Senators for life in Italy
Senators for life in Italy (Italian: senatori a vita) are members of the Italian Senate who either are appointed by the President of the Italian Republic "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field" or are former presidents and thus senators for life ex officio. After the 2020 constitutional reform, in addition to former presidents, there can be up to five appointed senators for life at the same time.
Every President of the Italian Republic has made at least one appointment of a senator for life, with the exception of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (since in his term there were more than five). President Giorgio Napolitano appointed Professor Mario Monti on 9 November 2011 and conductor Claudio Abbado, researcher Elena Cattaneo, architect Renzo Piano and Nobel-laureate physicist Carlo Rubbia on 30 August 2013. The president who appointed the highest number of senators for life was Luigi Einaudi, who made eight appointments during his term.
Senators for life are the only senators who can decide not to be part of any political group.
Limitations
A limit of five senators for life, excluding former Presidents, is established by the Italian constitution, though there has been until 2020 a debate as to whether five is the maximum allowed total number of senators for life appointed by the President of the Republic, or each President has the right to name five senators for life. Until 1984 the former interpretation (backed by almost all scholars in consideration of the representative character of the Senate) was considered correct, but in that year President Sandro Pertini applied the latter interpretation of the Constitution, and since then no measures have been taken to clarify the situation, made even more important by the key role senators for life had during the second Prodi Government. They have the same powers as elected senators, including the right to vote and be elected to the Presidency of the Senate. In addition, their mandate does not end with the dissolution of a Senate, allowing them to sit in any elected Senate for their whole lifetime. In 1992, with the Presidency of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, the first interpretation was restored and followed by all the subsequent presidents, allowing for a maximum of five appointed senators in office at the same time; moreover, almost all scholars support the stricter interpretation. Eventually, the 2020 constitutional reform fixed the legal loophole and established an unambiguous limit of five appointed senators in total.
List of senators for life
Current senators are in bold.
| Senator | Known for | Date of appointment | Appointed by | Ceased to be a senator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrico De Nicola | President (1946–1948) | 12 May 1948 | ex officio | 1 October 1959 (died) |
| Guido Castelnuovo | Mathematician | 5 December 1949 | Luigi Einaudi | 27 April 1952 (died) |
| Arturo Toscanini | Conductor | 5 December 1949 | Luigi Einaudi | 7 December 1949 (resigned) |
| Pietro Canonica | Sculptor, painter and conductor | 1 December 1950 | Luigi Einaudi | 8 June 1959 (died) |
| Gaetano De Sanctis | Historian | 1 December 1950 | Luigi Einaudi | 9 April 1957 (died) |
| Pasquale Jannaccone | Economist | 1 December 1950 | Luigi Einaudi | 22 December 1959 (died) |
| Carlo Alberto Salustri | Poet | 1 December 1950 | Luigi Einaudi | 21 December 1950 (died) |
| Luigi Sturzo | Priest | 17 September 1952 | Luigi Einaudi | 8 August 1959 (died) |
| Umberto Zanotti Bianco | Archeologist | 17 September 1952 | Luigi Einaudi | 28 August 1963 (died) |
| Luigi Einaudi | President (1948–1955) | 11 May 1955 | ex officio | 30 October 1961 (died) |
| Giuseppe Paratore | Politician and attorney | 9 November 1957 | Giovanni Gronchi | 26 February 1967 (died) |
| Giovanni Gronchi | President (1955–1962) | 11 May 1962 | ex officio | 17 October 1978 (died) |
| Cesare Merzagora | Politician | 2 March 1963 | Antonio Segni | 1 May 1991 (died) |
| Ferruccio Parri | Prime Minister (1945) | 2 March 1963 | Antonio Segni | 8 December 1981 (died) |
| Meuccio Ruini | Politician | 2 March 1963 | Antonio Segni | 6 March 1970 (died) |
| Antonio Segni | President (1962–1964) | 6 December 1964 | ex officio | 1 December 1972 (died) |
| Vittorio Valletta | Industrialist | 28 November 1966 | Giuseppe Saragat | 10 August 1967 (died) |
| Eugenio Montale | Poet and prose writer | 13 June 1967 | Giuseppe Saragat | 12 September 1981 (died) |
| Giovanni Leone | Prime Minister (1963, 1968) President (1971–1978) |
27 August 1967 15 June 1978 |
Giuseppe Saragat ex officio |
23 December 1971 (elected for President) 9 November 2001 (died) |
| Pietro Nenni | Politician | 25 November 1970 | Giuseppe Saragat | 1 January 1980 (died) |
| Giuseppe Saragat | President (1964–1971) | 29 December 1971 | ex officio | 11 June 1988 (died) |
| Amintore Fanfani | Prime Minister (1954, 1958–1959, 1960–1963, 1982–1983, 1987) | 10 March 1972 | Giovanni Leone | 20 November 1999 (died) |
| Leo Valiani | Historian, politician and journalist | 12 January 1980 | Sandro Pertini | 18 September 1999 (died) |
| Eduardo De Filippo | Actor | 28 September 1981 | Sandro Pertini | 31 October 1984 (died) |
| Camilla Ravera | Politician | 8 January 1982 | Sandro Pertini | 14 April 1988 (died) |
| Carlo Bo | Poet | 18 July 1984 | Sandro Pertini | 21 July 2001 (died) |
| Norberto Bobbio | Philosopher | 18 July 1984 | Sandro Pertini | 9 January 2004 (died) |
| Sandro Pertini | President (1978–1985) | 29 June 1985 | ex officio | 24 February 1990 (died) |
| Giovanni Spadolini | Prime Minister (1981–1982) | 2 May 1991 | Francesco Cossiga | 4 August 1994 (died) |
| Giovanni Agnelli | Industrialist | 1 June 1991 | Francesco Cossiga | 24 January 2003 (died) |
| Giulio Andreotti | Prime Minister (1972–1973, 1976–1979, 1989–1992) | 1 June 1991 | Francesco Cossiga | 6 May 2013 (died) |
| Francesco De Martino | Politician | 1 June 1991 | Francesco Cossiga | 18 November 2002 (died) |
| Paolo Emilio Taviani | Politician | 1 June 1991 | Francesco Cossiga | 18 June 2001 (died) |
| Francesco Cossiga | President (1985–1992) | 28 April 1992 | ex officio | 17 August 2010 (died) |
| Oscar Luigi Scalfaro | President (1992–1999) | 16 May 1999 | ex officio | 29 January 2012 (died) |
| Rita Levi-Montalcini | Neurologist | 1 August 2001 | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | 30 December 2012 (died) |
| Emilio Colombo | Prime Minister (1970–1972) | 14 January 2003 | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | 24 June 2013 (died) |
| Mario Luzi | Poet | 14 October 2004 | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | 28 February 2005 (died) |
| Giorgio Napolitano | Politician President (2006–2015) |
23 September 2005 14 January 2015 |
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi ex officio |
15 May 2006 (elected for President) currently serving |
| Sergio Pininfarina | Designer and politician | 23 September 2005 | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | 3 July 2012 (died) |
| Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | Prime Minister (1993–1994) President (1999–2006) |
16 May 2006 | ex officio | 16 September 2016 (died) |
| Mario Monti | Economist and politician (Prime Minister 2011–2013) | 9 November 2011 | Giorgio Napolitano | currently serving |
| Claudio Abbado | Conductor | 30 August 2013 | Giorgio Napolitano | 20 January 2014 (died) |
| Elena Cattaneo | Scientist | 30 August 2013 | Giorgio Napolitano | currently serving |
| Renzo Piano | Architect | 30 August 2013 | Giorgio Napolitano | currently serving |
| Carlo Rubbia | Physicist | 30 August 2013 | Giorgio Napolitano | currently serving |
| Liliana Segre | Holocaust survivor | 19 January 2018 | Sergio Mattarella | currently serving |
Current senators for life
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External links
- Senato.it: Senatori a vita (in Italian)