IGF Italia 2015 (Internet Governance Forum Italia 2015) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

The seventh IGF Italia met on 12 October 2015 in the Sala della Regina of Rome's Palazzo Montecitorio — with Chamber President Laura Boldrini joined at the opening by the European Commission's Roberto Viola and ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehadé.
Four sessions covered the just-completed Declaration of Internet Rights and its international launch, the IANA transition and ICANN accountability, Italy's 'digital comeback', and a proposed Italian 'costituente' — a constituent process for national internet governance.
With over 150 participants and a third of them speaking from the floor, it modelled radical participation; its results fed the UN IGF in João Pessoa and the WSIS+10 review of the IGF's own mandate.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on IGF Italia 2015 (Internet Governance Forum Italia 2015) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	IGF Italia 2015 (Internet Governance Forum Italia 2015)
Edition	7th edition (VII edizione)
Dates	12 October 2015
Venue	Sala della Regina, Palazzo Montecitorio, Chamber of Deputies, Rome
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	150 (Over 150 participants, about a third of whom spoke from the floor (per Stefano Trumpy's review); floor interventions capped at three minutes)
Opening	Institutional greetings by Chamber President Laura Boldrini, Roberto Viola (Director-General, DG Connect, European Commission), Antonio Samaritani (Director-General, AgID) and Fadi Chehadé (President & CEO, ICANN)
Purpose	To define Italy's contribution to the UN IGF in João Pessoa (November 2015, "Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development"), weeks before the UN's WSIS+10 decision on the IGF mandate
Host	Hosted by the Chamber of Deputies and organised by ISOC Italia, with some 25 promoting bodies incl. AgID, ICANN, CNR-IIT, the Ministry of Economic Development, Registro.it, Telecom Italia, Tiscali and W3C Italia

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. ICANN's Chief at the Opening — A National IGF at the Crossroads

Sessions: Institutional greetings (from 09:30): Chamber President Laura Boldrini; Roberto Viola (DG Connect, European Commission); Antonio Samaritani (AgID); Fadi Chehadé (President & CEO, ICANN)

Alongside Boldrini, the Commission's Viola and AgID's Samaritani, ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehadé addressed the opening — a rare appearance for the head of the global domain-name body at a national IGF, reflecting the tensions of the IANA-transition period [2][3][1]
The meeting came roughly two months before the UN's WSIS+10 review would decide whether the IGF process itself would continue — a gathering consciously held at the crossroads [2][3][1]
Sessions combined scheduled speakers with three-minute floor interventions, and about a third of the 150-plus participants actually took the microphone [2][3][1]

2. The Declaration of Internet Rights Goes Global — Bound for João Pessoa

Sessions: Session 1, "The Declaration of Internet Rights" (from 10:30, moderated by Anna Masera): Stefano Rodotà, Guido Scorza, Giovanna De Minico, Oreste Pollicino

The Declaration of Internet Rights — a year's work by the Chamber's study commission installed in July 2014 — had been approved and published on 28 July 2015; this session was its first national debate since publication [1][2]
It was confirmed the Declaration would be presented for international comparison at the UN IGF in João Pessoa in November, with Rodotà and jurists Scorza, De Minico and Pollicino dissecting the text across generations [1][2]
The shared starting point: treating the internet as just another medium is reductive and improper — and as a parliamentary document the Declaration was a near-first worldwide [1][2]

3. The IANA Transition and WSIS+10 — Mapping a Turbulent Year in Global Governance

Sessions: Session 2, "International scenarios of internet governance" (from 12:00, moderated by Stefano Trumpy): Rita Forsi (ISCOM, Ministry of Economic Development), Giacomo Mazzone (EBU), Giovanni Seppia (EURid), Andrea Beccalli (ICANN), Stefania Milan (ICANN GNSO)

Government, registry and ICANN insiders assessed the year's biggest global-governance file — the IANA stewardship transition from the US Commerce Department and the linked ICANN accountability reforms — and what they meant for Italy [1][3]
The UN's WSIS+10 activities, the future of the IGF and the NETmundial Initiative were reviewed together, a stock-taking ahead of the UN General Assembly's high-level meeting at year's end [1][3]
Findings fed Italy's interventions at João Pessoa the following month, continuing the series' use of the national IGF as a preparation device for international negotiations [1][3]

4. The "Digital Comeback" and an Italian Costituente — Towards a Standing Governance Structure

Sessions: Session 3, "La riscossa digitale" (from 14:30, moderated by Riccardo Luna) and Session 4, "The costituente for internet governance in Italy" (from 16:00, moderated by Arturo Di Corinto): MEP Renato Soru, Joy Marino (MIX), Flavia Marzano and others

"In April I announced the Ministry of Economic Development's commitment to promote an Italian constituent process within a year"
— Antonello Giacomelli (Undersecretary for Communications, Ministry of Economic Development) [1][3]

Session 3 gathered CoderDojo, the startup association, Confindustria and others around Italy's belated digital comeback — the conditions for no longer being Europe's tail-light [1][3]
Session 4 continued the previous year's call for an Italian costituente for internet governance: a standing advisory structure institutionalising the shared responsibility of government, research, business and citizens, debated by figures from Tiscali founder and MEP Renato Soru to the Pirate Party [1][3]
The wrap-up confirmed the need for a permanent multistakeholder structure the government could consult on internet-related initiatives — the track that later led to AgID assuming Italy's NRI functions [1][3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What was this meeting, exactly?

A. The seventh Italian national IGF, again hosted by the Chamber of Deputies: one day on the newly finished Declaration of Internet Rights, the IANA transition, Italy's digital strategy and a standing governance structure — distilled for the UN IGF in Brazil the next month.

Q. What was the key outcome?

A. Confirmation that the Declaration of Internet Rights would be presented at the UN IGF in João Pessoa, plus a push for a permanent multistakeholder body the government could consult — with ICANN's CEO at the opening underscoring the stakes.

Q. Why should I care today?

A. A parliament-drafted rights charter taken to the world stage remains a template for digital-rights advocacy, and a forum where a third of attendees speak is a cure for the ritualism that plagues national consultations.

What Is Italy IGF? (for first-time readers)

Italy IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2015 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.