Contributo alla definizione dello status costituzionale della persona anziana all’interno dell’ordinamento repubblicano

In contemporary societies, advances in biomedical technologies have led to an increase in life expectancy, which is, however, accompanied by a growing prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases. In turn, the rising number of older individuals – within a social context characterized by increasing individualism and the fragmentation of traditional family structures – gives rise to new challenges for state legal systems. Alongside the economic and social issues involved, ageing calls into question the autonomy of the individual within the broader republican community, directly engaging constitutional and public law. Building on this premise, and in the light of recent legislative developments, this contribution aims to explore the possibility of defining a constitutional status of the elderly person. In particular, the analysis focuses, on the one hand, on the condition of vulnerability of the elderly as an emerging legal category, assessing the risks and limitations of an approach that may reduce the person to a mere recipient of protection, and, on the other hand, on the fundamental role of the family as a primary social formation, within which the principle of solidarity and public intervention intertwine to ensure the protection of rights and the social inclusion of the elderly.