Italian Government Research Articles

ABSTRACT While some (progressive) cities have been proactive in forced migrants' reception and integration policy formulation, the central state is ultimately the chief architect of migration policy and the legal framework. Legal status considerably shapes all facets of forced migrants' lifeworlds and thus has significant implications for policy and integration. The Italian government has recently made significant changes to its migration system, affecting asylum‐seekers and refugees' legal status and subsequent city‐level integration efforts. This article thus investigates the interplay between asylum‐seekers' legal status, national migration policy framework and local integration programme. Employing the concept of legal uncertainty and qualitative exploration of a local integration project in Bergamo, it problematises the state's institutional production of uncertain and precarious migration status and how this shapes the prospects of asylum‐seekers' integration processes. It is shown that the city's efforts to integrate asylum‐seekers, starting from their arrival, are stifled by the national migration legal framework.

This article presents a hitherto unexamined Italian Occupation-era sermon that highlights the relationship between the Italian colonial government in East Africa and a collaborationist faction of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The text is a public prayer likely given by the Ethiopian Metropolitan of Aksum (or perhaps even the Nəburä əd [a clerical head]) in response to, and in support of, Italy’s declaration of war against Great Britain and France (June 10, 1940) on the outset of World War Two. The document consists of a short sermon (published bilingually in the original Amharic as well as in Italian translation) followed by a prayer, asking God to support Italy and the Italian Emperor (Vittorio Emanuele III) in its fight against France and Great Britain. It is an unequivocal piece of propaganda, issued by the Ufficio Diffusione Stampa dell’Impero, specifically by the Governo dell’Eritrea, Direzione del Personale e AA. GG., Sezione Studi, for the newspaper Corriere Eritreo (published on June 16). As such, while it is impossible to assess the text’s accuracy, the fact that the published version includes the original Amharic (incorporating a number of Gəʿəz [Ancient Ethiopian, termed gheez in the Italian memo] words and phrases) would suggest it was composed by members of the EOTC (Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church) and then read by the elite clergy of Aksum (perhaps by the collaborationist metropolitan Yoḥannǝs I) and translated by the memo’s author, Gavino Gabriel. As I contend here, the existence of this sermon illustrates a profound localization of Italian rule by some elite clergy in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Indeed, as the text would seem to confirm, the some of the clergy of Aksum Ṣǝyon legitimated the Kingdom of Italy as they once did the Ethiopian Emperor.

This article analyses personal choices and shifts in power relations with a particular focus on the role of women in Italy during the last two years of the Second World War. In doing so, it investigates how power relations within Italian society were affected by the absence of many Italian men, who were fighting abroad or had been imprisoned or wounded in war. Through participation in food protests directed either towards the Italian government or towards the German or Allied occupiers, women acquired a new agency which transcended the distinction between private and public spheres. As social actors, Italian women thus became increasingly more visible after 1943. The article also sheds light on the return of Italian men to their local societies, illuminating how they reacted to the new societal roles of their wives, mothers, and daughters. By focusing on the shifting role of women, the paper thus looks at how societal roles were contested, negotiated, and also reaffirmed in Second World War Italy.

Abstract After Unification in 1861, the Italian government pursued an ambitious policy of investments, largely funded by foreign capital. Italy experienced a short boom that ended in 1866, when a collapse in credit nearly led to an Argentinian-style default. This was averted by adopting a prudent fiscal policy and suspending the convertibility of lira into gold. Imports of capital dried up and the GDP stagnated until the end of the century. We examine the link between fiscal policies, capital inflows, and economic outcomes underlying the impact of devaluation on trade, and the minimal effects played by capital imports on the real economy.

The Italian tax authorities (ITA) have recently issued four rulings – Nos. 199/2025, 98/2025, 81/2025 and 12/2025 – on the domestic and treaty treatment of deferred remuneration in cross-border employment. Ruling Nos. 98/2025 and 12/2025 reaffirm an accrual-based allocation based on where the work was physically performed, irrespective of subsequent changes in residence. By contrast, Ruling No. 199/2025 – revisiting the fact pattern of Ruling No. 81/2025 – marks a decisive shift back to the pre-2023 “residence-at-payment” approach seen in earlier stock option cases. This note outlines each ruling, highlights the tension within the ITA’s reasoning and considers practical implications for employers and internationally mobile workers.

Purpose This paper investigates the multivocal nature of accountability in the context of grand challenges (GCs) by examining how diverse perspectives from science and politics combined and shaped the justifications provided by the Italian government in its response to the COVID-19 crisis. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Latour’s concepts of purification and mediation as processes to frame, separate or negotiate between science and politics, we thematically analyse the Italian government’s press conference transcripts and official public documents. This analysis enables us to identify the patterns of purification and mediation through which accountability was discharged and evolved over 15 months through the pandemic challenge. Findings Our findings reveal how processes of purification and mediation of scientific and political aspects of the COVID-19 response contributed to the construction of a multivocal form of accountability by the Italian government. The processes are found to support the continuous redefinition and repositioning of multifaceted interpretations that are necessary when responding to a highly complex challenge such as COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implications In making tough decisions in the context of GCs and crises, governments must continuously strike a balance between scientific evidence and political and societal concerns. A multivocal approach to accountability is invoked to mediate among multiple considerations from scientific communities, politicians and citizens. Originality/value This work contributes to accountability research by adopting the concept of multivocality to characterise the adaptive and multi-dimensional nature of accountability in the context of GCs, where science and politics continuously intertwine.

Vaccine sceptics appointed to advise Italian government on immunisation.

ABSTRACT In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government increased financial support to universities. This paper examines the policy effect of increased funding on universities’ efficiency in Italy. By focusing on both production and cost-efficiency, we use a panel dataset spanning 7 years (2017–2023) and employ the recently developed Generalized True Random Effect Stochastic Frontier model. Our findings reveal that the post-COVID-19 era is characterized by a statistically significant decline in both production and cost-efficiency, with a more marked decrease observed in cost-efficiency. This result indicates a reversal of the positive efficiency trend observed in Italian universities in the years immediately prior to this period. Moreover, we identify a homogeneous reduction in efficiency across geographic areas, suggesting that the negative effect is unrelated to specific initial conditions or management decisions in the short run.

In the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, activated steel often contains radionuclides such as 55Fe and 63Ni, which are categorized as hard-to-measure due to their emission of only low-energy beta particles or X-rays. In samples exhibiting very low radioactivity, close to background levels, a large quantity of steel must undergo extensive physical and chemical processing to achieve the Minimum Detectable Activity Concentration (MDC) necessary for clearance, recycling, or reuse. Italian regulations set particularly stringent clearance levels for these radionuclides (1 Bq/g for both 55Fe and 63Ni), significantly lower than those specified in the EU Directive 2013/59 (1000 Bq/g for 55Fe and 100 Bq/g for 63Ni). Additionally, Italian authorities may enforce even stricter limits depending on specific circumstances. The analytical challenge is compounded by the presence of large amounts of non-radioactive Fe and Ni, which can cause color quenching, further extending analysis times. This study presents a reliable and optimized method for the quantitative determination of 55Fe and 63Ni in steel samples with activity levels approaching regulatory thresholds. The methodology was specifically developed and applied to steel from the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) facility, under decommissioning by ENEA. The optimization process demonstrated that achieving the required MDCs necessitates acquisition times of approximately 5 days for 55Fe and 6 h for 63Ni, ensuring compliance with stringent regulatory requirements and supporting efficient laboratory workflows.

ABSTRACT Augusto Graziani (1933–2014), as is well known, was a severe critic of the so-called economic miracle, identifying in it the contradictions that would quickly lead the Italian economy from expansion to stagnation. In the early 1970s, Graziani, in collaboration with other economists at the Centro di Specializzazione e Ricerche Economico Agrarie per il Mezzogiorno (Center for Economic and Agricultural Specialization and Research for the Mezzogiorno), developed several models aimed at critically describing the Bank of Italy's monetary policy and the Italian government's fiscal policy The models were a tool to reveal the theoretical framework, and thus the ideological assumptions, behind the economic policy decisions made by Italian institutions to counter the crisis of the post-war development mechanism. In these essays, Graziani, effectively applying the Marxian critical method, questioned the supposed neutrality of the instruments by revealing the social interests behind them. Based on this critique, an alternative model of economic policy emerged in opposition, which took the defence of real wages and employment as its priority.

Drawing on Oliver’s strategic responses framework, this paper provides fresh insights into how Italian public healthcare organizations strategically respond to different institutional pressures on social and environmental disclosure practices. In particular, the study aims to determine how four main attributes linked to geographical location, type, size and political ideology can influence healthcare organizations’ disclosure behaviour. Based on Patten et al.'s coding scheme, a content analysis was performed manually on the official websites of 180 Italian public healthcare organizations, and an ordinary least squares regression model was estimated to test the research hypotheses. The research findings indicate that Italian public healthcare organizations are more prone to disclosing social information than environmental information. Also, Italian local health authorities in southern regions governed by left-wing parties tend to disclose more social and environmental information than other healthcare organizations. Informed by Oliver’s framework, these organizations have adopted a compromise strategy by prioritizing the disclosure of social information to meet the demands of their most powerful stakeholders. Points for practitioners Our results are of special interest for regulators and policymakers as they can be influential actors in the process of enforcing regulations by extending mandatory sustainability disclosure requirements for healthcare organizations. Also, standard-setters can be relevant actors in the development of a common reporting framework for the reporting of social and environmental information.

ABSTRACT During the last decade, concerns have arisen regarding democratic erosion, suggesting that a global democratic recession is underway. Despite the significance of this issue and the growth of related academic literature, the connection between democratic erosion and public administration has been underexplored. Public administration directly impacts the quality of public services, economic prosperity, and human well-being. The weakening of democratic norms could negatively affect the quality of public administration. However, public institutions may also serve as a safeguard against democratic erosion. This study explores the relationship between populism and Italian independent regulatory authorities that were established to operate with technical expertise, shielded from direct political pressure, to ensure greater stability and transparency in strategic areas of public policy. Thus, the research will focus on the different levels of narratives of the Data Protection independent authority, analysing three episodes of conflict between two populistic governments and Data Authority Protection. The research aims to understand whether and how the presence of populist parties in government affects Data Authority Protection autonomy and legitimacy. In this context, we question the mechanisms through which populist-led governments in Italy have sought to exert their influence over independent authorities.

In Emergency in Transit, Eleanor Paynter redefines contemporary Mediterranean migration, challenging dominant narratives, especially in Italy, that portray it as a sudden, unmanageable “crisis.” The book identifies the Italian government's response to migration as a problem of short-sightedness, since it approaches migration as an emergency situation. The weight of this critique comes from its focus on witness testimonies, a methodological commitment that is also a call to action. Paynter believes that changing the language around migration will change the dominant narrative that migration is a crisis. The book highlights how people held “in transit” respond to and resist this narrative and its government apparatus by analyzing the testimonies and cultural productions of migrants themselves. Drawing on oral histories, ethnography, and analysis of literature, film, and visual art published and set in Italy, Paynter contributes to critical refugee studies and postcolonial Italian studies, offering a call to reimagine mobility and belonging within the migrant experience. One of Paynter’s most compelling contributions is the use of migrants’ memoirs as witness literature, which challenges the erasures of official narratives and asserts migrants’ right to narrate their own histories.

Vaccination represents one of the most effective public health interventions. However, a decrease in pediatric vaccination coverage has been observed in Italy, with an increase in vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. To counter this phenomenon, the Italian government approved a compulsory vaccination law in 2017, increasing the number of mandatory vaccinations from four to 10. This study analyzes the trends of vaccination coverages in Italy from 2000 to 2023, with a focus on the impact of the law. Vaccination coverage data were obtained from the Italian Ministry of Health, sorted by antigen. A linear regression and joinpoint regression analysis was performed for each antigen to identify a significant or non-significant change (increase or decrease) in the trend. Vaccination coverages declined steadily until 2015, but with the introduction of the law 119/2017, there was an increase for all antigens, ranging from 1.05% for tetanus to 5.30% for rubella. During the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a decline in coverage was observed for all antigens, with values ranging from −0.24% for varicella to −2.39% for rubella. Implementing vaccine mandates seem to be useful for increasing vaccination coverages. Likewise, this study showed the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary healthcare services, such as vaccination, contributing to a decline in coverage. Health systems should measure vaccination coverages and monitor changes and variations to be resilient toward external stressors and be proactive in tackling crises.

In May 2020, at the peak of the Covid19-pandemic crisis, the Italian government approved a regularization campaign for immigrant workers. While far from uncommon in the history of Italian migration policy, the persisting narrative of immigration as a threat made regularization campaigns increasingly unviable. How can we explain the political feasibility of the 2020 amnesty? What was the role of the Covid19 crisis? What were the key dynamics that shaped the final policy as well as its shortcomings? This case study analyses how and to what extent, an exogenous crisis may impact the opportunity structures of the actors involved and, ultimately, the policymaking process. The paper provides insights into how the pandemic-related crisis interacted with the dominant securitarian approach to immigration. Through an analysis of semi-structured interviews and documents, the paper argues that the challenges contingent to the crisis enabled a shift in the narratives on immigrant workers and opened a space for advocates of a regularization campaign. However, the pre-existing narrative and policy paradigm of immigration as a threat were quickly restored, underlining how the securitarian lens remains deeply ingrained in the political and institutional dynamics. At the peak of the Covid19 crisis, the Italian government approved a regularization for immigrant workers. While not uncommon in the Italian migration governance, the dominant narrative of immigration as a threat made regularizations increasingly unviable. This paper analyses how and to what extent, the pandemic impacted dominant immigration narratives and policies. Through interviews and documents’ analysis, it argues that the crisis represented a window of opportunity for policy change, exploited by supporters of the regularization. However, the pre-existing paradigm of immigration crisis was quickly restored, underlining how the securitarian lens remains deeply ingrained in the political and institutional dynamics.

From clicks to care: Exploring the digital strategies of Italian health authorities in communicating 'General Practitioner Selection' service.

Currently, relations between Russia and Italy are experiencing another period of cooling, which hinders interaction at the level of governmental structures. Therefore, it is relevant to study the topic of establishing intercultural dialogue aimed at the prospect of implementing a positive scenario for establishing relations in the future. Of particular interest are the tools used for similar purposes in previous eras. The article covers one such tool — the visit to Italy in early 1908 of a separate detachment of ships assigned to carry midshipmen on a training voyage. It was the second voyage, organized by the Russian Navy Department for such purposes. This is a little-studied topic and the aim of the study is to assess the role of the visit of this detachment in the establishment of relations between Russia and Italy. The objectives of the study are, including on the basis of previously unstudied documents; 1) to describe the key issues of interaction between the two countries at the beginning of the 20th century and look into the historical and cultural background of the visit; 2) to highlight and analyze the communicative aspect of the process of maintaining mutual interests during the visit; 3) to supplement the existing information on the mutual assessments of representatives of Russia and Italy that developed during and as a result of the visit. The methodological basis of the research is the principle of historicism, it was conducted using historical-genetic and historical-systemic methods. The materials of the study were historical documents, including a number of fragments of official documents and memoirs stored in the Russian State Archive of the Navy and the Russian State Historical Archive, as well as one published source. The combination of historical sources of official and personal origin made it possible to look at the visit from different angles. As a result of the conducted research, a conclusion was made about the ambivalent nature of the intercultural interaction that took place during this meeting: its consequences were not of a breakthrough nature, but at the same time they provided the very possibility of future interaction. It is shown that the historical and cultural background of the visit was dual: from an economic and political point of view, there was mutual interest, but this was not the interest of partners, but rather the interest of not unfriendly players, whose mutual benefit did not yet outweigh mutual distrust. An analysis of the communicative component of interaction during the visit showed a pronounced diplomatic interest in maintaining “contact for the sake of contact,” ensured by the efforts of official representatives of the parties. At the same time, the semi-official and unofficial parts of the visit were significantly friendlier and relied heavily on cultural ties of the past. Based on the report of the detachment commander, Rear Admiral A. A. Eberhard, written following communication with the Italian royal family and representatives of the country's elite, it was concluded that both in government circles and in public opinion in the country, a wary attitude towards Russia prevailed. The Rear Admiral believed that the friendly reception at all levels demonstrated that the Italian authorities were committed to further developing contacts. At the same time, an analysis of the memoirs of two midshipmen on the ships of the detachment showed that there were no communication difficulties at their level. The detachment's diplomatic mission was overshadowed by the events of late 1908, related to the assistance of Russian ships to those affected by the earthquake in Messina. It turned out to be a kind of touchstone in establishing relations between the two countries. Through the analysis of previously unpublished documents, it was revealed that the specificity of the position of the military leadership of the detachment consisted in understanding the difficulties of refraction of positive personal contacts into promising political projects. At the same time, the efforts and attention of both sides were directed at maintaining communication as a condition for further interaction between representatives of the two cultures, which in itself turned out to be productive, despite the difficult political conditions.

“A GREAT AND REAL LIFE PASSION”: BARBARA SIEROSZEWSKA’S LIFE AND WORKBarbara Sieroszewska (1904-1989), regarded alongside Zofia Jachimecka and Zofia Ernstowa, as one of the most significant post-war translators of Italian literature, made a substantial contribution to the development of the Polish canon of Italian literature. In recognition of her work as a translator and her efforts to promote Italian culture, she was honoured with numerous awards and distinctions, including the Silver Medal of the Italian Government. This publication, based on interviews with the translator’s daughter, Barbara Sieroszewska-Borowska, as well as on archival material from the University of Warsaw Archives and the Polish Writers’ Donation Library, in addition to Sieroszewska’s personal, previously unpublished notes, constitutes the first attempt to examine her life and translation work, also taking into account the historical and political contexts in which she lived and worked.

Purpose This study examines the sustainability reports of Italian port authorities to highlight the connection between strategic sustainability objectives, financial and non-financial indicators and sustainability reports. Design/methodology/approach The research context includes all the Italian port authorities. The theoretical framework used considers sustainability reporting as part of a comprehensive process that includes strategic planning and management, sustainability targets and indicators, and is linked to sustainability accounting. Accordingly, for each port authority, strategic plans, financial statements and sustainability reports are evaluated through a manual content analysis to examine their contents and also any links between them. Findings The analysis highlights how sustainability reports often appear as standalone documents rather than as components of a broader process. They often fail to establish a clear link between the sustainable strategic objectives, the financial resources invested in pursuing them as well as any detailed performance metrics. A further significant result is the lack of external assurance, which could undermine the credibility of sustainability reports. Originality/value This study contributes to current public sector literature on sustainability reporting by investigating a neglected area: port authorities, which significantly impact the environment. Unlike previous studies, this research adopts a comprehensive approach by examining the connection between strategic planning, related objectives, accounting and sustainability reports, treating them as interconnected rather than isolated.

The aim of the article is to present the role of non-governmental organizations conducting search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea in the hybrid model of migration management and to demonstrate that the functioning of this model is associated with fundamental difficulties. This hypothesis is tested by analyzing the activities of associations conducting operations at sea, with particular emphasis on two organizations (Sea Watch and Jugend Rettet) and the activities of the Italian government, which is attempting to play a superior role over private associations. The article indicates difficulties in harmonious cooperation between the state and private organizations. The conclusions indicate that these difficulties result from the politicization of migration by some organizations and the reluctance to attempt to include a private search and rescue system in a system operating under state control. The article contributes to research on the cooperation of the state and non-state actors in migration management and points to the difficulties associated with regulating and standardizing the activities performed by private organizations.