Italy, a parliamentary republic
The Italian Parliament, the country's main political institution, consists of the Chamber of Deputies, with 400 members, and the Senate, with 206 senators. The number of parliamentarians was reduced following the referendum of September 20, 2020, from 630 deputies and 315 senators. Parliament is elected by universal suffrage by voters aged 18 and over. Elections are held every five years, but the unstable political situation in Italy for many years has meant that parliamentary majorities have often broken down before that time, leading to new elections about every two or three years. The two chambers of Parliament exercise executive power and appoint a President of the Council who constitutes the Council of Ministers. Unlike the French presidential republic, the power of the President of the Italian Republic is to represent the nation, and his influence on the political life of the state is limited. Thus, no act of the President of the Republic is valid unless it is signed by the ministers who proposed it. The President of the Republic may, however, decide to dissolve both chambers of Parliament, or one of them, after consultation with their presidents. He is elected every seven years by Parliament, not by universal suffrage. The current President of the Republic is Sergio Mattarella, who was re-elected in January 2022. The main places of power are in the center of Rome: the Quirinal, where the President of the Republic sits, the Palazzo Chigi, which houses the Council of Ministers, the Palazzo Madama (the Senate) and the Palazzo Montecitorio (the Chamber of Deputies).
From a local point of view, Italy is divided into regions, provinces and communes. These are autonomous territorial authorities with powers and functions in the administrative, legislative and fiscal areas, as established by the Constitution. The country is divided into twenty regions, five of which have a special status of autonomy: Sicily, Sardinia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Valle d'Aosta. A constitutional law defines the conditions of autonomy for these five regions, which have extensive legislative powers and significant financial autonomy.
The Italian economy
This local division is also important at the economic level: there is still a clear North/South divide between the industrialized North and the Mezzogiorno, the South, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. In monetary terms, Italy was one of the first 11 countries to adopt the euro, abandoning the lira on January1, 2002. Affected by the economic crisis in recent years, and particularly during the Covid period, the country's public debt is one of the highest in the European Union, reaching 150.3% of GDP in 2021.
While Italy's post-war boom was driven by the industrial and agricultural sectors, today it is the service sector that supports the Italian economy and employs many people. The most dynamic sectors in the country are petrochemicals, equipment, steel, mechanics, electronics, shipyards and household appliances. The dominant economic sectors are the automotive, textile and clothing industries. In terms of exports, large groups stand out and also ensure a worldwide influence for Italian products. These include the queen of the Italian automobile industry, Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), as well as numerous highly competitive SMEs with high added value: Olivetti for office equipment, Zanussi for household appliances, and Max Mara, Benetton, Ellesse and Sergio Tacchini for clothing. The luxury industry also represents a large part of Italian exports, with world-renowned brands such as Valentino, Gucci or Versace. Finally, and of course, Italy also successfully exports its food products, under such well-known brands as Motta, Barilla, Buitoni or Martini. Its vast agricultural area allows it to develop numerous crops and thus occupy an honorable place in the world in this sector. The dominant crops are cereals (wheat, corn and rice) and Italy remains one of the world's leading producers of olive oil. Eighty percent of olive oil production is concentrated in three southern regions: Puglia, Calabria and Sicily. Italy is also the world leader in wine production, just ahead of France, with which it competes every year for the top spot. Veneto is the region that produces the most wine, followed by Puglia, Emilia Romagna and Sicily.
Another important factor in the country's economy is tourism. Italy is one of the five most visited countries in the world every year. If the pandemic has affected this sector, since 2022 things are getting better and it is enough to walk through the streets of the historic center of Rome or Venice to understand that tourism has started again! Not surprisingly, these two cities are among the most visited by tourists, along with Milan and Florence. The short stays of Europeans, who come to enjoy the Italian sweetness for a long weekend, ensure a constant activity in Italy. Italians also visit their country a lot, taking advantage of its great diversity of landscapes and contributing to this economy. During the summer, the seaside stays are longer (between 10 and 12 days) and the big cities are then deserted by the locals in favor of the coastline. August is the most popular month: most Italians are on vacation during this period. According to a Coldiretti report, based on Bankitalia data, 55.98 million foreign tourists visited Italy in the first nine months of 2022. A great recovery for tourism! Considerable figures that, however, are still lower than those of the pre-Covid period, 2019 in particular.
