A Ministry of the Republic of Italy is an administrative organ of the Republic of Italy, placed at the top of Italian public administration and is characterised by one or more specific competencies, with an organised structure, often varying over time.
Typical structure
The minister [it] (ministro, from Latinminister, 'assistant') is the head of the ministry and is a member of the political class. The minister proposes the appointment of directors with general functions to the Council of Ministers, directs administrative action, and takes decisions on important matters. There are also ministers without portfolio for competencies that do not come with budgetary autonomy (e.g. the Minister for relations with Parliament).
The Under-secretary (sottosegretario) is also appointed from the political class. The title derives from the fact that the minister is a Secretary of State. However, the Under-secretary is only an assistant to the minister - they aid the minister but cannot act in their stead. A ministry may have multiple Under-secretaries. Under-secretaries do not have any powers of their own, but only those delegated to them by the minister. If the powers conferred on an Under-secretary comprise a whole department of the ministry, they may be given the title of Deputy Minister.
The Cabinet of the Minister (gabinetto del ministro) consists of the Head of the cabinet, the legislative office, and the specific secretariat, each with its own head. When the government changes, the members of the cabinet also change. The cabinet is empowered to assist the minister and co-ordinate activities of the ministry.
The board of administration (consiglio di amministrazione) is chaired by the minister and composed of general directors and elected representatives of the personnel. It has an established structure and powers related to the organisation of labour in the ministry.
The General Secretary (segretario generale) is only present in some ministries (e.g. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and has powers relating to co-ordination.
Subdivisions of the ministry include departments, general directorates, divisions, etc. They are different in every ministry. Usually, the department [it] (dipartimento or reparto) is the highest level sub-division of the ministry, and the general directorate (direzione generale) is a second-order sub-division. In some ministries, however, there are no departments and the general directorates are the highest level sub-division. The basic units of the ministry are the divisions (divisioni), which may be divided into sections (sezioni).
Ministries of the Republic of Italy
There are fifteen ministries in the current Italian government:
Department for Cohesion Policies [it] (Dipartimento per le politiche di coesione), usually called the Department for the South and Territorial Cohesion (Dipartimento per il Sud e la Coesione Territoriale)
Department for Digital Transformation [it] (Dipartimento per la trasformazione digitale), also called the Department for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition (Dipartimento per l'innovazione tecnologica e la transizione digitale)
The first attempt at structural reform of the Presidency of the Council, the structure of the Council of Ministers, and the arrangement of the ministers was put forward by Franco Bassanini, Minister of Public Administration in the Prodi I Cabinet, with legislative decree n. 300 of 30 July 1999. This measure outlined a new form of ministerial organisation, moving in three different directions.
First of all, it reduced the size of the ministerial apparatus: the ministries were reduced to twelve, the civil service was transformed into a single body, to order to ensure its mobility. The principle of organisational flexibility was strongly asserted, through broad deregulation of the ministries' organisation, except for the functions of the ministers and the number of their subdivisions. Secondly, in order to ensure polycentrism, twelve independent agencies were established with technical operational functions, which require particular expertise, specialist knowledge, or specific forms of labour organisation. Thirdly, local offices of the state administration were all placed in the newly created Territorial Offices of the Government (UTG), which absorbed the prefectures [it].
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport was split into separate Ministries of Infrastructure and of Transport.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy was split into the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Social Solidarity [it]
The return of the "Bassanini reforms", 2007
In the 2008 budget, in response to criticism of the record number of government ministers and the cost of politicians, the 16th legislature returned to the spirit of the Bassanini reforms of 1999 with some amendments, returning to twelve ministries.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of the Interior
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Economy and Finance
Ministry of Economic Development
Ministry of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Policy
Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea
Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport
Ministry of Labour, Health, and Social Policy
Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research
Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
The maximum number of ministers, ministers without portfolio, deputy ministers, and under-secretaries in the government was fixed at sixty. The reformed system came into effect with the beginning of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet.
Modifications of 2009
Under law n. 172/2009 of 13 November, the Ministry of Labour, Health, and Social Policies was split into the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and the Ministry of Health, bringing the number of ministries to thirteen and the total number of members of government to sixty-three. This latter number was increased to 65 under article 15.3 bis of decree law n. 159/2009 of 30 December (converted into law n.26/2010).
Modifications under the Renzi government
In 2013, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities absorbed competencies relating to tourism and its name was altered to reflect this. In 2014, the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.
Normattiva-il portale della legge vigente is the website of the Republic of Italy, where all laws currently in force can be consulted, both those published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, those that are part of the regional legislation, and laws that are awaiting formal publication.
