Constitution of Italy

The Constitution of the Italian Republic (Italian: Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was ratified on 22 December 1947 by the Constituent Assembly, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against, before coming into force on 1 January 1948, one century after the previous Constitution of the Kingdom of Italy had been enacted. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, was promulgated in an extraordinary edition of Gazzetta Ufficiale on 27 December 1947.

The Constituent Assembly was elected by universal suffrage 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 liberation of Italy. The election was held in all Italian provinces, except the provinces of Bolzano, Gorizia, Trieste, Pola, Fiume and Zara, located in territories not administered by the Italian government but by the Allied authorities. These territories were still under occupation as the status of the territories was being resolved through the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947. By 1947, most of these territories had been annexed by Yugoslavia, including most of the Julian March and the Dalmatian city of Zara.