Term of office, ballot, powers, residence What you need to know about the Italian president whose election starts this Monday in Italy
Other names circulating in the press include former Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi (85, right) and Giuliano Amato (83, centrist), European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni (67, left), and the former President of the Chamber of Deputies Pier Ferdinando Casini (66 years old, centrist).
Many also want a woman to reach the top office for the first time: in this case, the presidency could fall to the Minister of Justice Marta Cartabia (58 years old, centre-right) or to her predecessor Paola Severino (73 years old , center-right), without forgetting the president of the Senate Elisabetta Casellati (66 years old, right).
History of the election
The Italian republic has known twelve presidents. Only one of them, Giorgio Napolitano (2006-2015), obtained a second term.
Traditionally, this post does not go to a party leader but to a personality judged above the parties. Often, the personalities quoted before the election come out empty-handed and the post goes to a name that came out of the hat during the voting operations.
In 2013, Romano Prodi, although crowned with the prestige of his time as President of the European Commission and invested by the Democratic Party (PD, left), was betrayed by some of his supporters and Giorgio Napolitano was finally reappointed.
The Quirinal Palace
The seat of the Presidency of the Republic is the Quirinal Palace, the former residence of the popes and kings of Italy (from 1870 to 1946) perched at the top of the hill of the same name.
Built from 1573, the Quirinal, adorned with multiple works of art, is one of the most important Roman palaces: originally the summer residence of the popes, it became their main residence as temporal ruler, by opposition to the Vatican seat of their spiritual power: 30 popes in total have resided there, from Gregory XIII to Pius IX.
Under the yoke of Napoleonic troops, the Emperor had work done there to make it his Roman residence, but never set foot there. When the Republic was proclaimed, after the referendum putting an end to royalty in 1946, this sumptuous 110,500 m2 palace became the residence of the Head of State. Among the presidential palaces in the world, only that of the Turkish president in Ankara is more extensive.
