LE NUOVE FRONTIERE DELL'AMMINISTRAZIONE DI SOSTEGNO

The support administration today represents the main instrument for protecting people in vulnerable conditions, an expression of a profound cultural and legal shift based on the principles of dignity, self-determination, social inclusion, and substantive equality. Going beyond the traditional custodial logic of interdiction and disqualification, the institution introduced by Law No. 6/2004 is configured as a flexible and personalized measure, modeled on the beneficiary's concrete needs and oriented towards the minimum possible limitation of the ability to act. The paper analyzes the normative and interpretative evolution of support administration in light of the Constitution, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the ECHR, and the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, highlighting the transition from a pathological conception of the fragility to an existential and relational vision of the individual. From this perspective, the vulnerable individual is no longer considered a mere passive recipient of protection, but an active holder of fundamental rights, whose residual autonomy must be enhanced through support, support, and listening tools. Particular attention is paid to the principle of personalizing protective intervention, the centrality of listening to the beneficiary, and the role of the support administrator as a relational figure capable of interpreting the needs, aspirations, and existential plans of the person being cared for. The analysis also focuses on the innovative tools of the existential life project and the re-blooming pact, understood as models of cooperative and inclusive protection aimed at enhancing personal identity and existential well-being. Finally, the contribution highlights the institute's persistent interpretative and application challenges, especially with regard to the extension of protective measures to situations of fragility that are not strictly pathological, such as seniority, social marginalization, addictions, or prodigality. In conclusion, support administration is outlined as the epicenter of a new paradigm of human rights, based on “sartorial” protection, proportionate and respectful of human dignity, capable of combining protection, autonomy and social inclusion.