There are about ten exploratory mandates assigned by the Head of State to the President of the Senate or of the Chamber recorded in the history of the Republic.
The first to receive such a mandate was the President of the Senate Cesare Merzagora, called in 1957 by the President of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi after the fall of the government of Antonio Segni for the conflicts in the DC.
Merzagora was successful, with the birth of a centrist executive led by Adone Zoli.
On March 4, 1960 (once again a government led by Antonio Segni had fallen), Gronchi decided to entrust the task to the President of the Chamber, Giovanni Leone.
The crisis was overcome with the arrival of the government of Fernando Tambroni, one of the most controversial in republican history (it lived thanks to the votes of the neo-fascist right of the MSI).
In 1968, the president of Montecitorio Sandro Pertini, appointed by Giuseppe Saragat after the crisis of the center-left government led by Aldo Moro, took on the role of the explorer: Pertini concluded his mandate within 24 hours, with nothing done .
In 1982 it was the turn of the President of the Senate Tommaso Morlino, who was commissioned by Pertini, who had in the meantime arrived at the Quirinale.
The exploration of Morlino was also unsuccessful, then the political situation led to the government led by the republican Giovanni Spadolini.
On 4 July 1986, Amintore Fanfani, President of the Senate, was called to "explore" by President Francesco Cossiga.
The government was Bettino Craxi: five days later, after his exploration, Fanfani reported that a Craxi-bis government could be launched.
And so it was.
The first time of an "explorer" was on March 27, 1987: Cossiga called the President of the Chamber Nilde Iotti to Colle, who had to unravel a particularly tangled situation, from which he emerged with a Fanfani government that was not voted by the DC and led the country to early elections.
From 26 May to 11 June 1989, Giovanni Spadolini was called for an exploratory mandate, again by Cossiga: he completed it after two rounds of consultations.
The last government led by Giulio Andreotti VI was born.
In the second Republic, before dissolving the Chambers after the resignation of Romano Prodi in January 2008, the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano on January 30 entrusted Franco Marini to the President of the Senate, who remitted him on January 4.
The case of 2018 was particular. On April 18, President Mattarella gave a "limited" exploratory mandate to President Casellati, in the sense that he had to verify the possibility of an agreement solely between the center-right and the M5s.
The verification did not lead to a positive outcome, and so, once Casellati placed his mandate back on April 20 in the hands of the President of the Republic, he gave a new "limited" assignment on the 23rd to the President of the Chamber Roberto Fico, the one called to verify the practicability of an agreement between M5s and Pd.
This attempt was also unsuccessful.
