President of Italy

President of the Italian Republic Presidente della Repubblica Italiana
Standard of the President
Incumbent Sergio Mattarella since 3 February 2015
Style	President (reference and spoken) His Excellency (diplomatic, outside Italy)
Residence	Quirinal Palace, Rome
Appointer	Italian Parliament & Regional Representatives
Term length	Seven years renewable optional
Inaugural holder	Enrico De Nicola First President of the Italian Republic under current constitution, 1948 Napoleon First to use the title President of the Italian Republic (1802–1805)
Formation	Constitution of Italy
Salary	230.000 €
Website	Il sito ufficiale della Presidenza della Repubblica

The President of the Italian Republic (Italian: Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy and, in that role, represents national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years. The 11th President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, was elected on 10 May 2006, and elected to a second term for the first time in Italian Republic history, on 20 April 2013. On 31 January 2015, the incumbent President, former Constitutional judge Sergio Mattarella, was elected at the fourth ballot with 665 votes out of 1,009.

The framers of the Constitution of Italy intended for the President to be an elder statesman of some stature. Article 84 states that any citizen who is fifty or older on election day and enjoys civil and political rights can be elected President.

Those citizens who already hold any other office are prohibited from becoming President unless they resign their previous office once they are elected.

The 1948 Italian Constitution does not have term limits although until 2013 no Italian President of the Republic had run for a second term of office. On 20 April 2013 Giorgio Napolitano, holder of the post since 2006, agreed to run for another term in an attempt to break the parliamentary deadlock in the 2013 presidential elections and was duly re-elected that same day. He made it clear, however, that he would not serve his full term, and retired in January 2015.

The President of the Republic is elected by an electoral college comprising the two chambers of Parliament—the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate—meeting in joint session, combined with 58 special electors appointed from the 20 regions of Italy. Three representatives come from each region, save for the Aosta Valley, which appoints one, so as to guarantee representation for all localities and minorities.