My paper aims to analyse the debate that emerged in Italy in 2013 over the Constitutional Bill 813. The bill dealt with procedural issues in order to shorten the time necessary to approve amendments to the Italian Constitution and to assure the electorate’s participation to the constitutional process. The new party Five-star Movement dominated the opposition to the bill. The peak of the conflict was reached with the impeachment to the Italian President of the Republic Napolitano, accused of ‘monarchical’ leadership. I am arguing that the core of the debate has to be placed in the interaction and conflict between two opposite forces: on one side, the Letta government’s and the presidency’s attempt to promote more efficient decisional rules, in order to better fit into the EU’s integration project and meet the economical challenges from globalization; one the other, the oppositional parties’ resistance in defence of the national parliament’s role.
