The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Italy is a parliamentary, democratic Republic. UK has no written constitution: the Constitution is made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements: there is no single document that can be classed as the British Constitution.

The Italian Republic, on the contrary, has a written Constitution which is composed of 139 articles. In the UK the queen is the head of the states: she is a hereditary member of the Royal family but she has very few formal powers. The President of the Italian Republic represents the unity of the nation and has ceremonial duties. Both, the queen and our President, are the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Both English and Italian Parliaments have a Bicameral system. The English Parliament is divided into the House of Commons with 650 members and the House of Lords with 826 members. The Italian Parliament is divided into the Chamber of Deputies with 630 members and the Senate of the Republic with 315 members. The Italian Parliament is at the second place after the UK for its number of representatives in Europe. The big number of members cost a lot of money so, especially in Italy, there are several proposals to reduce the number of the members of the Parliament and even to eliminate the Senate of the Republic which means to cancel the Bicameral system. But, to do so, we have to change the written Constitution. In October in Italy there will be a referendum to ask Italian people if they want to change part of the Constitution.
In the UK as in Italy the Prime Minister is the head of government. In the UK and in Italy the members of Parliament are elected by people at a General Election. While the Prime Minister in the UK is appointed by the queen, in Italy he is appointed by the President of the Republic. Even if they have both an executive power, their duties are different. The Prime Minister in the UK is David Cameron, leader of the political party of the Tories (Conservatives). In Italy the Prime Minister is Matteo Renzi, leader of the Democratic Party. Both Prime Ministers are not very popular in the last surveys because of their political actions so they both have to convince their Countries that they can be good leaders also in the future.
At the beginning of March we went to Rome on a school trip and we visited Montecitorio, place where the members of Parliament regularly meet. It is a great historic building that overlooks the square Monte Citorio. When we entered we were patrolled through the Transatlantic, a luxurious hall named after its décor, reminiscent of those ocean liners. We were a little bit surprised by the lack of interest of some members during the vote. However, it has been a great experience.
Simona Cascone e Marika Tavella, III C/SU
Liceo classico, Linguistico e delle Scienze Umane “F. De Sanctis” - Trani