The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, opened yesterday in Venice the fourth edition of the Festival L'Italia delle Regioni, scheduled until May 20. Promoted by the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, in collaboration with the Veneto Region, the Festival is dedicated this year to the theme "Discovering regional excellence: a journey between innovation and tradition". In his speech, Mattarella reiterated that "autonomy entails the recognition of certain competencies to be exercised within the limits established by the constitutional dictate and protected from encroachment by others". The Head of State stressed that a constant relationship between the different levels of government is indispensable to manage the intertwining of competencies, especially between the State and the Regions, while respecting the principle of loyal cooperation, repeatedly recalled by the Constitutional Court. An emblematic example is the health sector, where "the competition of State and Regions is essential to guarantee the right to health of citizens". Mattarella spoke of the need for unified strategies to bridge imbalances between regional health care systems, improve efficiency and ensure universal and uniform coverage throughout the country. Finally, the President called for enhancing Italian excellence with full awareness of strengths but also weaknesses to be addressed with "courageous reforms". Among the priorities, he pointed to digitization, justice, energy, sustainability and public works, recalling that all these areas are at the center of the interventions included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.