Italy Government

Italy is a democratic republic with a multi-party system. The popular monarch was abolished in 1946. Following this, a constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution that was promulgated in 1948. Italy has a president who is appointed by parliament in a joint session. According to Italy’s constitution, any citizen who is fifty can be elected as president. In turn, the president appoints the prime minister, who is the president of the council. He also directs the prime minister to appoint ministers that will form his/her government’s cabinet. Many of the president’s duties are what was previously performed by the King of Italy.

The President of Italy is elected for a term of seven years, with an option to run for a second term. This prevents a president from being re-elected by the same parliament, which is elected after every five years. While the constitution allows presidents to run for a second term, it is only one president who vied for re-election in 2006, resigning in 2015 before his term would end. Former presidents of the republic are appointed Senator for life.

The Italian Parliament is divided into two: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate is in a building called Palazzo Madama located in Rome. Construction on this building was completed in 1505. Named after Madama Margherita of Austria, this building has been home to Italy’s Senate since 1871. The Chamber of Deputies is located in Rome, in a building that is known as Palazzo Montecitorio.

Major political parties in Italy include the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, Forward Italy, and the Democratic and Progressive Movement.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Rome
Languages	Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Ethnic Groups	Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religion	Christian 80% (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants), Muslim (about 800,000 to 1 million), atheist and agnostic 20%
Government	Parliamentary republic
Independance	17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1871)
Area	301,340.00 km²
Water Area	7,200.00 km²
Land Area	294,140.00 km²
Population	62,007,540.00 Despite a distinctive pattern with an industrial north and an agrarian south, a fairly even population distribution exists throughout most of the country, with coastal areas, the Po River Valley, and urban centers (particularly Milan, Rome, and Naples), attracting larger and denser populations
Location	Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
No. Bordering Countries	6
Bordering Countries	Austria 404 km, France 476 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.4 km, San Marino 37 km, Slovenia 218 km, Switzerland 698 km
GDP(PPP)	$2,220,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$36,300.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are Germany, France, and the United States.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are engineering products, textiles and clothing, and production machinery.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are Germany, France, and China.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include engineering products, chemicals, and transport equipment.
Climate	Predominantly Mediterranean; alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Terrain	Mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Learn More	Italy

Italy Government

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