Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne. Law No. 131 of 2025 and the new phase in implementing Article 44, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution.”

Abstract

The article examines Law No. 131 of 12 September 2025 as a major new implementation of Article 44(2) of the Italian Constitution, devoted to mountain areas. After decades without a comprehensive framework, the law inaugurates a new “season of listening” to mountain territories, addressing longstanding issues such as the legal definition of mountain municipalities and the normative fragmentation caused by layered sectoral legislation. The author highlights the complex structure of the law – six Chapters and thirty-five artiche – which blends general principles, strategic planning tools, and a broad range of sector-specific measures concerning health care, education, environmental protection, and economic development. Significant attention is given to the new National Strategy for the Italian Mountain and to the extensive system of implementing decrees which, while ensuring flexibility, shift much of the law’s effectiveness to administrative procedures. The article underscores both opportunities and criticalities: from the potential for more coherent mountain policies to the risk of creating a “mountain of rules” that may hinder implementation. Ultimately, Law 131/2025 emerges as an ambitious attempt to rebuild an organic framework of interventions, whose actual impact will depend on multi-level coordination and future concrete implementation.