Nearly a hundred years ago, the concept of a regional state as an intermediate model between a unitarian and a federal state, was developed. This presentation aims at a critical analysis of the theoretical foundations of the regional state from the point of view of Gaspare Ambrosini and Juan Ferrando Badía in relation to the current changes occurring in Italy and Spain (among others, the project of broadening tax autonomy in the Italian regions of Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia- Romagna and in Spain in Catalonia and the Basque country). The presentation will be particularly focused on the drawbacks and advantages of the concept of a regional state.