List of Presidents of Italy

Italian Republic
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This is the list of the Presidents of the Italian Republic with the title Presidente della Repubblica since 1948. The Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Quirinale) in Rome is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic.

The twelve Presidents came from only six of the twenty Regions: three each from Campania (all born in Naples) and Piedmont, two each from Sardinia (both born in Sassari) and Tuscany, and one each from Liguria and Sicily.

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; 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 is the only president to be elected to a second term.

Presidents of the Italian Republic (1946–present)

Parties

Note: Traditionally, presidents have not been members of any political party during their tenure, in order to be considered above partisan interests. The parties shown are those to which the president belonged at the time they took office.

  Liberal Party   Christian Democracy   Democratic Socialist Party   Socialist Party

  Democrats of the Left   Independent

No. Portrait Name
(born–died)		 Birthplace Term of office Political Party
at time of election		 Election
1 Enrico De Nicola
(1877–1959)		 Naples 28 June 1946
as Provisional Head of State
1 January 1948 [1]		 12 May 1948 Italian Liberal Party 1946
After a popular referendum on 2 June 1946 repealed the monarchy, the Constituent Assembly elected De Nicola Provisional Head of State on 28 June 1946. On 25 June 1947, De Nicola resigned from the post, citing health reasons, but the Constituent Assembly immediately re-elected him the following day. After the Italian Constitution took effect, he was formally named the President of the Republic on 1 January 1948. He refused to be a candidate for the first constitutional election the following May.
2 Luigi Einaudi
(1874–1961)		 Carrù,
Cuneo		 12 May 1948 11 May 1955 Italian Liberal Party 1948
On 11 May 1948, Einaudi was elected the second President of Italy. Einaudi was a member of numerous cultural, economic and university institutions. He opened the exercise of the president's power to refer a law to the Chambers for review, doing so four times. He was also the first president to appoint a President of the Council of Ministers who had not been put forward by the majority party, in the case of Giuseppe Pella.
3 Giovanni Gronchi
(1887–1978)		 Pontedera,
Pisa		 11 May 1955 11 May 1962 Christian Democracy 1955
Gronchi's term in office was marked by his ambition to bring about a gradual "opening to the left", whereby the Italian Socialist Party and Italian Communist Party would be brought back into the national government, and Italy would abandon NATO. This was met by stiff parliamentary opposition. In an attempt to escape the deadlock, in 1959 Gronchi appointed as prime minister a trusted member of his own left-wing faction of Christian Democracy, Fernando Tambroni. However Tambroni found himself surviving in Parliament only due to votes from the Italian Social Movement. This unforeseen "opening to the right" had serious consequences. In 1960, there were riots, particularly at Genoa, Licata and Reggio Emilia, where the police killed five people, and Tambroni was forced to resign. This tarnished Gronchi's reputation, and for the remainder of his term he was a lame-duck President. In 1962, he attempted to get a second mandate, with the help of Enrico Mattei, but failed.
4 Antonio Segni
(1891–1972)		 Sassari 11 May 1962 6 December 1964[2] Christian Democracy 1962
Segni's two years at the Quirinale were marked by tensions with the bloc formed by Ugo La Malfa, the Italian Socialist Party and a faction of the Christian Democracy. They pushed for social and structural reforms, which were unpopular to the conservative Segni. He suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage while working at the presidential palace on 7 August 1964. In the interim, the President of the Senate Cesare Merzagora served as acting president. Segni was later accused of having tried to instigate a coup d'état (known as the Piano Solo) along with General Giovanni De Lorenzo. The plan included the identification of 731 politicians and trade unionists of the Italian left and their transfer to a NATO military base in Sardinia, the occupation of the state-owned broadcasting company RAI and the headquarters of left-wing newspapers, and the suppression of communist meetings.
5 Giuseppe Saragat
(1898–1988) 		Turin 29 December 1964 29 December 1971 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 1964
Saragat was the first Social Democrat leader to become President of Italy. His election was the result of a rare case of unity of the Italian left, threatened by rumors of a possible neo-fascist coup during the presidency of Antonio Segni. Saragat is considered the father of the Italian social-democratic doctrine. A reformist, he accepted Italy's adherence to the Western alliance (he was in favor of the Marshall Plan and the entrance of the country into NATO); Saragat was convinced that social democracy could succeed in Italy as it had in northern Europe, as moderates between conservatives and the far left. During his presidency, he tried to promote cooperation between the Christian Democrats and the Socialists and Communists.
6 Giovanni Leone
(1908–2001)		 Naples 29 December 1971 15 June 1978[3] Christian Democracy 1971
Leone was elected with the votes of a centre-right majority of the Parliament (518 of 996 votes, including those of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement). According to authoritative constitutionalists, his presidency was marked by independence from political parties and scrupulous respect of national institutions. During his presidency, he awarded the Order of Merit for Labour to Silvio Berlusconi, the future Prime Minister. On 15 June 1978, following his involvement in the Lockheed bribery scandal, Leone was forced to resign from his office.
7 Sandro Pertini
(1896–1990)		 Stella,
Savona		 9 July 1978 29 June 1985[4] Italian Socialist Party 1978
Pertini was the first member of the Italian Socialist Party to become president, and was a symbol of the unity for the country. His moral stature brought citizens closer to the institution of government at a time marked by criminal events such as the Years of Lead and the Bologna massacre. Pertini was the first President of the Republic to confer the task of forming a government to a person not from the Christian Democracy, but rather to the Republican Giovanni Spadolini, who started his cabinet on 28 June 1981. Pertini increasingly assumed an attitude of uncompromising complaint against organised crime by denouncing "the harmful activity against humanity" of the Mafia and warned never to confuse the phenomenon of crime Mafia, the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta, with the places and people where they are active. His death in Rome was viewed by many as a national tragedy, and he is seen as one of modern Italy's most accomplished politicians.
8 Francesco Cossiga
(1928–2010)		 Sassari 3 July 1985 28 April 1992[5] Christian Democracy 1985
Following his resignation as President of the Senate in 1985, Cossiga was elected President of Italy. During his term in office he expressed the views that the Italian parties, especially Christian Democracy (his own party) and the Italian Communist Party, had to come to terms with the deep changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. These statements, soon dubbed "esternazioni ", or "mattock blows" (picconate), were considered by many to be inappropriate for a president and, often, beyond his constitutional powers. Tension developed between Cossiga and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. This tension emerged when Andreotti revealed the existence of Gladio, an underground organisation intended to resist a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare, and Cossiga acknowledged his involvement in the establishment of the organisation. On 28 April 1992 Cossiga resigned, two months before the end of his term, under various criticisms by the parties, with the exception of the Italian Social Movement who remained by his side in defense of the "pickaxe".
9 Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
(1918–2012)		 Novara 28 May 1992 15 May 1999[4] Christian Democracy 1992
Scalfaro was elected after a two-week stalemate of unsuccessful attempts to reach agreement, prompted by the assassination of anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone. A staunch Roman Catholic, and in the past a rather conservative and anti-communist politician, Scalfaro nevertheless distrusted many members of Christian Democracy who changed support to Forza Italia, and was consistently on bad terms with its leader and Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Scalfaro had one of the most-controversial presidencies: although strongly supported by political parties to survive the Tangentopoli (kickbacks for public works) scandal, he led to strong opposition, faced with a decision in the 1993 "SISDE scandal" – which Scalfaro strongly denounced as a reprisal of the political class overwhelmed by Tangentopoli. Scalfaro was the last Christian Democrat to become president.
10 Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
(1920–2016)		 Livorno 18 May 1999 15 May 2006[4] Independent[6] 1999
Ciampi was elected with a broad majority, and was the second president to be elected at the first ballot. He usually refrained from intervening directly into the political debate while serving as president. However, he often addressed general issues, without mentioning their connection to the current political debate, in order to state his opinion without being intrusive. His interventions frequently stressed the need for all parties to respect the constitution and observe the proprieties of political debate. He was generally held in high regard by all political forces represented in parliament. As president, Ciampi was not considered to be close to the positions of the Vatican, in contrast to the devout Scalfaro. He often praised patriotism, not always a common feeling in Italy because of its abuse by the fascist regime; Ciampi, however, seemed to want to stress self-confidence rather than nationalism. Ciampi was encouraged by many to stand for a second term of office, but he refused on grounds of age. Both the centre-right and centre-left praised his work as a non-partisan institutional guarantor.
11 Giorgio Napolitano
(1925–)		 Naples 15 May 2006 14 January 2015[7] Democrats of the Left 2006
Independent 2013
Napolitano is the longest-serving President of the Italian Republic. He is also the first president to have formerly been a member of the Italian Communist Party. In November 2011, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned, having lost the trust of Parliament over increasingly dramatic financial and economic conditions. Napolitano appointed former EU commissioner Mario Monti as a technocratic PM, drawing unprecedented worldwide media exposure regarding his role as President. On 20 April 2013, Napolitano was re-elected, becoming the first president chosen for a second term. He appointed Enrico Letta with the task of forming a new government; at the end of April, Letta was sworn as Prime Minister. Letta resigned in February 2014 following tensions in the Democratic Party and Napolitano appointed Matteo Renzi, the Democratic Party secretary, as the new Prime Minister. Napolitano resigned on 14 January 2015, citing his age.
12 Sergio Mattarella
(1941–)		 Palermo 3 February 2015 Incumbent Independent[8] 2015
Mattarella was elected with a broad majority of 665 votes on the fourth ballot, with support of the Democratic Party, the New Centre-Right, Left Ecology Freedom and Civic Choice. Mattarella is the first president from Sicily; he is also the first judge of the Constitutional Court to become President of the Republic. On 6 May 2015 Mattarella signed the new Italian electoral law, known as Italicum, which provides for a two-round system based on party-list proportional representation, corrected by a majority bonus and a 3% election threshold. On 7 December 2016, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation, following the rejection of his proposals in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum. On 11 December, Mattarella appointed the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni as new head of the government.

Source: www.quirinale.it

Substitution of the Head of State

On various occasions, officials had to intercede in the absence of a Head of State (e.g. in the case of a president's resignation or ill health). Only Enrico De Nicola, who was elected as Provisional Head of State by the Constitutional Assembly on 28 June 1946, had an official title and took residence in the Quirinal Palace. 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.

The following persons served as substitute Head of State:

Timeline

Sergio Mattarella Giorgio Napolitano Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Francesco Cossiga Sandro Pertini Giovanni Leone Giuseppe Saragat Antonio Segni Giovanni Gronchi Luigi Einaudi Enrico De Nicola

Living former Presidents

There is one living former Italian President:

Living former Presidents
Giorgio Napolitano
(age 92)
served 2006–2015 

See also

References

  1. ↑ He did not want to be called President of the Republic, but only Temporary Chief of State, as he had been elected by the Constituent Assembly. Nevertheless, according to the Italian Constitution approved in 1947, he assumed the title of President on 1 January 1948.
  2. ↑ Resigned for illness.
  3. ↑ Resigned after a bribery scandal.
  4. 1 2 3 Resigned to speed the swearing-in ceremony of his successor, who had already been elected.
  5. ↑ Resigned.
  6. ↑ He had been a member of the Action Party, but the party ended its existence in 1947.
  7. ↑ Resigned saying that his age could permit no more to exercise properly all his duties.
  8. ↑ He had been a member of the Christian Democracy, of the Italian People's Party, of the Daisy and of the Democratic Party, but he quit political commitment when becoming a judge in 2009.
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