The rise of technocratic ministers in Italy represents an increasingly relevant phenomenon: in fact, it has been evident since the early nineties and has reached its apex during the 2010s. To assess the growing presence and significance of technocrats in Italian governments, we consider three major arguments: the role of critical junctures (crises), the impact of formateur’s strength, and the relevance of long-term systemic factors (complexity of policy-making; party decline). Thanks to an updated dataset on the Italian case (2001-2023) and employing a fresh taxonomy combining partisanship and expertise, the article provides a more accurate picture of ministers’ profiles in Italy, highlighting a role of expert ministers greater than expected and identifying a hierarchical relation among causal factors: critical junctures and formateur’s strength may represent proximate causes of the growing presence of technocratic ministers in Italy; however, these factors are heavily influenced by long-term causes such as the party decline.
