Overview

• The June 18 Italian language test required students to complete seven traces divided into text analyses, argumentative essays and current affairs themes within a six-hour window.
• One current affairs prompt featured Paolo Borsellino’s 1992 Epoca essay “I giovani, la mia speranza,” in which the late magistrate expressed optimism that youth awareness could undercut mafia consent.
• Fiammetta Borsellino and other family members welcomed the choice as a tribute to Paolo Borsellino’s legacy and a way to deepen civic education in schools.
• Additional exam traces included a Pasolini poem, an excerpt from Tomasi di Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo, a reflection on respect, an analysis of social media indignation, a look at 1930s New Deal policies and an environmental essay by Telmo Pievani.
• Students across Italy shared varied reactions to the wide-ranging prompts, and they will return on June 19 for the second written test covering subject-specific disciplines.