Unity and Diversity: A Turbulent Journey Through Italian Fiscal Federalism

This chapter aims to analyze, from a diachronic perspective, the relationship between Italian regionalism and Italian fiscal federalism. Within a journey that will touch upon the main stages that have outlined the “incomplete Italian fiscal federalism”, an attempt will be made to highlight how—in the peculiarity of the Italian vertical division of powers—efforts have been made to reconcile key elements of any decentralized system, namely differentiation, autonomy, equality, and solidarity. The analysis will also highlight the most recent challenge posed to this reconciliation, namely the process of implementation of the so-called differentiated regionalism as provided for in Article 116.3 of the Italian Constitution.