La Italian constitution turns 73 today. She was the 22 January of the 1947 when the Constituent Assembly definitively approved the fundamental law of the state. Five days later, the Charter was promulgated by the first President of the Republic, Enrico De Nicola (who held the post on a provisional basis from June 46 and would keep it until May 48). Also on December 27, the text was published in the Official Gazette number 298 (extraordinary edition). The entry into force, however, only came on January 1948, XNUMX.
For obvious official reasons, today is the last date to be considered the true birthday of our Constitution. But the truth is that the final step, however important, was a formal act. In the history of the charter, the date of birth policy (and therefore, perhaps more authentic) can be traced back precisely to that 22 December 73 years ago, when the Constituent Assembly - elected on the same day as the referendum between the republic and the monarchy, on 2 June 1946 - concluded its work with the final vote.
It was the conclusion of an almost year-long debate. The constitutional project, in fact, had been presented for the first time in February 1947, kicking off a a parliamentary debate lasting eleven months. In this period the constituents had discussed every aspect of the Charter - general layout, titles and norms - making various changes to the text, some even significant, without however substantially altering the structure of the Constitution.
Once agreement was reached between the political forces (ten parties in all, even though most of the seats were the prerogative of the DC, the PCI and the PSIUP), the definitive text was approved three days before Christmas with 458 votes in favor, 62 against and no abstentions, out of a total of 520 voters.
