Animal Protection and Environmental Constitutionalism in Italy: An Anthropocentric Perspective Before and After the 2022 Reform

This article argues that, even after the 2022 constitutional reform, animal protection in Italy remains a mediated and anthropocentric form of constitutional protection, embedded within environmental constitutionalism and entrusted to legislative discretion. The Italian case show how constitutional law can absorb evolving social sensitivities and demands for environmental protection and animal welfare without symbolic over-constitutionalization or a transformation of the existing constitutional foundations.