Part I of the Constitution of the Italian Republic (Arts. 13-54) is entirely devoted to the enunciation of the fundamental rights of the individual and the related duties, and is structured around four areas: 

• civil relations
• ethical-social relations
• economic relations
• political relations

Among the fundamental principles of the Constitution (Articles 1-12), the provisions of Articles 2, 3, 10 and 11 are central.

• ‘The Republic recognises and guarantees the inviolable rights of the human being, both as an individual and in the social groupings where his or her personality is developed, and requires the fulfilment of the inalienable duties of political, economic and social solidarity’ (Art. 2).
• ‘All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic and social nature which, by limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, prevent the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organisation of the country’ (Art. 3).
• ‘The Italian legal system conforms to the generally recognised rules of international law. The legal status of foreigners is regulated by law in accordance with international standards and treaties. A foreigner who is prevented in his own country from effectively exercising the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution has the right to asylum in the territory of the Republic in accordance with the conditions established by law. Extradition of a foreigner for political offences is not permitted’ (Art. 10).
• ‘Italy repudiates war as an instrument of offence against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of settling international disputes; it consents, on equal terms with other States, to the limitations of sovereignty necessary for an order that ensures peace and justice among Nations; it promotes and encourages international organisations directed to this end’ (Art. 11).

With Constitutional Law No. 1 of 30 May 2003, the Constitution accepted the principle of ‘equal opportunities’ in the field of employment (Art. 51(1): ‘... the Republic promotes equal opportunities between women and men by appropriate measures’). 

By Const. l. 11 February 2022, No. 1, environmental protection was included among the fundamental principles of the Constitution. The following paragraph was added to Art. 9 of the Charter: ‘[The Republic] protects the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, also in the interest of future generations. The law of the State shall regulate the ways and forms of animal protection'. The same constitutional law also specified that free economic initiative may not harm health and the environment and that the law may direct it for environmental purposes.

Constitutional Law No. 1 of 26 September 2023 introduced into the Constitution the enhancement of sport (Art. 33(3): ‘The Republic recognises the educational, social and psychophysical wellbeing-promoting value of sporting activity in all its forms’).

Since 1 December 2009, as provided for by the Lisbon Treaty, the Union's legal framework has been articulated around two fundamental instruments: the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Art. 6 TEU gives the status of primary law to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Nice Charter, adopted in 2000), also making specific reference to the rights guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and those resulting from the constitutional traditions common to the member states, which form part of EU law as general principles. The Preamble to the TEU also explicitly refers to the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers and the Council of Europe's European Social Charter (CoE) of 1961 (revised in 1996). Both of these instruments are also mentioned in the TFEU, in the context of Title X on social policy (Art. 151).

 The rules of the European Union (founding treaties and secondary legislation) prevail over those of the State and the Regions (Art. 117(1) Const.), in the sense that domestic rules that are incompatible with those of the Union, in matters in which the latter has competence, must be disapplied by legal operators. If in a judicial proceeding the court finds that there are doubts as to the scope of the Union rules, it may (or, in the case of courts of last instance, must) make a preliminary referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the only body that can authoritatively pronounce on the interpretation and validity of EU rules (Art. 19(3)(b) TEU and Art. 267 TFEU). The decisions of the ECJ on a reference for a preliminary ruling apply in all EU countries. However, the Italian Constitutional Court reserves the power to review any conflict between European law and the supreme principles of the Italian legal system.