Politics of Tuscany

The politics of Tuscany, a region of Italy, takes place in the framework of an "anomalous presidential" representative democracy or prime-ministerial system with an executive presidency, whereby the President of the Region is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council of Tuscany, while executive power is exercised by the Regional Government led by the President, who is directly elected by the people. The current Statute, which regulates the functioning of the regional institutions, has been in force since 2005.

Prior to the rise of Fascism, most of the deputies elected in Tuscany were part of the liberal establishment (see Historical Right, Historical Left and Liberals), which governed Italy for decades. Florence and the southern provinces of the region were anyway an early stronghold of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). At the 1924 general election, which opened the way to the Fascist authoritarian rule, Tuscany was one of the regions where the National Fascist Party (PNF) obtained more than 70% of the vote.Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009

After World War II, Tuscany became a stronghold of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which was especially strong in rural areas. The PCI and its successors have governed the region since 1970. The region is now a stronghold of the "centre-left coalition" led by the Democratic Party (PD), like the other regions of the so-called "Red belt".

The centre-left coalition has governed the region since 1995, under President Eugenio Giani since 2020.

Executive branch

The Regional Government (Giunta Regionale) is presided by the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione), who is elected for a five-year term, and is currently composed by nine members: the President and 8 regional ministers or assessors (Assessori), including a Vice President (Vice Presidente).

Current composition The current Regional Government was sworn in on 10 November 2025.

PartyMembersDemocratic PartyPDPresident and 5 ministersItalia VivaIV1 ministerGreens and Left AllianceAVS1 ministerFive Star MovementM5S1 minister Minister Party Delegate for Mia Diop PD Vice President, international cooperation and participation Filippo Boni PD Infrastructures, public transport, urban planning and urban regeneration Alessandra Nardini PD Education, immigration and public housing Monia Monni PD Healthcare and public services Leonardo Marras PD Economy and budget, tourism, agriculture Cristina Manetti IV Culture, university and research, gender equality Alberto Lenzi AVS Employment policies, technological innovation, cybersecurity David Barontini M5S Ecology and environment Bernard Dika PD Under-Secretary to the President

List of presidents

Legislative branch

The Regional Council of Tuscany is composed of 41 members.

Councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method. The Florence constituency is further divided into 4 sub-constituencies. Preferential voting is allowed: a maximum of two preferences can be expressed for candidates of the same party list and provided the two chosen candidates are of different gender. In this system parties are grouped in alliances, supporting a candidate for the post of President of Tuscany. The candidate receiving at least 40% of the votes is elected to the post and his/her list (or the coalition) is awarded a majority bonus in the Regional Council. If no candidate gets more than 40% of the votes, a run-off is held fourteen days after, with only the two top candidates from the first round allowed. The winning candidate is assured a majority in the Regional Council.

The Council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1999 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.

Current composition

Local government

Provinces

Tuscany is divided in ten provinces, which are a traditional form of local administration in the region.

The four main functions devolved to the provinces are: local planning and zoning; maintenance of public high school buildings; provision of local police and fire services; transportation regulation (car registration, maintenance of local roads, etc.).

From 1945 to 1995 presidents of the provinces were chosen by the members of the Provincial Councils, legislative bodies elected every five years by citizens. From 1995 to 2014, under provisions of the 1993 local administration reform, presidents of the provinces of Tuscany were chosen by popular election, originally every four, then every five years.

On 3 April 2014, the Chamber of Deputies gave its final approval to the Law n.56/2014 which involved the transformation of the Italian provinces into "institutional bodies of second level". According to the 2014 reform, now each province is headed by a President (or Commissioner) assisted by a legislative body, the Provincial Council, and an executive body, the Provincial Executive. President (Commissioner) and members of Council are elected together by mayors and city councillors of each municipality of the province respectively every four and two years. The Executive is chaired by the President (Commissioner) who appoint others members, called assessori. Since 2015, the President (Commissioner) and other members of the Council do not receive a salary.

Socialist and communist ideas had an early diffusion in quite all the provinces around World War I. After the Fascist parenthesis, left-wing parties found their strongholds in eastern rural provinces, especially Siena and Arezzo, while Christian Democracy used to be strong in the north-western part of the Region.

The Province of Florence is now one of the major national strongholds of Democratic Party. The Province of Siena is also called the "red province of Italy", because the Italian Communist Party has always governed it with the 60% of the votes since 1945 to the dissolution of the party in 1991.

Province Inhabitants President Party Election Metropolitan City of Florence991,862 Sara Funaro(metropolitan mayor)PD2024 Pisa414,154 Massimiliano AngoriPD2018 Lucca392,182 Marcello PierucciPD2024 Arezzo348,327 Alessandro PolcriInd. (Centre-right)2022 Livorno341,453 Sandra ScarpelliniPD2022 Pistoia292,108 Luca MarmoPD2019 Siena270,333 Agnese CarlettiPD2024 Prato248,174 Simone CalamaiPD2022 Grosseto227,063 Francesco LimatolaPD2021 Massa-Carrara203,642 Roberto ValettiniInd.2025

Municipalities Tuscany is also divided in 287 comuni (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government. 18 comuni (10 provincial capitals) have more than 45,000 inhabitants, a large majority of which are ruled by the centre-left coalition.

Provincial capitals Municipality Inhabitants Mayor Party Election Florence370,702 Sara FunaroPD2024 Prato187,994 Matteo BiffoniPD2026 Livorno161,084 Luca SalvettiPD2024 Arezzo100,140 Marcello ComanducciFdI2026 Pistoia90,226 Giovanni CapecchiEV2026 Pisa88,332 Michele ContiLega2023 Lucca84,928 Matteo PardiniInd (centre-right)2022 Grosseto82,284 Antonfrancesco Vivarelli ColonnaInd (centre-right)2021 Massa71,006 Francesco PersianiLega2023 Siena54,561 Nicoletta FabioInd (centre-right)2023

Other municipalities Cities with more than 45,000 inhabitants.

Municipality Inhabitants Mayor Party Election Carrara65,612 Serena ArrighiPD2022 Viareggio64,564 Giorgio Del GhingaroPD2020 Scandicci50,304 Claudia SereniPD2024 Sesto Fiorentino48,780 Lorenzo FalchiSI2021 Empoli47,997 Alessio MantellassiPD2024 Capannori46,355 Giordano Del ChiaroPD2024 Campi Bisenzio45,325 Andrea TagliaferriSI2023 Cascina45,143 Michelangelo BettiSI2020

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 12–13 October 2025, incumbent president Eugenio Giani of the Democratic Party (PD) was re-elected, by beating Alessandro Tomasi of the Brothers of Italy. The PD was by far the largest party with 34.4% of the vote.

Politics of Tuscany

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