ORDER NO. 188
YEAR 2026
ITALIAN REPUBLIC
IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
composed of: President: Giovanni AMOROSO; Judges: Francesco VIGANÒ, Luca ANTONINI, Stefano PETITTI, Angelo BUSCEMA, Emanuela NAVARRETTA, Maria Rosaria SAN GIORGIO, Filippo PATRONI GRIFFI, Marco D’ALBERTI, Giovanni PITRUZZELLA, Antonella SCIARRONE ALIBRANDI, Massimo LUCIANI, Maria Alessandra SANDULLI, Roberto Nicola CASSINELLI, Francesco Saverio MARINI,
has pronounced the following
ORDER
in the proceedings concerning the constitutional legitimacy of Articles 2(2), 3(1), 4(1) through (7), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11(2)(a), 12(1) and (3), and 13(1) and (2) of Tuscany Region Law No. 27 of May 20, 2025 (Rules for the coordination of regional and local administrative functions for the safeguarding and management of the Orbetello lagoon), brought by the President of the Council of Ministers by means of an appeal notified on July 29, 2025, filed with the registry on the subsequent July 30, entered in the appeal registry under no. 26 of 2025, and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic No. 36, 1st special series, of the year 2025.
Having regard to the appearance entered by the Tuscany Region;
Having heard in chambers on October 5, 2026 the Judge Rapporteur Francesco Saverio Marini;
Deliberated in chambers on October 5, 2026.
Whereas, by an appeal notified on July 29, 2025 and filed on the subsequent July 30, entered under no. 26 of the 2025 appeal registry, the President of the Council of Ministers, represented and defended by the State Attorney General’s Office, brought proceedings on the constitutional legitimacy of numerous provisions of Tuscany Region Law No. 27 of May 20, 2025 (Rules for the coordination of regional and local administrative functions for the safeguarding and management of the Orbetello lagoon), with reference, overall, to Articles 117(2)(s), in relation to Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 of Law No. 11 of January 24, 2025 (Establishment of the Environmental Park for the Sustainable Development of the Orbetello Lagoon), and 81(3) of the Constitution;
Whereas, in the applicant’s view, the aforementioned regional provisions, by overlapping for an indefinite period with the governance model designed by Law No. 11 of 2025 for the Orbetello lagoon area, would have infringed upon the State’s exclusive legislative competence in the matter of environmental and ecosystem protection and violated the accounting rules established by State legislation as an interposed standard for compliance with Article 81 of the Constitution;
Whereas this has consequently resulted in the violation of Articles 117(2)(s) and 81(3) of the Constitution;
Whereas the Tuscany Region entered an appearance in the proceedings by a filing dated September 3, 2025, requesting that the appeal be declared inadmissible or, in any event, unfounded;
Whereas, in view of the public hearing of February 11, 2026, the Region requested a postponement of the case, to which the applicant consented, in order to allow for the approval of a new regional law eliminating the points of conflict with the aforementioned State law.
Considering that the President of the Council of Ministers, by a filing deposited on September 28, 2026 and notified on the same date, declared that he was withdrawing the appeal, in conformity with the resolution adopted by the Council of Ministers in its session of September 24, 2026;
That the President of the Regional Government of Tuscany, by a filing deposited on September 30, 2026, declared that he accepted said withdrawal;
That this Court has already clarified that, with specific reference to the admissibility conditions for the appearance of a region as a respondent party, neither the Supplementary Rules for Proceedings Before the Constitutional Court nor Law No. 87 of March 11, 1953 (Rules on the constitution and functioning of the Constitutional Court) expressly require the condition of a «prior resolution» by the Regional Government, which is evoked by Article 32(2) of said law «solely as a prerequisite for the Region’s initiative against a State law» (ex multis, judgment no. 37 of 2016);
That this statement is grounded on the general principle whereby provisions establishing procedural nullities, bars, inadmissibility, improceedibility, and time limits are subject to a regime of strict legality;
That this Court has likewise acknowledged that, «by virtue of its generality, this principle is applicable to all acts for which the Supplementary Rules for Proceedings Before the Constitutional Court and Law No. 87 of March 11, 1953 do not prescribe formal requirements and, therefore, also to the acceptance of the withdrawal of the action brought by the State» (order no. 78 of 2017);
That the regional statutory law, approved on first reading on May 6, 2004 and on second reading on July 19, 2004 (Statute of the Tuscany Region), limits itself to attributing the legal representation of the entity to the President of the Regional Government, without further prescriptions (Article 34(1));
That, therefore, the acceptance of the withdrawal of the appeal does not require a prior resolution of the Regional Government;
That, pursuant to Article 25 of the Supplementary Rules, in principal proceedings on constitutional legitimacy, the withdrawal of the appeal, accepted by the appearing party, results in the extinction of the proceedings.
on these grounds
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
declares the proceedings extinct.
So decided in Rome, at the seat of the Constitutional Court, Palazzo della Consulta, on October 5, 2026.
Signed:
Giovanni AMOROSO, President
Francesco Saverio MARINI, Rapporteur
Roberto MILANA, Director of the Registry
Filed in the Registry on November 5, 2026