The Italian vocabulary you’ll need to follow the presidential election

Confused by talk of ‘hills’ and ‘blank cards’ during Italy’s presidential election season? The Local’s vocabulary guide is here to help decipher it all............................................. A voter casts their ballot in Italy’s parliament during the first round of voting in the presidential election. Photo: Alessandra Tarantino / POOL / AFP Italian politics is hard to follow even for those with experience of the political system and fluency in the language. So if you’re new to the country and not a native speaker, political news reports can be truly baffling. But when it comes to major events, such as the presidential election taking place from January 24th, it becomes more important to be able to understand what’s going on. With the vote currently deadlocked, you’ve got time to learn a few key words and phrases. Here’s The Local’s guide to the language you’ll need to know when following the election news. Colle Literally meaning ‘hill’, the ‘Colle‘ (capitalised – pronounced ‘kol-leh’) that’s popped up in headlines throughout the election makes reference to one hill in particular – the one on which Italy’s presidential palace, the Quirinale, sits. In this context, however, the Colle doesn’t refer to the actual hill itself, or even the palace, but is used as shorthand for the office or position of president. You’ll read about the corsa al Colle (race to the presidency) or the tappe per arrivare al Colle (the stages to get to the presidency). With all the effort involved in selecting a new president, it’s perhaps no wonder that the primary metaphor employed by the media denotes an uphill struggle. Scheda bianca A scheda bianca (‘skay-dah bee-an-kah’) – literally a ‘white card’ or ‘white ballot’ – is, as you might guess, a blank ballot. Turning one in is the simplest way for electors to spoil their ballot, which is what more than half of the voters in Italy’s presidential elections have done in the second round.