Frequent government crisis and high legislative output have distinguished Italy for over forty years. Previous explanations of the Italian legislative process have focused on the institutions established since the Second World War. In particular, the ability of the parliamentary committees to pass legislation, and the 'polarized' nature of the Italian party system have received a great deal of attention. This type of structural analysis has proved unable to successfully explain the significant variations in legislative output which have occurred since the early 1950s. This paper attempts to add to previous structural models by demonstrating that much of the variation which has occurred can be linked to the number of parties participating in the governing coalition. Furthermore, the paper questions previous interpretations of leggine (small laws) and the role they play within the legislative process by demonstrating their positive relationship to regular legislation.
