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.

READ ALSO: Uncertainty as Italy’s presidential elections remain deadlocked after round two

A word you’ll often see crop up in conjunction with scheda bianca (or the plural schede bianche ‘skay-deh bee-an-keh’, spoiled ballots) is the verb bocciare, which in general means to reject or fail something, but in a political context means to vote down.

While an absolute majority of the voters in Italy’s presidential elections will ultimately have to reach a consensus in order for the role to be filled, in the initial stages it’s typical for the parties in Italy’s centre-left and centre-right coalitions to have their own preferred candidates, and bocciare the names put forward by the opposition.

Fumata nera

When the news outlet La Stampa wrote of a seconda fumata nera (‘second black smoke’) on Wednesday morning, it wasn’t sounding the alarm about a fire in parliament but announcing an inconclusive second round vote in the presidential elections.

Fumata nera (‘foo-mah-ta nair-ah’) refers to the black smoke released during a papal conclave to signal that no pope has yet been chosen (white smoke means the opposite).

The process by which Italy elects its presidents has been compared to a conclave, so it’s perhaps no surprise that this particular metaphor is applied here – though it can also be used to describe decisions that have yet to be taken in other political contexts, such as during a government crisis.

READ ALSO: Five things to know about Italy’s presidential elections

Toto-nomi

The prefix toto~ is used in Italy wherever speculation abounds: it comes from gambling, specifically the football pools, named Totalizzatore calcistico (‘Football Totalizator’) or Totocalcio for short.

It’s a word that’s crept into political newspeak, and is frequently used around election time by journalists making more or less informed guesses about an uncertain outcome. 

You’ll see toto~ in toto-poltrone (‘parliamentary seat sweep’), toto-ministri (‘minister sweep’, referring to who will make the cabinet in a newly elected government), or toto-colle (literally ‘hill sweep’, though as we know this really means ‘presidency sweep’).

Toto-nomi (‘toh-toh noh-mee’), or ‘name sweep’ – an adaptation of toto-nomine (‘nomination sweep’) – then, refers here to speculation about the most widely-tipped candidates for the office of president.

Ipotesi

An ipotesi (‘eep-ott-eh-zee’) is, as you might guess, a hypothesis or theory – and when used in newspaper headlines, it fulfils a similar role to toto~, allowing journalists to speculate as to what may have happened or be about to happen.

In the context of election news you’ll usually see ipotesi followed by the last name of a potential nominee, e.g. ‘l’ipotesi Berlusconi‘ or ‘l’ipotesi Draghi‘, along with some information about the likely success of that person’s candidacy.

‘L’ipotesi Draghi è morta‘ – the Draghi hypothesis is dead – announced the newspaper Il Foglio on Wednesday, while Il Fatto Quotidiano opined that ‘L’ipotesi Berlusconi al Colle meritava uno sdegno maggiore dal centrosinistra‘ – the hypothesis of Berlusconi as president deserved greater disdain from the centre-left’.

Rivincita

Rivincita (‘ree-vin-chee-tah’) is a word with multiple meanings, even within the world of politics. Broadly it refers either to revenge, or to a rematch or a comeback (vincita is ‘win’, so it makes sense that a rivincita, or re-win, refers to getting your own back or a return to form).

Multiple Italian news outlets on Wednesday reported on the ‘rivincita del peone’ – ‘revenge of the peon’ – referring to the numerous low-ranking Italian parliamentarians who had defied their party’s wishes by spoiling their ballots.

Others speculated that the elections would present opportunities for former prime minister Giuseppe Conte and former interior minister Matteo Salvini to separately pursue their own rivincite, or comebacks, by paving the way for their return to office.