The legal system of Italy
A civil-law system founded on the 1948 Republican Constitution and the codes, with a Constitutional Court exercising strong review. A founding EU member and eurozone country with significant regional autonomy.
Legal tradition
Italy belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system founded on the 1948 Republican Constitution and the codes, with a Constitutional Court exercising strong review. A founding EU member and eurozone country with significant regional autonomy.
How power is divided
A parliamentary republic with a President as head of state and guarantor, a Government answerable to Parliament, an independent judiciary and a Constitutional Court.
Where law comes from
- Constitution
- The 1948 republican constitution.
- EU law
- Directly applicable and, in its field, paramount.
- Statutes of Parliament
- Laws, plus government decree-laws and legislative decrees.
- Codes
- The Civil Code (1942), Penal Code and procedural codes.
The legal profession
Avvocati belong to local bar councils under the Consiglio Nazionale Forense; notai (notaries) are public officers handling deeds and company formation.
Law by topic in Italy
- Civil ProcedureThe Code of Civil Procedure, compulsory mediation and the Cartabia reformCivil litigation follows the Code of Civil Procedure, restructured by the Cartabia reform to shorten proceedings. Mediation is a mandatory precondition in many subject areas, and an injunction procedure gives quick relief on documentary evidence.
- Immigration & NationalityEU free movement with a quota-based decree for non-EU workersEU nationals move freely, while non-EU immigration runs through the Consolidated Immigration Act. Economic migration is largely controlled by an annual flows decree setting quotas, alongside routes for study, family reunion and self-employment.
- Criminal LawThe Rocco Code with an adversarial procedure and mandatory prosecutionOffences are set out in the 1930 Penal Code, heavily amended, while the 1988 Code of Criminal Procedure introduced an adversarial trial. Prosecution is constitutionally mandatory, and preliminary hearings filter cases before trial.
- Family LawFast-track divorce, civil unions and equal status for all childrenFamily law is in the Civil Code, reformed to introduce quick divorce and to equalise the status of children born inside and outside marriage. Same-sex civil unions were introduced in 2016, and the Cartabia reform created a unified family court.
- Employment & LabourStatutory protection, national sector agreements and the labour judgeEmployment law combines the Civil Code, the Workers' Statute and the Jobs Act. National collective agreements (CCNL) set pay and conditions sector by sector, and disputes go to a specialised labour section of the ordinary courts.
- Constitutional LawThe 1948 Constitution, a bicameral Parliament and referral-based reviewItaly is a parliamentary republic under the rigid 1948 Constitution. Both chambers of Parliament have equal powers, and the Constitutional Court decides constitutional questions referred to it by ordinary judges as well as direct state-region disputes.
- Human RightsInviolable constitutional rights read together with the ECHRPart I of the Constitution guarantees inviolable rights, and the Constitutional Court treats the European Convention as an interposed norm through Article 117. Rights are vindicated in the ordinary courts, with Strasbourg available after exhaustion.
- Property & LandNotarial transfers, land registers and regulated residential leasesTransfers of real estate are executed by notarial deed and recorded in the property registers, with the notary responsible for checks and taxes. Residential leases follow statutory models under Act 431/1998, including a controlled-rent option.
- Tax LawProgressive IRPF-style IRPEF, corporate IRES and regional IRAPResidents pay progressive personal income tax (IRPEF) with regional and municipal surcharges. Companies pay IRES plus the regional production tax IRAP, and a flat-rate regime is available to small businesses and professionals.
- Business & CorporateSrl and SpA companies, notarial deeds and the new insolvency codeCompanies are governed by the Civil Code, with the Srl and the SpA the standard vehicles. Formation requires a notarial deed and registration in the Business Register, and distress is handled under the Code of Business Crisis and Insolvency.
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