The podestat (in Italian podestà ) is the first magistrate of the cities of the center and the north of Italy.

With the Middle Ages

The period of the communes

The podestat replaces the council of the consuls which controlled the medieval communes starting from the end of the 12th century. This load, contrary to the consul, was to be held by a person who did not belong to the city that it was to control in order to avoid his personal involvement in the controversies and to thus guarantee the impartiality in the application of the laws, one named it also podestat foreign. The podestat was elected by the principal assembly of the commune and its load lasted 6 months to one year.

In practice, the podestat exerted the executive powers, administrative, legal and of police force, becoming in fact the most important instrument of the application of the laws. With the years, the load became a true trade exerted by professionals who often changed work place and received regular wages. This continual change of personnel and experiment contributed so that the laws and their applications became homogeneous even between very distant cities but where very the podestats had controlled.

The historical testimony of the function is frequent as from the 12th century. It appears in particular with Padoue in 1175, with Pisa in the Années 1190, then this use spreads: there are of them traces with Florence, Modena, and even with Arles between 1220 and 1250 and with Avignon.

Perhaps it had capacities more extended in the big cities like Genoa, according to the various times of the République of Genoa. One would not have to limit its figure to the only big cities: for example with Voltri, in the periphery of Genoa, before this small commune is not agglomerated with the chief town, there were a podestariat and a capitanat.

The period of the lords

For the period of the lords, the podestat loses the major part of the political prerogatives becoming simply a high-ranking magistrate in responsibility of manage justice and to maintain the order public. It depends directly on the lord of the city and the prince of the state to which the city belongs. This evolution of the role of the podestat accentuates even more the professional aspect of the load, it moves city downtown followed by all the family, term which indicates the team of the podestat and which is composed of the vicar, of the judges of the penal one and of the civilian, of the agents of order maintains, of the servant. The podestat is named by the lord or by the prince and only after the choice is subjected in a formal way to the Town Council, the duration of the load being variable from one city to another, going from six months to two years and sometimes renewable by a second mandate.

podestat

Under the Italian fascistic mode

Under the Fascistic mode (law of the February 4th 1926, N. 237), the democratic bodies of the communes are suspended and all the functions occupied by the mayor, the commissions and the municipal council are transferred to a podestat named by royal for five years and revocable decree at any time. In the communes of more than: 5000 inhabitants, the podestat is assisted of one or two vice-podestat named in the same way and according to whether the population is lower or higher than: 100000 inhabitants. The podestat is also assisted of a municipal assembly ( consulted municipal ), which has a function of consultation and which is made up of at least six advisers named by the prefect.

A special organization is planned for the town of Rome whose administration is ensured by a governor.

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