The
Italian Constitution originally provided that the President of the Republic may appoint up to five senators for life. This resulted in a debate whether five was intended to be the maximum overall number of senators for life (restrictive interpretation), or if each president had the ability to appoint up to five senators, regardless of how many had been appointed by their predecessors and were still living (extensive interpretation). The former interpretation enjoyed the support of a majority of scholars until 1984, when President
Sandro Pertini and his successor
Francesco Cossiga applied the latter interpretation. Subsequent presidents applied varying standards.
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro appointed none, in deference to the stricter reading, while both
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and
Giorgio Napolitano appointed five each. The
2020 constitutional reform ended the debate by establishing unambiguously a limit of five overall appointed senators. == List of senators for life ==