In this paper we illustrate the main features of the Institutional Quality Index (IQI) first presented in Nifo and Vecchione (2014) for 2004 and then extended for the whole period 2004-2008. IQI allows to measure institutional quality in Italian provinces, confirming the North-South divide even under this peculiar perspective. The construction of IQI starts from elementary indexes which are grouped into five dimensions, called: i) Voice and accountability, ii) Government effectiveness, iii) Regulatory quality, iv) Rule of law, v) Control and corruption. Afterwards, normalization, attribution of weights and aggregation of sub-indexes lead to a single-value indicator for institutional quality.