The legal and political significance of human rights has increased enormously all over the world. The Italian Yearbook of Human Rights 2011 provides a dynamic picture of laws, institutions, policies and case law that have implemented international human rights norms in Italy over the past few years, particularly in 2010. The volume has four main sections, which concern respectively: Italy's adaptation to international human rights law; the human rights infrastructure both at national and sub-national levels; Italy in dialogue with the international machinery; and national, European and international case law.The Yearbook is the first volume in a series edited by the Centre for Human Rights and the Rights of Peoples of the University of Padua, in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights, Democracy and Peace at the same University. The Centre, founded in 1982 with the support of the Region of Veneto, carries out research and training programmes according to an interdisciplinary approach. It hosts the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on intercultural dialogue and human rights and edits the quarterly journal Pace diritti umani/Peace human rights. The Centre also works in cooperation with the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, as well as with civic organizations, schools and local authorities.The editors of the Italian Yearbook of Human Rights 2011 include Andrea Cofelice, Pietro De Perini, Paola Degani, Paolo De Stefani, Marco Mascia, Antonio Papisca (coordinator) and Claudia Pividori.