Abstract

The article investigates the main measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in the field of ECEC services and work-family reconciliation in Italy. On the backdrop of the pre-pandemic state of the art and of enduring familialism, it first distinguishes between temporary interventions and structural reforms. Then, it attempts to interpret the factors that may explain the recent – and uncommon in the Italian context – dynamism in the field, mobilizing the policy frameworks at work, the role of the actors, the changing frame in terms of the expansionary macro-economic policy and change in the national Government. A combination of factors that has favored the convergence of interests of a varied constellation of actors, sharing the objective to fill the longstanding gap in the support to families and provision of ECEC services.