We build an operational definition of public administration management capacity (PA-MANCAP) aiming at empirically testing the existence and size of an implementation gap of public management reforms in Italy. A confirmatory factor analysis is developed to assess the validity of the proposed operational measure. Data have been taken from a survey administered among 204 Italian local governments. The validity of the measure is assessed for all the dimensionalities that conceptualize PA-MANCAP except for the ICT dimension. Findings from a survey among 102 major Italian municipalities indicate a situation with lights and shadows over the implementation of public management reforms in Italy. The paper presents a valuable insight for both academics and practitioners in order to benchmark managerial capacity of different local governments and to develop further quantitative research about determinants of the implementation gap of public management reforms in Italy and abroad.