Acknowledgements
Writing a book is certainly a group effort, and many people deserve to be thanked. First and foremost, I would like to thank Susanna Mancini and Patricia Popelier for being my constant guide during and after the Ph.D. Their invaluable support made it possible to keep working on my doctoral thesis and exploring new paths of my previous research, which eventually led to this book. I will be forever grateful to Giuseppe de Vergottini for first teaching me about the importance of method in comparative constitutional law. His pioneering work has become the foundation of my research mindset.
I want to express my profound gratitude to Francesco Biagi, Philipp Dann, Elena Ferioli, Justin O. Frosini, Cedric Jenart, Giuseppe Martinico, Leonardo Pierdominici, Maja Sahadžić, Diletta Tega, Arianna Vedaschi, and Jens Woelk, who all contributed with their time and insights on my work. I am also sincerely grateful to Francesco Palermo, who has generously supported the inclusion of this book in the Brill Series on Studies in Territorial and Cultural Diversity Governance and has always been ready to discuss my research.
Part of this research has been conducted during my Ph.D., and I want to thank the incredible institutions and research staff that hosted me: the Faculty of Law at the University of Antwerp, the Department of Law at the European University Institute, and the Institute for Comparative Federalism at eurac Research. The feedback I received during these visiting periods has been among the most important and thought-provoking I ever received. I am also grateful to the University of Bologna and the University of Antwerp for funding my research experience abroad, respectively through the Marco Polo Programme of the Department of Legal Studies and the bof Fellowship for Joint Ph.D.s of the University of Antwerp.
Thanks to all the friends and colleagues I met along the way in Bologna, Antwerp, and Milan for being part of this journey, especially Pier Francesco Bresciani, Lucrezia Cadamuro, Chiara Graziani, Francesco Lucherini, Alessandro Martinuzzi, Alberto Nicotina, and Micol Pignataro. I would also like to thank Sylvie Armstrong for proofreading this book and patiently reading almost every piece of English-written research I produced.
Special thanks to my lights in the darkness: Francesca Raimondo, Justine Muller, Marco Poli, and Nicolò Paolo Alessi. They are all amazing researchers, and this book would not have been the same without their support and all the time they dedicated to reading and discussing my work with me when I was stuck.
I would also like to thank Ornella and Riccardo for always showering me with love, especially the Summer in Salina when much of this book was written. The endless laughs we shared on their terrace have been a precious gift that made it all easier. This book was written not only in Salina but across multiple cities, each leaving a unique mark on the project’s development: Antwerp, Bologna, Bolzano, Florence, Milan, Oxford, and Palermo. Belfast and Sarajevo occupy a particular place in this journey, having nurtured the initial seeds of this research and continuing to provide ongoing inspiration.
I do not have enough words to thank my friends and family, by blood and by choice, who were always ready to celebrate with me and encourage me. Mom, Dad, Michele, and Giulia, this is all for you. Thank you for always being there for me, especially when I needed it the most.
Finally, I am incredibly grateful to my wife, Chiara. She witnessed the very birth of this research and watched it grow into something that neither of us could ever anticipate. I could have never wished for a better partner for this adventure.
Needless to say, I am solely responsible for any errors and omissions in this book, and any opinions expressed are solely my own.