I rapporti personali nelle relazioni di coppia dopo la stagione delle riforme

The paper examines the theme of personal relationships in the light of new regulation for de facto cohabitations and for unions between persons of the same sex. The theme is framed primarily within the principles of subsidiarity and autonomy of family relationships, and brought back to the binomial freedom-responsibility. In particular, we highlight the greater extent of responsibility for married couples - whose essential core is identified in the mutual commitment of fidelity and collaboration – and, on the contrary, the central role that assumes the profile of freedom in de facto couples. As for the “unione civile”, we exclude that it may or should be reduced to an imitation of marriage - by imposing duties that the law did not intend to impose, such as fidelity and collaboration - and we highlight that they, if framed in contractual agreements, can perform a useful function in the mutual assistance and company.