What is a People's Bank really? It is around this apparently simple question that the conference "Cooperation and credit: constitutional principles and the role of popular banks" was developed. organized in Rome by the National Association of Popular and Local Banks under the initiatives for the 150th anniversary The meeting took place on Tuesday at Palazzo Baldassini, on Via delle Coppelle, in a packed hall, bringing together some of the most authoritative Italian jurists in corporate and cooperative law. The event was conceived and organized by Assopopolari's Secretary General, Giuseppe DeLucia Lumeno.
The proceedings were opened by Nicholas Antonetti, president of the Luigi Sturzo Foundation, which reconstructed the historical role of the People's Banks in the crucial transition between the end of World War II and the birth of the Italian Republic. During that period, several young people destined to become Constituent Assembly members had already grasped the role of popular credit in a country struggling economically and in need of social reconstruction.
The coordination of the conference was entrusted to Nicholas Luigi Giorgi, president of the Banca Popolare di Lajatico, who recalled Louis Luzzatti, founder of the first Popular Banks in Italy and of the Association of Popular Banks, posed the central question: "What is a Popular Bank?" And again: "What are the elements that differentiate it from other types and natures of banks?"
The Consulta and the constitutional value of cooperation
The question has taken on particular weight in light of thecurrent economic context, marked by the crisis of financial globalization and the neocapitalist model. A very significant response has come from the ruling number 116 of 2025 of Constitutional Court, called upon to rule on the question of the automatic dissolution of a cooperative society. The Consulta has affirmed that "cooperation is not a residual category of business but an autonomous organizational form, rooted in the Constitution, capable of uniting economic freedom and social cohesion." This passage represented the heart of the Roman debate, because it reaffirms the constitutional protection of cooperation and urges the legislature to enhance its social, mutualistic, and democratic function.
La sentence clarifies Furthermore, protecting the public interest cannot undermine the economic and social dimension of cooperative enterprise. Cooperation is not born against the market, but rather contributes to "humanizing" it, directing economic activity toward the common benefit of participants in a spirit of reciprocity.
In this context, the Popular Banks are referred to as subjects capable of embodying fundamental principles: social function of credit, protection of savings, territorial roots, mutuality and democratic participation.
Mirabelli: Banking pluralism as a social protection
Among the most anticipated interventions was that of Cesare Mirabelli, President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court. Mirabelli underlined how the presence of cooperation in the combined provisions of the articoli 45 e 47 of the Constitution is not an accidental fact, but a essential element of the Italian economyThe professor recalled the constitutional formula according to which "The Republic recognizes the social function of cooperation of a mutual nature and without the aim of private speculation." The decisive verb, he highlighted, is "recognizes": the cooperation is an already established reality in the Italian economy and culture, which the State does not create from above but must recognize, promote and encourage.
For Mirabelli, this constitutional framework does not allow for interventions that undermine cooperation, but requires strengthening the system's pluralism. A non-monolithic system, composed of diverse and complementary entities, is essential to sustaining social cohesion and implementing the principle of equality.
A response to the crisis of globalization
The value of the sentence was also taken up by John Romano, Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Siena, who called it a "breath of fresh air" for the cooperative form. A form that, over time, has managed to survive, adapt to change, and demonstrate its irreplaceability thanks to the interpenetration of users and owners.
Daniele Umberto SantosuossoSantosuosso, Professor of Commercial Law at Sapienza University, placed the People's Banks squarely within the realm of cooperation, emphasizing the combination of mutuality and democracy, guaranteed by the one-person-one-vote rule. In his view, the People's Banks represent an advanced form of cooperative, capable of preserving the system's biodiversity, which is a "non-negotiable" element. Santosuosso also recalled the tradition of Antonio Genovesi's civil economy, summarized in the idea that "true wealth lies not in possessing but in circulating."
Andrea ZoppiniZoppini, Professor of Civil Law at Roma Tre University, instead drew on a concrete suggestion: the widespread use of cooperatives in the taxi industry, agriculture, and many other sectors. A practical demonstration of the model's effectiveness. Citing the Constitutional Court's ruling, Zoppini linked the crisis of social democratic thought after the fall of the Berlin Wall and that of the free-market paradigm after the 2007-2008 financial crisis to the need to preserve economic forms other than purely capitalist.
From here emerges the political and economic point of the conference: Banca Popolare is not a bank like the othersIts diversity is not an anomaly, but a resource to be protected and encouraged. In an era marked by the crisis of globalization and the financialization of the economy, popular credit is once again proposing itself as a concrete instrument of social cohesion, local roots, and personal service.
162 years after the birth of the first Banca Popolare in Italy and 150 years after the foundation of the Association, the Roman conference has restored relevance to a model that continues to be based on mutuality, democratic participation, and the social function of credit. The Constitutional Court's ruling 116 of 2025 strengthened this framework, clarifying that cooperatives and popular banks are not a thing of the past, but remain a lively response to the current economic and social crisis.
