Local Government in Italy

This chapter sets out the second examination of international local government finance practice, focusing on Italy. The Italian local government finance system also displays the components of a complex adaptive system and exhibits attributes of embodied autonomy seen in the previous case of Germany. However, the Italian path towards fiscal autonomy and resilient local government financing is more recent than the German case. The Italian case must be seen in the context of competing themes of fiscal autonomy: the European Union demand for balanced budgets, and consequent austerity and financial restructuring in Italian government; historical economic underperformance and regional inequality; and additional cost pressures due to Covid-19, the current geo-political situation, and inflation. All of these narratives impact on local government financial management and are very similar to the situation currently faced in England.