The reform of the Italian constitution which is currently under examination before the Parliament aims at introducing significant reforms in the Italian bicameral system, by changing the role, the membership and the functions of the Senate. This reform has been portrayed by the current Government as a way to align the Italian constitutional system to the European standards. In order to assess whether the constitutional reform is actually proposing a model along the lines of other European legal systems, the elements of the reform have been analysed and a comparison has been carried with the French, German and Dutch legal systems. The analysis carried out has shown that, despite the peculiarities shown vis-a-vis other legal systems, the Senate proposed by the reform will align the Italian model to the general European standards.
Keywords: Senate, bicameralism, comparative law, constitutional reform