Abstract

The essay carries out a critical overview of the action held by the Italian Regions in pursuing the values of social inclusion. Given the lack for precise boundaries in the legal notion of social sustainability, the research is primarily based on empirical elements, used as a starting point for theoretical and systemic remarks. From a methodic point of view, notions or perspectives with specific characteristics decided in advance have not been applied; on the contrary, a more «agnostic» attitude has been assumed, in order to search the legislative and administrative Regional acts the explicit references to social sustainability. Such an approach may allow one to grasp the «self perception» by the Regional legislators and policy-makers of the impact of social sustainability on their competence