L'eredità

Each episode features seven contestants, one being a returning champion, who compete to win a jackpot over the course of seven rounds. Only one contestant is allowed to answer a question at a time; if the contestant answers a question correctly, control is passed to the next contestant in a clockwise fashion. Each round continues until two questions are answered incorrectly by one contestant, after which the contestant who gave a second incorrect answer must challenge another contestant to an elimination duel known as the "Scalata Doppia" ("Double Climb"). For the duration of the duel, each contestant has 60 seconds to correctly identify as many words as possible from a standard list of definitions; the first letter of each word is automatically given (with one letter added to the word every two seconds until a correct response is given or until one letter remains), and the contestant in control can make as many guesses as possible (the round is played in a chess clock format). Correctly identifying a word freezes the contestant's timer and passes control to the other contestant. When a contestant has no time left on their clock, they are eliminated from the game and leave with no money; the eliminated contestant's money sum is transferred to the contestant who won the duel.

"Gli abbinamenti" (The Pairings, round 1)

In the first round of the game, each contestant is given a list of ten questions that must be answered correctly in 30 seconds. Each list of questions is themed (eg. the host, nowadays Flavio Insinna, begins a line of a song or poem and the contestant finishes it.) If the contestant in control answers the question correctly, they proceed to the next question; otherwise, if the answer is incorrect, the timer stops and the host gives the correct answer; then the contestant must repeat their list of questions until all 10 are answered correctly or until time expires.

Each contestant plays one list of questions, except for the returning champion. The champion chooses two players from among those who did not complete their list to play the first elimination duel. If there are fewer than two players who failed their list, the champion may choose any player to compete in the duel.

"L'una o l'altra" (One or the Other, round 2)

In this round, every contestant has to answer a question with two possible answers. If the player answers correctly, control passes to another player; a contestant who gives two incorrect answers is at risk of elimination.

"I Fantastici Quattro" (The Fantastic Four, round 3)

In this round, the host shows four years to the five contestants (from 1920 onwards), and they have to match an event to the correct year. The first contestant to give two incorrect answers is at risk of elimination.

"La parola" (The Word, round 4)

In this round, the four remaining players are offered two little-known words in the Italian language, along with a rotating cylinder containing nine definitions. One at a time, the contestants must determine whether or not the definition fits the assigned word. Each word is played until the correct definition is given; the player who completes the definition first automatically advances to the next round. Two such words are played in this round; the two players who did not solve any definitions must face off against each other in the elimination duel for the final spot in the next round.

"Il Triello" (round 5)

In this round, the three contestants have to answer seven questions in seven categories. Every question has a value between €10,000 and €30,000. The player has ten seconds to answer a question with four options. If he/she misses or runs out of time, the game passes to another contestant who, if he/she answers correctly, adds the amount of that question to his/her total. At the end of the game, the two contestants with the highest totals advance to the sixth round.[2] In the event of a tie for the last place at the end of this round, the two tied contestants have to face off against each other for the third spot in that round (with the time limit reduced to 30 seconds); a tie between all three competitors for first place must be broken by having two contestants face off against each other at a time, with the loser of the first duel facing off against the contestant who gave the last correct answer in the round during the second duel.

From the 2019–2020 season onwards, a mystery option associated with an unknown category was added (indicated onscreen by a question mark) where the competitor who chooses this option, once the matter has been disclosed, can decide whether to assign a value of €20,000 (two options), €40,000 (three options), or €60,000 (all four options) to the question. Only the contestant who selected the mystery category can play the question; if they answer correctly, they add the value to their jackpot, whereas if they answer incorrectly, the question is discarded, with the value of the question being equally divided between the other two challengers, thus €10,000 each if the question had two answers, €20,000 each if it had three and €30,000 if all four answers were shown.[2] Furthermore, the three competitors who qualify for the "Triello" acquire the right to return for the next episode, with the winner of the next round being immune from the first round of the next game.

"2 passi dalla Ghigliottina" (2 steps from the Guillotine, round 6)

In this round, introduced from the 2020-2021 season, replacing the Penalties, the three competitors remaining must face the penultimate game, which consists of two questions general knowledge (combined with two topics). The competitor who has accumulated the largest prize pool up to the 'Triello' tries to answer the first question (with 4 answer options); if he answers correctly, he goes to the second question and his prize pool remains unchanged for the moment, otherwise, he passes the game hand to another of the 3 "triellanti", who in turn tries to answer, and so on. The mechanism, therefore, is essentially the same as the Triello. Each time the game hand passes from one competitor to the other, the prize pools of the competitors are added together. The competitor who answers the second and last question correctly enters the final game by playing the accumulated prize pool. With this new mechanism, the maximum accumulated prize pool rises to 240,000 euros.

The final round, which was introduced in the 2005–06 season, was the idea of Stefano Santucci, the creator of the show. The contestant is presented with five pairs of words (one pair at a time), of which only one in each pair is the correct word. The jackpot is retained for every correct response and is halved for every incorrect response. Once all five pairs are played, the contestant is given 60 seconds to study the five correct words and then must write a word that bears a thematic connection to the other five words. If the word that was written is identical to the word on the host's card, the contestant wins all of the prize money they have retained; if the word does not match the one on the host's card, the contestant leaves empty-handed and returns to the next episode.[2]