The mayor of Rome (Italian: sindaco di Roma) is an elected politician who, along with the Rome City Council (Italian: Assemblea Capitolina) of 48 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Rome. As Rome is a comune speciale since 2009, the office is different from the offices of the other Italian cities. The title is the equivalent of Lord Mayor in the meaning of an actual executive leader.
Current seat of the Mayor, Palazzo Senatorio on Capitoline Hill.
According to the City of Rome Statutes, the Mayor of Rome is a member of the Rome City Council (Italian: Assemblea Capitolina) ex-oficio as its overall head.
The Mayor is elected by the population of Rome. Citizens elect also the members of the City Council, which also controls the mayor's policy guidelines and is able to enforce the mayor's resignation by a motion of no confidence. The mayor is entitled to appoint and release the members of the Council, which are twelve (Italian: Assessori delle Giunta Capitolina) according to the Italian Constitution.
The seat of the City Council is the city hall Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill.
History
When the City of Rome was founded, it was initially ruled by Kings. After the last King was overthrown, it would be ruled by Consuls who were elected by the Assembly of the Centuries. The Assembly of the Centuries was an extremely oligarchic voting system, with voters organized into blocks based on wealth, and each block having but one vote to elect the Consuls.
There were two Consuls at a time, known as the Consul Priori and the Consul Posteriori, and they served a 1-year term. Technically the Consul Priori was in charge of the city as well as the larger Roman Republic, and the Consul Posteriori was his second-in-command, but in practice both Consuls shared power except in times of national emergency. (Said emergencies would lead to either Senatus Consultum Ultimum, or failing that the true last resort was a Dictatorship, to be held by the Consul Priori.)
Roman Emperors were essentially Mayors of Rome ex officio, although the Consuls continued to exist in a largely ceremonial role. The Assembly of the Centuries was abolished, and the power to elect Consuls was transferred to the Senate alone. Once the Western Roman Empire ended, Consuls retook charge of the city, even as Kings once again ruled larger territories that included Rome. By this time there were no longer two Consuls in Rome, but one, the position of Consul Posteriori having been ceded to the younger Eastern Roman Empire.
In 534, a man named Decius Paulinus served as the very last Consul of Rome. (The last Consul was Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, but he did not rule from Rome.) The Senate survived as a city council of sorts, until it passed its final acts and voted to disband in 603. All the while, law and order were largely kept by various foreign occupiers (and their appointed city-governors).
In 756, the Donation of Pepin made Rome the capital of a newly formed Federation of the Papal States. After this, the city would be directly ruled by the same Popes who also ruled the much larger Papal States territory. During the final third or so of its existence, the Papal States also had a Governor of Rome, appointed by the Pope to rule the city in his name, allowing the Pope himself to focus on national and ecclesial matters.
Having been the capital of the Papal States, Rome did not receive its modern Mayor until 1870, when it became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The new Mayor served as a member of the city council, and he was appointed every three years by the King of Italy. Then since 1889 the Mayor was elected every four years by the City Council. However, the fascist dictatorship abolished mayors and City councils in 1926, replacing them with a single authoritarian Rector (Podestà) chosen by the National Fascist Party. The rector of Rome was called "Governatore" (Governor).
After World War II, the Mayor was chosen by the City Council. In 1993, the election of the Mayor was transferred from the City Council to direct election by the people. In 2001, the schedule of such elections was changed from every 4 years to every 5 years.
List of Mayors of Rome
Papal States (1558–1870)
From 1558 to 1870, the Papal States created the office of Governatore (Governor), also called Vice Camerlengo, chosen by the Pope.
From 1870, when Rome was annexed, the Kingdom of Italy created the office of the Mayor of Rome (Sindaco di Roma), chosen by the City council. In 1926, the Fascist dictatorship abolished mayors and City councils, replacing them with a single authoritarianGovernatore (Governor) chosen by the National Fascist Party.
↑ Nominated by the Prefect after the Mayor lost the support of the majority of the City Council.
↑ Nominated by the Prefect after the Mayor and the members of the City Council resigned in order to hold a new election under the provision of the new local electoral law.
Direct election (since 1993)
Since 1993, under provisions of new local administration law, the Mayor of Rome is chosen by direct election, originally every four, and since 2001 every five years.
The office of the Deputy Mayor of Rome was officially created in 1993 with the adoption of the new local administration law. The Deputy Mayor is nominated and eventually dismissed by the Mayor.
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a governor may be either appointed or elected, and the governor's powers can vary significantly, depending on the public laws in place locally. The adjective pertaining to a governor is gubernatorial, from the Latin root gubernare.
Podestà, also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city-state, the counterpart to similar positions in other cities that went by other names, e.g. rettori ("rectors").
Between the Congress of Vienna (1815) and the capture of Rome (1870), the Papal State was subdivided geographically into 17 apostolic delegations for administrative purposes. These were instituted by Pope Pius VII in a motu proprio of 6 July 1816: "Quando per ammirabile disposizione".
The House of Erba-Odescalchi and the House of Odescalchi are branches of an Italian noble family formed by the union of the Erba and Odescalchi families. The Odescalchi family was, since the election of Benedetto Odescalchi as Pope Innocent XI in 1676, part of the highest Roman aristocracy.
The mayor of Milan is the first citizen and head of the municipal government of the city of Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
Carlo Odescalchi, was an Italian prince and priest, Archbishop of Ferrara, cardinal of the Catholic Church and Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome. For years a close collaborator of popes Pius VII and Gregory XVI, in 1838 he renounced his titles in order to become a Jesuit.
The Sacred Congregation of the Consulta or Sacra Consulta was a dicastery of the Roman Curia. It was set up as a 'special commission' by pope Paul IV in 1559 and officialised on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V in the papal bull Immensa Aeterni Dei. Sixtus named it the 'Congregation over the consultations of the ecclesiastical state' and established its composition of four cardinals, the Secretary of State as prefect and a suitable number of prelates, one of whom would act as secretary.
Antonio Rastrelli was an Italian politician and lawyer. He served as the President of Campania from 1995 until 1999.
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References
↑ President of the Government Council of Rome (Presidente della Giunta di Governo di Roma).
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