Abstract

The essay reproduces the excursus published after the "Introduction" to the book "Il governo locale in Francia, Gran Bretagna, Germania", Archivio Isap, no. 8. An account is provided of the work and results of the bicameral committee for constitutional reform as regards "form of state". The author, the director of Isap and editor of the journal "Amministrare", discusses his experience as a member of the committee. He stresses in particular that the opening formulation "The Republic is constituted by the communes, by the provinces, by the regions and by the state" was approved, and so too was the corollary of parity among communes, provinces and regions, from the point of view of financial autonomy as well. However, there has been no coherent development of the project for reform that these formulations implied. No progress has been made, in fact, as regards the local-level reorganization of the functions of the communes, provinces, regions, and the state.