The modernization of the public sector has led to the introduction of managerial techniques and tools aimed at providing public managers with the elements to ensure that their decision-making processes are adequately informed, and this, allows them to take better choices oriented to the results and to the creation of public value. However, the reforms ongoing for the last three decades to streamline the public administration have not had the desired effects, because among the conditions of the effectiveness of these reforms there is the actual use of the performance information whilst those tools were often adopted for mere compliance to the requirements set by the law. This article aims to investigate the use of the performance information by managers and political representatives in the scope of Italian local authorities, and if this use was inadequate, to identify the reasons behind this failure to use. The study is configured as an action-research and is based on a qualitative analysis of four semi-structured interviews carried out in reference to distinct roles in the context of a medium-sized municipality.