Word.ws English Dictionary

podestà

podestà is the alternative form of podesta.

Meaning of podesta

Noun

podesta (plural podestas)

  1. (historical) A chief magistrate of various Italian republics and city-states in the Middle Ages.
    • Secular palaces, such as that of the Tolomei, were rented for municipal use, and officials such as the Podestà were found lodgings in others.2022, Jane Stevenson, Siena, Head of Zeus, p. 65
  2. (historical) A municipal administrator during the Italian Fascist regime (1927–43).
    • M.B. herself is tormented by anxiety […] for her husband, who, as Podestà of this town, is likely soon to get into trouble.1943, Iris Origo, War in Val d'Orcia, Pushkin Press, published 2017, page 131

See all 3 meanings of podesta

Questions about podestà

What is podestà the alternative form of?
Podestà is the alternative form of podesta.

Words near podestà in the dictionary

  1. podesta
  2. podestaressa
  3. podestas
  4. podestrian
  5. podestrians
  6. podestà
  7. Podeswa
  8. Podeswas
  9. podetia
  10. podetial
  11. podetiiform

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: podestà (page history and authors); podesta (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “podestà.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/podest%C3%A0. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.