Il rilievo delle sentenze della Corte europea dei diritti dell'uomo nell'ordinamento interno: problemi e possibili soluzioni

The essay aims to assess the role of the European Court of Human Rights judgments in the Italian legal system, starting from the twin judgments model expressed by the Constitutional Court in 2007, continuing with the recent judgment n. 49/2015 and ending with the De Tommaso saga. In latter case, the Italian Constitutional Court and the Court of Strasbourg reached a very different outcome on the legit- imacy of Italian criminal legislation on preventive measures: the Constitutional Court stated that the law was not uncon- stitutional while the ECHR declared the violation of art. 2, Prot. 4 Cedu. The two different conclusions bring up many issues to Italian judges with respect to the application of the criteria laid down in judgment n. 49/2015. In conclusion, De Tommaso saga shows the practical difficulties stemming from the interpretation and application of Convention before Italian Courts and the importance of applying the principle of maximum protection of fundamental rights instead of the “axiological superiority” of the Italian Constitution.