The issue of working time and hours has always been at the forefront of Italian collective bargaining in Italy. The paper gives an overview of its evolution, highlighting how most objectives for the containment and duration of hours to the advantage of work has progressively shifted towards objectives for the negotiation and control of flexibilisation of working time requested by the companies. Recognition of this situation has indeed brought to the fore critical aspects, but also proposals that point out how working time bargaining is in Italy one of the most innovative areas of collective bargaining.only subscribers can see the full article