With the unification of Castile and Aragon (early 16th century), Sicily became part of the Spanish Empire. It rebelled against the foreign government in 1516 and 1647. In 1669 the city's surroundings suffered great material damage from the 1669 Etna eruption. The city itself was largely saved by its walls that diverted most of the lava into the port. Afterwards in 1693 the city was then completely destroyed by a heavy earthquake and its aftershocks. The city was then rebuilt in the Baroque architecture that nowadays characterizes it. Catania was one of the vanguards of the movement for the Sicilian autonomy in the early 19th century. In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's 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. 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 economical crisis left by the Forza Italia administration of mayor Scapagnini in 2008. 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. 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:   These "comuni" form a system with the centre of Catania sharing its economical and social life and creating an organic urban texture. The city of Catania proper ("comune di Catania") is divided in six administrative areas called "circoscrizioni".