Abstract

Aim of this essay is to review the main characteristics of the judicial dialogue between the ECJ and the Italian courts in the field of labour law. Having provided a general framework of the current state of the interactions occurring between national courts and the ECJ within the frame of Art. 177 preliminary references, the Author proceeds to scrutinise the European attitudes of the Italian labour courts, by distinguishing them between lower and higher courts. The analysis reveals that - similarly to what happens in other countries - the Italian lower courts have played a more active role in the "europeanization" of the national labour law jurisprudence. The essay terminates by stressing how the course of the judicial dialogue is often affected by a third actor, whose role should not be underestimated: the national legislator.