The hyper-fragmentation of municipal governments is a historically-rooted problem of the Italian administrative system which, in the lack of a structural solution, is today highly topical because of the serious economic crisis exploded in 2008, and of the several provisions aimed at a reduction of public expenditure.
At the same time, in recent years more generous incentives have multiplied in support of forms of association, if not downright merging, the latter being undoubtedly better apt to solve the problem of the small size of municipalities.
The research, composed of a desk analysis and a field survey through focus group, is organized as follows: the first two sections are devoted to a description of the characteristics of the local institutional framework, the policies endorsed and their achievements; the third part analyses the results of the focus groups, while the fourth part provides answers to the evaluation questions put forward by the Tuscany Region.
