Italy’s approach to linguistic diversity, from Article 6 of the Constitution through the adoption of Law 482/1999 to its ongoing efforts to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ecrml), provides an opportunity to highlight long-standing biases and prejudices that have hampered the development of effective policies for language protection and promotion. Specifically, this paper argues that Italy’s framework, based on Law 482/1999’s closed-list approach, has created an arbitrary hierarchy among Italy’s linguistic heritage, leading to inconsistencies and exclusions not grounded in sociolinguistic realities. This has resulted in legal and political clashes between national and regional authorities over unrecognized regional languages, revealing hidden political agendas. While the Italian Constitutional Court has hinted at a dual path of recognition under Articles 6 and 9 of the Constitution, tensions persist. The paper contends that Law 482/1999’s rigidity has shaped Italy’s overall approach, as evidenced in the ecrml ratification debate. Nevertheless, it proposes using the ratification efforts as an opportunity to update Italy’s legislation, requiring a cross-partisan debate that overcomes long-standing biases. The paper concludes that an inclusive, coherent approach, fostering unity through the recognition of differences, is essential for meaningful linguistic diversity protection.
Mattia Zeba (Sun,) studied this question.