This article analyses the changes in the regulations and institutions of the social policies system following the economic crisis through the case study of the region of the Marches, and starts from the theory that less structured institutional contexts are feeling the economic crisis more markedly and their choices tend to break with the general trend of the last ten years. The change of institutional paradigm taking place in the Marches suggests a series of reflections of national significance on the potentiality and limitations of local governance and organization as encouraged by law 328/2000, bringing out some of the main limitations and potentiality in the processes of institutional learning at local level.only subscribers can see the full article