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The COVID-19 crisis has challenged political and health institutions around the world. Political scientists have been particularly interested in, among several other interconnected issues, the pandemic’s relationship to populism. This trend article provides an up-to-date general classification of the current literature on COVID-19 and populism. In order to systematize the diverse approaches, it divides research into five macro-areas. Finally, it points out the methodologies employed by the literature, the results obtained so far, and the remaining challenges to be analyzed. One of the most significant conclusions is that the politicization of COVID-19 and the high levels of social and political polarization observed during the pandemic strongly affected the responses of different institutions, which led to significant consequences in terms of the relationships between levels of government.

The two general elections held in Italy in 2013 and 2018 were particularly significant: While the anti‑systemic Five Star Movement and the Lega were hugely successful, established parties such as Forza Italia and Partito Democratico fell behind . Numerous scholars regarded the election results as a signal of a radical turning point in Italian politics . However, such an interpretation seems to undervalue the persistence of a number of traditional features within the Italian political system . Taking into consideration the main systemic characteristics over the last 30 years, it is apparent that the rise of the Five Star Movement and the Lega did not radically modify Italian politics . Both parties are a consequence as well as a catalyst of the political crisis and of the Italian “infinite transition” that began in 1992 .

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