Social work and social workers in Italy

The article tackles the characteristics of social work in Italy, focusing on some specific features of this professional domain within the broader framework of the Italian welfare system. Indeed, given the historical roots of Italian welfare regime and the model of governance of policies, social assistance benefits and services are the less developed component of welfare provisions. This is one of the reasons for the late full acknowledgement and regulation of the social worker at the national level, requiring specific skills and competences and therefore a specific academic curriculum. In the first part of the article, we present the development of social work in Italy, with particular attention to the creation of academic courses and the formal regulation as a profession. Then we present the current situation of social work and social workers in Italy, taking into consideration the weakness of social assistance and the effects of the financial crisis. In fact, the crises had an impact on the dimensions and composition of vulnerable population, which is more and more large and fragmented, putting growing pressure on social assistance offices and on social workers. At the same time, because of fiscal austerity, resources for welfare benefits have been reduced in these years, changing the organizational settings and worsening the working conditions of social workers. This article has been written mainly considering the situation before the pandemic, which had an impact on increasing social inequalities as well as posing hard challenges to the health and social welfare system.