An ancient, precise and detailed ceremonial. This is what governs the moments following the election of the new President of the Republic, partly regulated by the Constitution and partly the result of tradition.
A process that can take more or less days (Pertini and Saragat took office within 24 hours, Gronchi almost two weeks after the election).
According to rules and practices, it is formally the President of the Chamber, after reaching the fateful quorum in the classroom, to give the news to the new Head of State.
And always in the hands of the Speaker of the House, the new president must swear in Parliament before giving his inauguration speech.
To greet the announcement of the white smoke is also the ritual of the 21 cannon volleys fired from the Janiculum hill in Rome.
Among the first "tasks" of the new Head of State there is a visit to the Altare della Patria, to pay homage to the unknown soldier, while the skies of the capital are colored by the trails of the tricolor arrows.
From the Altare della Patria, then, tradition has it that the new president reaches the Quirinale (on the Lancia Flavia built by Pininfarina for Giovanni Gronchi in the 1960s) to receive military honors.
Once at the Colle, the new president gives his predecessor the honor of Knight of the Grand Cross and the same predecessor, who has automatically become a senator for life as former Head of State, moves to the offices of Palazzo Giustiniani.
Also at the Quirinale the new president receives, finally, the visit of the highest institutional and political offices. Then his term begins.
A long series of rituals that obviously start from the assumption that the incoming and outgoing president are two different people. But in the event that Parliament decides to confirm the outgoing president, the ceremonial necessarily changes and everything takes place much more quietly.
The precedent is that of Napolitano, reconfirmed in April 2013. In that case the inauguration speech turned into a harsh accusation against the "deaf and unable to collaborate in the interest of the country" parties. Quirinale, as well as the stop at the Vittoriano, took place without sirens or horns, in a silent and discreet way aboard a Lancia Thema.
(Unioneonline / lf)
