Abstract

The third sector in Sicily appears to be «subjected and supported» by interpretative approaches. On the one hand, an approach that emphasises the administrative-managerial-accounting aspects considers it a turning point that the Region, in setting itself up as an effective laboratory of subsidiarity and in the constitutional perspective of art. 118 of the Constitution, defines the levels of adequacy of third sector entities through registration in the single national register. On the other hand, a trajectory that is more aware of territorial diversities, and focused on the conditions that differentiate the function of ETSs, fears the risk of an «institutional isoformism», regarding ETSs registered in the business register, which would not adequately represent the dualism within the different areas in which the entities operate and the importance of their role. The essay takes its place within this second approach and intends to emphasise, along with some of the conditions that hinder the full development of ETS in Sicily, the elements that have been a real driving force in favouring processes of subsidiarity with a view to differentiated participatory welfare