SUMMARY
The European approach to rural development policies is gradually shifting to spatial differentiation, blending the territorial dimension. A differentiation of the rural character based on specific attributes of the territory is required, including lifestyles, supply of services and amenities and competition in soil use. We present a classification of the municipalities in Lombardy (Italy) aimed at providing recommendations for the development of regional policies. Grounding on four different and independently developed thematic classification relating to the heterogeneity in urban-rural linkages, the social morphology, the economic geography and the geographical morphology we construct a unified classification of municipalities that considers the multidimensionality of the rural attribute.