  The physics of the weak decay of hypernuclei is briefly reviewed from a
theoretical point of view. Special regard is devoted to the recent progress
concerning the determination of the non--mesonic decay widths and the asymmetry
parameters. While convincing evidence has been achieved for a solution of the
long-standing puzzle on the ratio Gamma_n/Gamma_p, the discrepancies between
theory and experiment on the decay asymmetries clearly highlight the exigence
of dedicating further efforts in exploring new aspects of the dynamics
underlying the non-mesonic weak decay.
