Italian style, American advantage, European culture

The traditional ‘Italian style’, conventionally, if somewhat stereotypically, described as positivist, dogmatic and deductive, seems increasingly peripheral in a context in which law and legal culture are subject to trends of Americanisation and Europeanisation that require a more substantive and interdisciplinary approach. The question has already been asked whether the Italian style can survive or whether a new European or global style can replace the national ones. At the same time, it is well known that processes of globalisation can lead to a revival of local cultures as a form of reaction or resistance. Against this background, the article critically reflects on the role of the Italian legal style in the face of the process of Europeanisation and the dominance of American common law. Focusing in particular on the case of European private law, it notes that traditional legal cultures retain their relevance and tend to reproduce themselves in the transnational context. But it is precisely there that a critical and more substantive engagement with law becomes all the more urgent.