The evolution of the regional state in Italy from the unitary state to the Title V reform

After the people’s referendum, with the birth of the Republic and the Constituent Assembly, the fathers of the Constitution advocated the establishment of a model of order that would include regions, municipalities and provinces. The decision to opt for an “intermediate” institutional set-up between a federal state and a unitary order was not a “rash” but a well-considered choice on the part of the constituents, despite the fear of certain tensions that were difficult to approach within the country. The „intermediate” model thus realised an institutional design that coalesced the more unitary positions with the more autonomist ones. A crucial point in the evolution of regionalism is also due to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. The path of regionalism over time develops along a different path from the original project of the constituent fathers. The essay also describes a possible new phase in the future of regionalism in the light of the new “Calderoli bill”, which aims at a model of regionalism, so-called differentiated, that opens the door to a new institutional design and undoubtedly widens the gaps between the north of the country and the south, thus defeating the original design of the constituent fathers, who opted for a regionalism based on solidarity.