Ricerc@Sapienza

This article discusses the policy design of the Italian Third Sector reform, and aims at identifying the cultural patterns that shaped its contents. To this end, the implementing decrees of Law no. 106/2016, and especially the Third Sector Code, are taken into consideration. In the article, five issues are analyzed and critically assessed: the legal forms of Third Sector organizations; their social value; the criteria and rules defining the relationship with public institutions; Third Sector organizations representation and representativeness; and their constitutional status.