Editing Podestà (section)

{{Short description|Medieval Italian equivalent to mayor in some cities}}
{{For-multi|people with the surname|Podesta (surname)|the phantom island|Podesta (island)|other uses|Podesta (disambiguation)}}
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[[File:Palazzo del Podestà old.jpg|thumb|235px|The Palace of the {{Lang|it|Podestà|italic=no}} in [[Florence]], now the [[Bargello]] museum]]
'''{{lang|it|Podestà}}''' ({{IPA|it|podeˈsta|lang}}), also '''potestate''' or '''podesta''' in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of [[Central Italy|central]] and [[northern Italy]] during the [[Late Middle Ages]]. Sometimes, it meant the [[chief magistrate]] of a city-state, the counterpart to similar positions in other cities that went by other names, e.g. {{lang|it|rettori}} ('rectors').

In the following centuries up to 1918, the term was used to designate the head of the municipal administration, particularly in the Italian-speaking territories of the [[Austrian Empire]]. The title was taken up again during the [[Fascism|Fascist regime]] with the same meaning.

The {{lang|it|podestà}}'s office, its duration and the residence and the local jurisdiction were called {{lang|it|podesteria}}, especially during the Middle Ages, and in later centuries, more rarely during the Fascist regime.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Il Vocabolario Treccani|publisher=Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana|year=1992|language=it}}</ref>

Currently, {{lang|it|podestà}} is the title of [[mayor]]s in [[Italian language|Italian]]-speaking municipalities of [[Grisons|Graubünden]] in [[Switzerland]], but it is not the case for the [[Ticino|Canton of Ticino]], which uses the title {{lang|it|sindaco}} (the same currently in use throughout Italy).