A quartiere (; plural: quartieri) is a territorial subdivision of certain Italian towns. The word derives from quarto, or fourth, and was thus properly used only for towns divided into four neighborhoods by the two main roads. It has been later used as a synonymous of neighbourhood, and an Italian town can be now subdivided into a bigger number of quartieri. The English word "quarter" to mean a neighbourhood (e.g. the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana) is derived from the cognate old French word "quartier".