Abstract

In the overall reform of the Italian provinces Sicily was the only autonomous Region that tried to pursue an independent reform process inspired by the never implemented regional provision of 'free consortia of municipalities'. Nevertheless, the outcome of this process was a clear and emblematic policy failure, as the regional government decided to sign a commitment for the full implementation of the National Reform. The article analyses the sequence and the outcome of the regional institutional policy through the lens of the Multiple Stream Framework (MSF) and taking into account the effects of path-dependence. The results highlight how the paradoxical outcome of the policy process cannot be totally attributed to the «objective context factors» that would make impossible an autonomous path to the provinces' reform.