Italy

In Italy, there is a national law on the information and communication activities of public administrations (official journal n°136 of 13 July 2000).

The public administrations identify, within the framework of their own structures, the personnel to be assigned to information and communication activities and plan training. This law does not provide a definition of a youth information worker as such. In the past, there have been several attempts to create national coordination structures which for various reasons have not continued.

Nowadays, there is no national policy related to youth information and the “youth information worker” as a profession is not yet formally recognised. There are only a few regions where there exists a regional coordination of youth information centres. In the rest of the country, there are different examples of coordination at provincial level or within a group of municipalities. There are structures that have a lot of experience in the field of youth information and can be considered examples of good practice not only at national level but certainly at European level. Within these structures, there are professionals who are specialised in the field of youth information work. Some youth information workers have established YICs themselves, contributing to its design and realisation.

At present, it is very difficult to determine the number of youth information centres in Italy. There is no updated map of the centres. Some regions, such as Lombardy, have registered about 180 active youth information centres, whose ownership is mainly public with management entrusted to third parties. One of ERYICA’s first objectives in Italy will be precisely to map the presence of youth information throughout the national territory.