List of presidents of Italy

(Redirected from List of Presidents of Italy)

The president of Italy (Italian: Presidente della Repubblica) is the head of state of the Italian Republic. Since 1948, there have been 12 presidents of Italy.

  • Top left: Enrico De Nicola was the first president of the Italian Republic.
  • Top right: Antonio Segni was the first president to resign from office.
  • Bottom left: Giorgio Napolitano was the first president to be re-elected.
  • Bottom right: Sergio Mattarella is the current president of the Italian Republic and the longest-serving president in Italian history.

The official residence of the president is the Quirinal Palace in Rome. Among the Italian presidents, three came from Campania (all from Naples), three from Piedmont, two each from Sardinia (both from Sassari) and from Tuscany, one from Liguria, and one from Sicily. No woman has ever held the office.

Election

The president of the Republic is elected by Parliament in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In addition, the 20 regions of Italy appoint 58 representatives as special electors. Three representatives come from each region, save for the small Aosta Valley which appoints one, so as to guarantee representation for all localities and minorities.

According to the Constitution, the election must be held in the form of secret ballot, with the 315 senators, the 630 deputies and the 58 regional representatives all voting. A two-thirds vote is required to elect on any of the first three rounds of balloting and after that a majority suffices. The election is presided over by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, who calls for the public counting of the votes. The vote is held in the Palazzo Montecitorio, home of the Chamber of Deputies, which is expanded and re-configured for the event.

The president assumes office after having taken an oath before Parliament and delivering a presidential address. Presidents are elected to serve a seven-year term. Giorgio Napolitano was the first president to be elected to a second term in 2013, followed by Sergio Mattarella in 2022.

Presidents of the Italian Republic (1948–present)

  PLI       DC       PSDI       PSI       DS       Independent
PortraitName
(Born–Died)
Term of officePartyElectionRef.
Took officeLeft office
Enrico De Nicola
(1877–1959)
1 January 1948[a]12 May 1948Italian Liberal Party1947[1]
132 days
Luigi Einaudi
(1874–1961)
12 May 194811 May 1955Italian Liberal Party1948[2]
6 years, 364 days
Giovanni Gronchi
(1887–1978)
11 May 195511 May 1962Christian Democracy1955[3]
7 years, 0 days
Antonio Segni
(1891–1972)
11 May 19626 December 1964[b]Christian Democracy1962[4]
2 years, 209 days
Giuseppe Saragat
(1898–1988)
29 December 196429 December 1971Italian Democratic Socialist Party1964[5]
7 years, 0 days
Giovanni Leone
(1908–2001)
29 December 197115 June 1978[c]Christian Democracy1971[6]
6 years, 168 days
Sandro Pertini
(1896–1990)
9 July 197829 June 1985[d]Italian Socialist Party1978[7]
6 years, 355 days
Francesco Cossiga
(1928–2010)
3 July 198528 April 1992[e]Christian Democracy1985[8]
6 years, 300 days
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
(1918–2012)
28 May 199215 May 1999[d]Christian Democracy[f]1992[9]
6 years, 352 days
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
(1920–2016)
18 May 199915 May 2006[d]Independent[g]1999[10]
6 years, 362 days
Giorgio Napolitano
(1925–2023)
15 May 200614 January 2015[h]Democrats of the Left /
Independent[i]
2006
2013
[11]
8 years, 244 days
Sergio Mattarella
(born 1941)
3 February 2015IncumbentIndependent[j]2015
2022
[12]
9 years, 104 days

Timeline

Sergio MattarellaGiorgio NapolitanoCarlo Azeglio CiampiOscar Luigi ScalfaroFrancesco CossigaSandro PertiniGiovanni LeoneGiuseppe SaragatAntonio SegniGiovanni GronchiLuigi EinaudiEnrico De Nicola

Substitute of the head of state

The Acting President of the Republic (Italian: Presidente supplente della Repubblica) is an office not explicitly provided for in the Italian Constitution, but deriving from the provision contained in the article 86.[13] On various occasions, officials had to intercede in the absence of a head of state (notably in the case of a president's resignation or ill health). Only Enrico De Nicola, who was elected to be provisional head of state by the Constitutional Assembly on 28 June 1946, had an official title and took residence in the Quirinal Palace.[14] The others took the powers, but not the title of Head of State. After the adoption of the Italian Constitution in 1948, the president of the Senate is eligible to take the powers of head of state in case of absence of the President of the Republic.

  DC       PLI       PRI       PPI       PD       Independent
PortraitName
(Born–Died)
Term of officePartyElectionRef.
Took officeLeft office
Alcide De Gasperi
(1881–1954)
13 June 19461 July 1946Christian Democracy[k]
18 days
Enrico De Nicola
(1877–1959)
1 July 194631 December 1947Italian Liberal Party1946
1947
[l]
1 year, 183 days
Cesare Merzagora
(1898–1991)
6 December 196429 December 1964Independent[m]
23 days
Amintore Fanfani
(1908–1999)
15 June 19789 July 1978Christian Democracy[n]
24 days
Francesco Cossiga
(1928–2010)
29 June 19853 July 1985Christian Democracy[o]
4 days
Giovanni Spadolini
(1925–1994)
28 April 199228 May 1992Italian Republican Party[p]
30 days
Nicola Mancino
(born 1931)
15 May 199918 May 1999Italian People's Party[q]
3 days
Pietro Grasso
(born 1944)
14 January 20153 February 2015Democratic Party[r]
20 days

See also

Notes

References

External links