ABSTRACT
The recent attempt at a 'Grande Riforma' of the Italian Constitution, rejected in a referendum held on 4 December 2016, is the latest addition to a string of reform attempts in Italy, in particular since the early 1990s. This chapter explores some of the most prominent constitutional attitudes, discourses, and critiques as expressed by relevant political parties as well as civil society movements in the Italian 'season of constitutional reform' that started in the early 1990s. It discusses the constitutional claims and discourses of the centre-right part of the Italian political spectrum, which includes the relatively new parties that emerged in the 1990s, not least Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, as well as transformed older parties, such as the post-fascist Alleanza Nazionale. The chapter also discusses the views of the centre-left, in particular a formation of various centre-left forces currently gathered in the Partito Democratico.
