Population prospects and problems of Italian regions.

The present work tackles the issues of demographic problems and perspectives in Italy with reference to Italian regions. Despite the artificiality of certain regional perimeters set by the constituent assembly in 1947 (which provoked many protests from geographers at that time) our choice of analysing politically defined areas is due to two main reasons: since the 70s regional administration has changed completely: regions manage directly key public services (health transportations social policies etc.). This change has stimulated a growing control of local administrations over their territories but it has led to a socio-economic standardization of regional territories; the current government is oriented towards promoting regional autonomies: in Italy there is a strong urge towards federalism which could possibly consolidate the socio-economic identity of each region. In fact in this case an institutional regulation has strongly contributed to strengthening regional identity. (excerpt)