"Do we still need regions? For a history of regionalism in Italy."

An exciting journey through Italian political history, between centralism and autonomist thrusts, which still divides the country today. Do we still need regions?

Through the volume "Do we still need regions? For a History of Regionalism in Italy" (Colonnese, 2025), authors Isaia Sales and Pietro Spirito reconstruct with rigor and clarity the roots of regionalism, from the illusions of Risorgimento federalism to Fascist centralism, from the prudence of the Constituent Assembly to the season of differentiated autonomy. Amid federalist utopias, political compromises and secessionist drifts, the book tells how the fragile balance between center and periphery has marked the fate of our democracy and continues to interrogate Italy today.

Professors Francesco Dandolo and Filippo Sbrana will discuss it with the authorson Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025 at 11 a.m. in the Council Chamber of the Department of Political Science. Renato Raffaele Amoroso will moderate the meeting.

It is a most opportune meeting, on the heels of regional elections in Campania and other Italian regions, to give impetus to the debate on decentralization in the start-up phase of new councils. The book draws from the disruptive issue of differentiated autonomy, which has long dominated discussions on whether delegations and prerogatives should be increased from the central to the local level. The authors' approach emphasizes the need for a broad historical framework in order to reason consciously and without instrumental ends about what federalism really is and the inestimable value of preserving Italy's cohesion and unity.