Justice report: cases seeking fair compensation dominate civil appeal proceedings

The Istat report on the justice system, sfocusing in particular on PNRR, it also provides a broad insight into the matters most frequently subject to civil litigation.

In 2025, the highest proportion of cases filed with the court concerned proceedings relating to employment (25.7%), followed by preliminary technical assessments (ATP) in social security matters (22.7%), contracts (9.3%), social security proceedings (8.8%), international protection (8.7%), and separations and divorces (3.8%); followed by citizenship rights, non-contractual liability, and family law proceedings (accounting for 2.8% of cases filed), petitions for judicial liquidation (formerly bankruptcy petitions) accounting for 2 per cent, property rights (1.9 per cent), tenancy and validation of eviction orders (1.8 per cent), and succession (0.7 per cent).

As regards duration, it is the area of citizenship rights that will take the longest (1,304 days) in 2025, as will proceedings relating to international protection (1,224 days). Conversely, judicial liquidation proceedings (117), ATP cases (154 days) and employment proceedings (256) have shorter durations. Istat points out that these shorter durations can be attributed to various factors: ATP proceedings, for example, are characterised by a preliminary procedural phase that contributes to greater speed. These are generally proceedings characterised by less complex preliminary investigations and a tightly scheduled sequence of procedural steps. Similarly, in judicial liquidations, specialised professionals are involved, and the procedure is governed by specific deadlines and formalities.

On appeal, the most frequently cited grounds in 2025 are fair compensation (21.8%) for excessive length of proceedings, contracts (18.9%), employment (14.0%), social security (10.7%), non-contractual liability (6.5%), property law (4.0%), international protection (3.9%), succession (1.2%) and citizenship rights (0.5%). In addition to these, 18.5% relate to proceedings relating to other matters.

In 2025, as a result of the new and controversial powers granted in relation to international protection , there was a significant surge in the number of cases, which rose to 3,520 compared with 64 in 2024.