Siti contaminati e crisi della funzione amministrativa. Profili organizzativi, dinamiche di intervento pubblico e responsabilità.

This thesis investigates the administrative function in environmental protection through the lens of the organizational models governing the remediation of contaminated sites, with particular emphasis on the interplay between ordinary administrative structures and *extra ordinem* mechanisms. Adopting a systemic understanding of the environment, the research highlights how the complexity of environmental phenomena challenges traditional, sector-based administrative arrangements and calls into question their capacity to ensure effective protection. Against the backdrop of Constitutional Law No. 1 of 2022, which recognizes environmental protection as a fundamental principle, the study examines whether the ordinary administrative organization—articulated across multiple levels of government and involving technical-scientific bodies—is adequately equipped to pursue substantive objectives of prevention, restoration, and ecological regeneration. In parallel, it critically analyzes the growing reliance on extraordinary governance tools, such as commissioners, originally conceived as exceptional responses but increasingly normalized in practice. By focusing on contaminated site remediation, particularly with regard to soil as a key environmental matrix, the thesis explores the structural tensions between ordinary and extraordinary administrative action, assessing their respective roles, limits, and implications for accountability and effectiveness. The aim is to determine whether the recourse to *extra ordinem* models reflects a functional necessity or rather signals persistent shortcomings within the ordinary administrative framework, ultimately evaluating the capacity of public administration to deliver a coherent, proactive, and constitutionally oriented model of environmental protection.