TESTA LUIGI

Luigi Testa is Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law at the Department of Law, Economics and Cultures of the University of Insubria.

After graduating summa cum laude in Law from Bocconi University, with a thesis on the separation of powers in contemporary constitutionalism, he attended the “Silvano Tosi” Seminar in Parliamentary Studies at the University of Florence. In 2016 he received his PhD from the University of Pavia, with a dissertation on the dynamics of public finance decision-making between government and parliament in comparative perspective.

He subsequently served as a post-doctoral research fellow in constitutional law at Bocconi University and later as Assistant Professor at the same institution. In 2020 he obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification for the position of associate professor in comparative public law. Since September 2020 he has been on the faculty of the University of Insubria as a tenure-track researcher; he has held the position of Associate Professor since January 2025.

In 2019 he was Visiting Researcher at the Institute of European and Comparative Law of the University of Oxford. During this period, he investigated both the evolution of budgetary law in the United Kingdom and issues of democratic accountability and judicial review concerning central bank decisions, topics he also presented in a seminar at the Faculty of Law.

His research primarily focuses on the comparative analysis of forms of government, examined through the perspective of budgetary procedures and the relationship between the executive and the legislature. This core interest is complemented by studies on constitutional adjudication, the role of supreme courts, the regulation of financial markets, and the position of independent authorities, with particular regard to central banks and accountability mechanisms.

His monograph "Il bilancio in Parlamento. Elementi per una comparazione" (Egea, 2019) represents a pivotal moment in this scholarly trajectory, offering a theoretical framework for understanding the connection between financial decision-making and institutional arrangements. He has further developed these themes in numerous works devoted to the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European context. Alongside his monographic research, he has published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals and collective volumes, often characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and by sustained attention to the interaction between law, economics, and political institutions.

Another significant field of inquiry concerns the case law of the Supreme Court of the United States, which he regularly surveys and analyzes, as well as the broader transformation of constitutionalism in times of economic crisis or emergency.

In terms of teaching, at the University of Insubria he is responsible for courses in Comparative Public Law and Swiss Public Law within the Master’s degree in Law, as well as for modules offered in programs devoted to sustainable tourism development and, more recently, in interdisciplinary areas linking cultural, religious, and economic phenomena. Previously, at Bocconi University he taught extensively at both undergraduate and graduate levels in the fields of Italian and European constitutional law and public economic law.

He is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences, particularly on the American presidency, budgetary relations between branches of government, central bank independence, and models of judicial review. On several occasions he has also taken responsibility for the scientific organization of workshops and conferences, fostering networks among Italian and foreign scholars.

He participates in competitive research projects at both national and European levels and is involved in research groups focusing on religious pluralism, constitutional identity, and federalism. He is a member of the doctoral faculty board of his university and serves on the editorial board of Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo.

Overall, his academic profile combines thematic continuity with a strong comparative openness: budgetary decision-making, a traditional field of tension between politics and law, becomes the key to interpreting the evolution of contemporary democracies. This perspective, while grounded in rigorous legal analysis, seeks to keep scholarly debate in constant dialogue with institutional reality.