Regions of Italy - History

History

Mere administrative district of the central of the state during the Kingdom of Italy, regions were granted political autonomy by the 1948 Constitution of the Italian Republic. The original draft list comprised the Salento region (which was eventually included in the Apulia), Friuli and Venezia Giulia were separated regions and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were different regions in the first draft, they were later merged into Abruzzo e Molise, and separated again in 1963. Nevertheless, the actual implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional Elections of 1970.

Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a constitutional reform in 2001 (brought about by a centre-left government and confirmed by popular referendum), granting them with residual policy competence. A further federalist reform was proposed by the regionalist party Lega Nord and in 2005, the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform of the Constitution that would have greatly increased the power of regions. In June 2006 the proposals, which had been particularly associated with Lega Nord, and seen by some as leading the way to a federal state, were rejected in a referendum by 61.7% to 38.3%. The results varied considerably from one region to another, ranging to 55.3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria.