The right to social security in the Italian constitutional system

The Constitution of the Italian Democratic Republic (1948) (henceforth: CORI) is commonly described as a ‘rigid constitution’. This means that it is very difficult to make changes to its formal text, as any update or modification requires a complex revision procedure with a very high majority vote (2/3) in each of the two branches of Parliament (Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic). At the foundation of the entire democratic structure lies regard for work ‘in all its forms’ as means of both economic and social elevation of a person and expression of social solidarity obligations incumbent on it. Consequently, evolution of the protection system and conditions for access to social security measures for an ordinary legislator has been focused on the status of the ‘worker’; that is, at least in the first phase of constitutional principles implementation.