The Coronavirus outbreak shed light on major weaknesses that have been characterizing the Italian Long Term Care (LTC) for years. The research focuses on identifying which one were exacerbated in this time of crisis and so to support the understanding of the discontent that the sector has been experiencing over the past decade and future routes of innovation. The analysis is made of four parts: first, analyzing the main features of the Italian LTC sector before the Covid-19 outbreak to investigate the origins of the sector’s weaknesses; second, to deep dive on what happened in nursing homes at the peak of the emergence to investigate the role that the above-mentioned weaknesses played; third, analyzing regional policies for the LTC sector enacted in the hardest months for the country so to assess the institutional attitude towards the sector from the perspective of the public authorities in charge of regulating LTC, namely Regions; last, investigating care providers perspectives so to collect their original point of view concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the sector future.  Consistently, the research approach is based on data concerning: LTC services distribution in the country; the spread of the Coronavirus among elderly in Italy and in nursing homes; a mapping of norms enacted in 9 regions on LTC during phase 1 and phase 2 of the emergency; a survey with care providers concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the sector. The research wants to contribute by discussing the main managerial issues stakeholders and policy makers should work on to solve the sector’s major weaknesses and support the sector in the future. Some example of topics that are discussed are: providers’ economic and financial sustainability; the management of human resources; measures to ensure proper coordination among LTC and healthcare services, and among the public and private world; the mission the LTC sector should pursue, along with its services.

When are To be published on an annual report, forthcoming January 2021