The ongoing issuing of regulations in order to face the emergency stemming from the pandemic represents an interesting test to verify the integrity of our traditional system of protection of general interests. This system consists in the combination of general law, abstract and durable over time, on the one hand, and typical and punctual administrative provision, on the other. The orders of necessity and urgency are highly symbolic and emblematic, because they show a problematic relationship between law and power. The technique of using general principles (such as the principle of sincere cooperation, the principle of state supremacy, the principle of subsidiarity, the principle of reasonableness, the principle of proportionality, the precautionary principle and the principle of solidarity) must be refined in order to strike a balance between the rule and the exception. The excesses - of centralism, regionalism, authoritarianism and individualism - are always dangerous.