Family relationships in Italy after the 2016 reform: the new provisions on civil unions and cohabitation

Italian family law has always adapted ex post to the social changes already in place, aligning with extreme delay to foreign legislations. This was the case for the introduction of divorce, of shared parental responsibility and ultimately also for the regulation of same-sex unions and cohabiting relationships. After a brief excursus on the major reforms in Italian family law, which entirely redesigned the Civil Code's structure of 1942, this paper examines the requests of the Italian Constitutional Court and of the domestic courts of first, second and third instance, as well as the recommendations of the European Court of Human rights and the doctrine to the legislature. These will eventually protect all family unions, regardless of the sexual orientation and gender identity of the partners. Then follows the detailed analysis of the reform set out in Law No. 76/2016, of the unsolved legal issues devolved by the legislature to the discretion of the judiciary, and of those aspects (step-child adoption, adoption by same-sex couples and surrogacy) purposely neglected by the Law No. 76/2016, which immediately made the 2016 reform partially inadequate.