During the
Kingdom of Italy, regions were mere statistical districts of the central state. Under the Republic, they were granted a measure of political autonomy by the 1948
Italian Constitution. The original draft list comprised the
Salento region (which was eventually included in
Apulia);
Friuli and
Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and
Basilicata was named
Lucania.
Abruzzo and
Molise were identified as separate regions in the first draft, but were later merged into
Abruzzi e Molise in the final constitution of 1948, before being separated in 1963. Implementation of
regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional elections of 1970. The ruling
Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition
Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions where it was historically rooted (the
red belt of
Emilia-Romagna,
Tuscany,
Umbria and the
Marches). Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a constitutional reform in 2001 (brought about by a centre-left government and confirmed by popular referendum), which granted them residual policy competence. A further
federalist reform was proposed by the regionalist party and in 2005, the centre-right government led by
Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform that would have greatly increased the power of regions. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55.3% in favour in
Veneto to 82% against in
Calabria. ==Political control==