After a long wait, with Legislative Decree No. 97 of 25 May 2016, Italy has joined the many legal systems - there are over a hundred - that have equipped themselves with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), i.e. legislation that allows anyone to access non-confidential information held by public administrations. This legislation is important, because it transforms the knowability of that information from an exception into a rule, realises the principle of “total accessibility” previously only enunciated, and assigns public administrations a new task: to provide citizens with a real information service.
Nevertheless, the new rules on generalised civic access have been criticised for various reasons, from the excessive extension of exceptions to the overlap with the pre-existing forms of access, which survive, to the fragmentation of competences concerning the implementation phase. Comparison with other FOIA systems makes it possible to assess the consistency of these criticisms, to promote an informed scientific debate, and to identify solutions for a better implementation of this legislation.

(B.G. Mattarella e M. Savino (a cura di), L'accesso dei cittadini: esperienze di informazione amministrativa a confronto, Napoli, Editoriale scientifica, 2018)

B.G. Mattarella e M. Savino (a cura di), L'accesso dei cittadini: esperienze di informazione amministrativa a confronto, Napoli, Editoriale scientifica, 2018