ABSTRACT
During the past twenty years the Italian system of local government has undergone considerable change, leading towards greater decentralization. The 1990s was the decade that saw the greatest change in the century-long history of Italian local government. It opened in 1990 with a law reforming local authorities that was partially rewritten in 2000; it continued in 1993 with the introduction of the direct election of mayors, and followed this in 1997 with the adoption of numerous measures to modernize the administration and to bring about a vast process of decentralization. It concluded with two constitutional amendments, in 1999 and 2001, that were intended to transform Italy into a quasi-federal state.
