Interest representation

The twenty-second entry is la petizione pubblica, and the noun matches the English one only where this list happens to stand. « Petition » does three jobs at once. It is the sheet with the signatures on it, which is what this page means. It is a verb, and a common one: to petition the government, to petition for a rehearing. And it is a document filed with a court — a divorce petition, a winding-up petition — which has nothing to do with signatures at all. Italian handed la petizione the first job and no other. It is the paper put before a parliament or an authority, and the constitution names the right to put it there, il diritto di petizione. No verb was ever built on it: petizionare does not exist, and one writes presentare una petizione or rivolgersi al parlamento. For the court paper Italian changes word altogether and says il ricorso or l’istanza, as in il ricorso per divorzio. And where formal English uses « petition » for a plain request, Italian says la richiesta and nothing grander.