Italy has experienced many drought events both in the northern regions, characterized by humid climate and sufficient water resources, and in semiarid southern regions where the greater variability of the hydro-meteorological variables and the reduced amount of water resources lay the basis to more frequent conditions of water deficit. ; Only a reactive response to drought has been experienced in Italy. In particular, two main tools have been applied: emergency actions of the Department of Civil Protection and subsidies to farmers for covering agricultural damages due to drought, under the provisions of national acts on national disasters. Although these factors have produced a legislation which contains several ethical principles and innovative criteria aiming to improve the water supply conditions for different uses, to mitigate the impacts of hydrologic extremes, and to protect the quality of water bodies, the status of water management in Italy remains, in general terms, unsatisfactory.