The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, was promulgated in an extraordinary edition of

Gazzetta Ufficiale The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana'' (Italian, ) is the official journal of record of the Italian government. It is published by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome. Function The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale'' promulgate ...

on 27 December 1947. The

was elected by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

on 2 June 1946, on the same day as the referendum on the abolition of the monarchy was held, and it was formed by the representatives of all the anti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Italian Civil War. The election was held in all Italian provinces. The Constitution was drafted in 1946 and came into force on 1 January 1948, one century after the Constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the

Statuto Albertino The Statuto Albertino (English: ''Albertine Statute'') was the constitution granted by King Charles Albert of Sardinia to the Kingdom of Sardinia on 4 March 1848 and written in Italian and French. The Statute later became the constitution of t ...

, had been enacted.

Constituent Assembly

Piero Calamandrei Piero Calamandrei (21 April 1889 – 27 September 1956) was an Italian author, jurist, soldier, university professor, and politician. Born in Florence, he was one of Italy's leading authorities on the law of civil procedure. After studies in Pis ...

, a professor of law, an authority on civil procedure, spoke in 1955 about World War II and the formation of the Italian constitution: The groups that composed the Constituent Assembly covered a wide range of the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...

, with the prevalence of three major groups, namely Christian democratics, liberals and

leftists Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

. All these groups were deeply anti-fascist, so there was general agreement against an authoritarian constitution, putting more emphasis on the

legislative power A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known a ...

and making the

executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

dependent on it. So the Constitution doesn't follow the concept of

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

as conceived by major figures of the Enlightenment like

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

and

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

, and incorporates mechanisms to protect the needs of governmental stability while avoiding any degeneration of

parliamentarism A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

. All the different political and social views of the Assembly contributed in shaping and influencing the final text of the Constitution. For example, constitutional protections concerning

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

and the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

reflect

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

themes as viewed by Roman Catholics, while those concerning

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

reflect

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and communist views. This has been repeatedly described as the constitutional compromise, and all the parties that shaped the Constitution were referred to as the ''arco costituzionale'' (literally, " Constitutional Arch"). There were 556 members of the Constituent Assembly, of which 21 were women, with 9 from the Christian Democratic group, 9 from the Communist group, 2 from the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

group, and 1 from the Common Man's group. These members came from all walks of life, including politicians, philosophers and partisans; and many of them went on to become important figures in the Italian political history.

Provisions

The Constitution is composed of 139 articles (five of which were later abrogated) and arranged into three main parts: ''Principi Fondamentali'', the Fundamental Principles (articles 1–12); Part I concerning the ''Diritti e Doveri dei Cittadini'', or Rights and Duties of Citizens (articles 13–54); and Part II the ''Ordinamento della Repubblica'', or Organisation of the Republic (articles 55–139); followed by 18 ''Disposizioni transitorie e finali'', the Transitory and Final Provisions. It is important to note that the Constitution primarily contains general principles; it is not possible to apply them directly. As with many written constitutions, only few articles are considered to be self-executing. The majority require enabling legislation, referred to as ''accomplishment of constitution''. This process has taken decades and some contend that, due to various political considerations, it is still not complete.

Preamble

The preamble to the Constitution consists of the

enacting formula An enacting clause is a short phrase that introduces the main provisions of a law enacted by a legislature. It is also called enacting formula or enacting words. It usually declares the source from which the law claims to derive its authority. In ...

: ''The provisional Head of State, by virtue of the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly, which in the session of 22 December 1947 approved the Constitution of the Italian Republic; by virtue of Final Provision XVIII of the Constitution; promulgates the Constitution of the Italian Republic in the following text:''

Fundamental Principles (Articles 1–12)

The Fundamental Principles declare the foundations on which the Republic is established, starting with its democratic nature, in which the

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution. The Principles recognise the dignity of the person, both as an individual and in social groups, expressing the notions of solidarity and

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. For this purpose, the

right to work The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized ...

is also recognized, with labour considered the foundation of the Republic and a mean to achieve individual and social development: every citizen has a duty to contribute to the development of the society, as much as they can, and the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

must ensure the

freedom and equality The Freedom and Equality ( pl, Wolność i Równość, WiR), previously called Union of the Left ( pl, Unia Lewicy, UL); is a minor social-democratic political party in Poland founded on 20 March 2005 through the union of several left-wing org ...

of every citizen. While the Principles recognise the

territorial integrity Territorial integrity is the principle under international law that gives the right to sovereign states to defend their borders and all territory in them of another state. It is enshrined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and has been recognized ...

of the Republic, they also recognise and promote local autonomies and safeguard

linguistic minorities A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

. They also promote scientific, technical, and

cultural development Sociocultural evolution, sociocultural evolutionism or social evolution are theories of sociobiology and cultural evolution that describe how societies and culture change over time. Whereas sociocultural development traces processes that tend t ...

, and safeguard the environmental, historical, and artistic heritage of the

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

, with a particular mention of the protection of the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

, and the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s in the interest of

future generations Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations, and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The moral patienthood of future g ...

. The State and the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

are recognised as independent and sovereign, each within its own sphere.

Freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...

is also recognised, with all religions having the right of self-organisation, as long as they don't conflict with the law, and the possibility to establish a relation with the State through agreements. In particular, Article 7 recognises the

Lateran Treaty The Lateran Treaty ( it, Patti Lateranensi; la, Pacta Lateranensia) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle ...

of 1929, which gave a special status to the

, and allows modification to such treaty without the need of constitutional amendments. In fact, the treaty was later modified by a new agreement between church and state in 1984. The Principles mention the

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and the rights of the foreigner, in particular the

right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...

for people who are denied in their home country the freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution, or who are accused of political offences. They also repudiate

war of aggression A war of aggression, sometimes also war of conquest, is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation. Wars without international legality (i.e. not out of self-defense nor san ...

and promote and encourage

international organisations An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

aimed to achieve peace and justice among nations, even agreeing to limit

, on condition of equality with other countries, if necessary to achie