Cosa c'è di 'europeo' nel diritto privato europeo?

This paper starts from the question “what is European in European Private Law”, and it argues that to answer it properly one should first better clarify what is meant by the formula “European private law”. Depending on its actual scope and content, the assessment of its “Europeanness” will change significantly. A basic distinction is introduced between the culture of European private law and its substantive content. After having discussed the problem of the existence of one or more European private law cultures, it critically reflects on the notion of European private law as a set of rules, principles and institutional settings deriving from various sources (EU, Council of Europe, national private law). It is argued that, at least on a comparative viewpoint, one of the striking features of EU private law is the way in which it re-embeds (in a Polanyian meaning) markets, by separating spheres of justice and non-economic institutions, and by preventing personal goods and values from being integrally commodified