On 3 August 2010, the new version of the 'Italia.gov.it' portal was officially presented at a press conference as Italy's 'eGovernment search engine'.

The new portal was unveiled by Carlo Deadato, the head of the Cabinet of Renato Brunetta, the Minister for Public Administration and Innovation, as well as by Fabio Pistella, the Extraordinary Commissioner of DigitPA - the new Agency for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Public Administration -, Giorgio de Rita, General Director of DigitPA and Carlo Flamment, the President of FormezPA - a non-profit association tasked with supporting the modernisation, competitiveness, efficiency of the Italian public administration at all levels of government.

'Italia.gov.it' is a search engine and an intelligent directory of public websites which is able to facilitate and connect via the Internet thousands of digital services and information provided by the Public Administration. Thanks to management systems and the participation of 'digital clients', 'Italia.gov.it' will also allow the exchange of services through the web to manage and improve the ability of public authorities to use ICT.

The website is based on the experience of the 'Citizen Portal' (launched in 2002 by the Committee of Ministers for Information Society), a tool that is now outdated due to the advent of web 2.0 era as well as the complexity of public communication through the Internet. Initially designed as a place for collecting the information contained in institutional websites and aimed at families in priority, the previous version of the portal became no longer able neither to follow with timelessness and efficiency the information to be processed, nor to convey it in a consistent and reliable manner.

Over the last years the number of public administration websites, as well as their dimension, have increased at an impressive pace, so much that the daily monitoring of the information proved more and more complicated, both quantity and quality-wise. Moreover, in terms of complexity and economical and planning efforts, the investments of the Public Administrations in Information Society tools turned out to be comparable with those of the most advanced private sector; the information that is potentially usable through web research has fulfilled almost all the informational needs of any citizen.

The borders between services for citizens, businesses and professionals are more and more undefined. It is the case for instance when one searches for a unique certified email address or for the institutional address of a given public entity. 'Italia.gov.it' will thus act as the global eGovernment search engine and will provide web users with connections and search tools, for those to easily and securely obtain all desired information and digital services offered by the Public Administration.

The website undergoes constant updates at all levels (search tool, content, technology used, etc) thanks to an internal working group of the Public Administration. Apart from the departments of the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation, DigitPA, FormezPA and the National Research Council (CNR) are involved in this initiative.  

'Italia.gov.it' intends to be a dynamic place where the information is not processed by editors but retrieved straight from the source, by looking for the most appropriate solution and taking the user directly to the sites of the public authorities.