La finanza delle regioni a statuto speciale e delle province autonome - In the Italian model of local government finance, five Regions are granted special forms and conditions of autonomy, specified in their respective statutes. This paper highlights the tasks performed by the five Autonomous Regions (one of which composed of two Autonomous Provinces) and the way they are financed. The aim is to identify differences not only among them, but also in comparison with the ordinary Regions, over which the present-day debate on fiscal federalism is mainly focusing. The main results show that the Italian Autonomous Regions, far from being a uniform class, can be divided into three groups: the small entities in the North (Valle d’Aosta and the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano) are characterised by the higher level of per capita expenditures and by the important financing role of tax sharing (i.e. fractions of tax revenues arising in their jurisdiction); the two islands (Sicily and Sardinia), although incurring a lower expenditure, still rely on a persistent system of government grants; Friuli Venezia Giulia stands in an intermediate position between the two aforementioned groups.
JEL H71, H72, H73, H77
