Strikes, assemblies and blockades : the dynamics of repertoire change in grassroots climate action in Italy (2018-2023)

The years since 2018 have seen an unprecedented wave of mobilisation around climate change in Europe, particularly among young people. Within this context, the Italian case has been characterised by a sudden ex- plosion of participation, triggered by the first Global Climate Strike of 15 March 2019, followed by massive politicisation, with a generation of young people taking to the streets, often for the first time. Climate school strikes have been this movement’s main form of action, although other patterns have also emerged, based on civil disobedience and disruptive forms of action. Our article aims to reconstruct the trajectory of this wave of climate action in Italy, focusing on the evolution of the movement, and in particular of its constituent actors and their main tactics. Which forms of action has the climate movement adopted? How do climate activists evaluate and adjust their tactics according to the opportunities arising from the Italian political space? Our article aims to answer these questions by relying on a wide variety of data sources, including a protest event analysis and qualitative interviews with activists from three main organisations: Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, and Ultima Generazione.