Italy's lower house is a powerful legislative engine with a surprisingly small seat count

Countries & Cities · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of a perfect bicameral system, where both chambers hold identical legislative power. Recently downsized from 630 to 400 members, this body operates with significant autonomy, often voting against party lines and maintaining extensive control over the government's legislative agenda.

The Chamber of Deputies, which meets at Rome's Palazzo Montecitorio, functions as one half of Italy's bicameral parliament. While the Senate is theoretically intended to represent the regions, in practice, the two houses are nearly indistinguishable in their legislative authority. The primary differences lie in the age requirements for voters and candidates: for the Chamber, these are 18 and 25 years old, respectively, compared to 25 and 40 for the Senate. Both houses must approve the exact same text for a bill to become law, often leading to a back-and-forth process of amendments.

A defining feature of the Italian system is the independence of its parliamentarians. Deputies enjoy immunity from arrest and criminal trial, and they are not legally obligated to follow party instructions. This autonomy, combined with standing committees that possess extensive powers to control the government and administration, means the executive branch often struggles to dictate the legislative agenda. Even the abolition of secret voting in the late 1980s did little to curb this independence, as deputies retain significant leverage over the legislative process.

The Chamber's composition has evolved significantly. Following a 2019 constitutional law and a 2020 referendum, the number of deputies was reduced from 630 to 400, a change implemented starting with the 19th Legislature. The current electoral system is a mixed-member majoritarian model, where 37% of seats are allocated via first-past-the-post voting and 63% through proportional representation. This structure reflects a long history of institutional shifts, from the Kingdom of Italy's original chamber to the temporary replacement by the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations during the Fascist regime, before the modern democratic assembly was established in 1948.

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