A Regional System under Tight-Knit Elite Rule: The Last Attempt to Introduce Decentralization in Early Italy

Abstract

This article discusses a regionalization project, known as Minghetti’s bill, that was presented to the Italian parliament just after the creation of the country in 1861, debated at length, and finally rejected. The bill was the most advanced point reached on the decentralization front in Italy before the Second World War. Minghetti's bill is the first example of a regional process ever brought to parliamentary discussion. It was also a precursor of other regionalization schemes, such as the creation of French regions in 1972.