L’investitura popolare del sindaco come problema costituzionale: prima tappa della presidenzializzazione o elemento di un paradigma relazionale?

The direct election of mayors is a reform that goes beyond the local dimen- sion. It is the result of a very specific season of reforms and it has become, ac- cording to a certain interpretation, the archetype of a different conception of the form of government, which aims at the direct investiture of the head of government also at the State level. The slogan “mayor of Italy” expresses this wish. The essay illustrates the possible correlations between the reform of the mayor’s direct investiture and the growing vitality of the cities and argues an explanation regarding the mayor’s role in “weaving” a network open to citizens participation and projected towards inter-institutional collaboration.