Legal Instruments to Support Local Food Systems in Italian Law

The purpose of the discussion is an attempt to determine in what forms, which meet the criteria of local food systems (LFS), it is possible under Italian law to sell agri-food products by the farmer who is their producer. These forms imply a direct sale, or with the participation of at most one intermediary, to the final consumer, in close geographical distance between the place of production and sale. The analysis showed that Italian legislator, national and regional, provides for many instruments that are crucial in creating LFS, such as direct sales of agri-food products, farmers’ markets reserved only for the local farmers; the sale of meals consisting of the farmer’s products at the agritourism; wine routes; regional designation “products from zero kilometres”, emphasizing the geographical proximity between the place of manufacture and the place of sale; as well as a support for the social initiatives such as Solidarity Purchasing Groups.