In the recent past, the traditional wide-spread consensus of the Italian citizens and elites on the process of European integration has eroded. Surveys show that the Italians have become less pro-European than the EU average. The economic crisis and the combination of cuts to public spending and increased taxation agreed by the national government with the EU have made the costs of integration more evident to the Italians. For the first time, parties can gain from this unprecedented discontent, so Euroscepticism has permeated the political spectrum giving a main raison d’etre to some newly created and to more established parties. On the other side, the pro-European stance of the other parties has become even more pronounced, in a context of deep confrontation on Europe. The paper presents the pattern of increased polarisation on Europe in the Italian political system with a specific focus on the campaign for the general elections of 2013.
