Abstract

The Italian government has recently approved the law 135/2012, that has put metropolitan reform back at the centre of its agenda. According to the law, the reform has to be implemented by January, 1st, 2014. This deadline has later been postponed by one year. The reform path is made impervious by several areas of uncertainty. The article proposes a detailed examination of the legislative production on metropolitan reform, accompanied by an analysis of its problems and by a preliminary analysis of data relating to socio-economic characteristics of the future metropolitan cities.