The Institute carries out in-depth research on the Italian regional system, analysing its development, from the constitutional reform of 2001 to the attempts made in 2014 by the Renzi Government, at the end rejected by a referendum in 2016.

To this regard, particular attention is paid to the relationship between the center and the sub-state level, focusing on special regions which are analyzed – through a comparative research method - considering their development both in terms of institutional solutions and policies adopted.

A series of conferences have been organized so far on this topic and two books have been published under the ESI series of the Institute (“Il futuro della specialità alla luce della riforma costituzionale” in 2016 and "Le variabili della specialità. Evidenze e riscontri tra soluzioni istituzionali e politiche settoriali" in 2018, both edited by F. Palermo and S. Parolari).

Another core topic of the Institute in this area is the research on the attempts of some ordinary regions to get more autonomy in terms of competences and finances, as provided by art. 116.3 of the Constitution. On this topic, and particularly on differences and similarities between the so called “regionalismo differenziato” and special autonomy, the Institute published several papers in three languages (e.g. C. Zwilling E. Alber, Italiens Spagat zwischen Einheit und Differenzierung: Reformen und differenzierter Regionalismus unter der „Regierung der Veränderung“, in Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2019), and participated to conferences at national level (such as Valdesalici and Parolari at the XL annual conference of the Associazione Italiana Scienze Regionali “Beyond the crises: renewal, reconstruction and local development” in September 2019, or Palermo at the conference organized by ISSIRFA “Differenziazione e asimmetria nel regionalismo italiano” in May 2019).

Within this project, the Institute focuses intensively also on the Covid-19 issues related to territorial governance, having regard particularly to the distribution of competences between State and Regions in Italy and the respective powers and responsibilities in dealing with the emergency. To this regard, the Institute participates to projects and calls related to the Covid-19 emergency and the problems related to the coordination between State and Regions in dealing with the pandemy.

Together with this, the Institute focuses on Italian regionalism considering it from a comparative perspective within the recent decentralisation trends in Europe (to this regard a conference has been organized in Spring 2021, a webinar has been organized in 2022 and a book will be published in 2022).

The regional level within the Italian constitutional system is continuously a focus of research, e.g. publications in cooperation with the neighbouring universities of Trento (Italy) and Innsbruck (Austria).    

Dissemination through presentations, discussions and lectures has helped the Institute to become a reference point and expertise center on these topics.