county municipalities ( or ; singular: ), further subdivided into municipalities ( or ; singular: ). One county, Oslo, is not divided into municipalities, rather it is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo. Each county has its own county council () whose representatives are elected every four years together with representatives to the municipal councils. The counties handle matters such as high schools and local roads, and until 1 January 2002 hospitals as well. This last responsibility was transferred to the state-run health authorities and health trusts, and there is a debate on the future of the county municipality as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservative and Progress Party, call for the abolition of the county municipalities once and for all, while others, including the Labour Party, merely want to merge some of them into larger regions. Poland The territorial administration of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of