In the last thirty years Italy has witnessed a process of the decentring of regulatory and management powers for social policies from the state to the sub-national, and often regional, level. Starting from an analysis of regional welfare is useful, not only for analysing an important dimension of welfare organisation (most health expenditure is managed at this level and much of the resources and control of other social policies is in the hands of the Regions), but also to understand more generally how the regional political and socio-economic systems are changing. More territorialised welfare systems built to a greater extent around the sub-national level of government raise the problem of territorial difference and inequalities, particularly in a country like Italy, where these features are already evident. The article focuses on how different the performance levels are for systems of regional welfare and what might explain them, trying to evaluate the role of dimensions such as political orientation, models of governance, the level of economic development and the more socio-cultural aspects such as social capital.only subscribers can see the full article