Judiciary competition: three hundred positions announced, applications within thirty days

The Minister of Justice has announced a competitive examination for three hundred positions as ordinary magistrates. The decree, signed in Rome on November 5, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, 4th Special Series “Competitions and Exams”, no. 87 of November 10, 2026, with the official reference 26E06207. This is the most anticipated call for applications of the year for law graduates, providing direct access to the judicial function.

The measure follows the resolution of the Superior Council of the Magistracy of October 21, 2026, and is based on the new regulations for access to the judiciary dictated by Legislative Decree no. 160 of April 5, 2006, as well as the judicial organization of Royal Decree no. 12 of January 30, 1941. The text also refers to Law no. 114 of August 9, 2024, amending the penal code, the code of criminal procedure, and the judicial organization.

Application within thirty days, via Spid and fifty euros

The application for participation must be sent exclusively electronically within thirty days of publication in the Official Gazette, therefore by December 10, 2026. The operational procedures are:

• access to the Ministry of Justice website, www.giustizia.it, under the section Tools/Competitions, exams, selections and recruitment;
• authentication via second-level SPID, Electronic Identity Card, or National Services Card;
• completion of the FORM available from the day of publication of the call until the deadline;
• payment of the administrative fee of 50.00 euros via PagoPA, non-refundable.

The system notifies the candidate of the application and provides an identification code with a barcode, which must be printed and kept for the written tests. In the event of multiple submissions, only the last application transmitted will be considered valid; upon the expiration of the terms, the system will no longer allow access to the form.

Three written tests in June 2027 and a psycho-aptitude interview

The examination consists of a written test and an oral test. The written test will take place from June 21 to 25, 2027, and the relative schedule will be published in the Official Gazette, 4th Special Series, on April 9, 2027. It consists of three papers, to be submitted within eight hours of the dictation of the prompt:

• civil law;
• criminal law;
• administrative law.

Candidates who obtain no less than 12/20 in each written subject are admitted to the oral exam. The interview covers civil law and elements of Roman law, civil procedure, criminal law, criminal procedure, administrative, constitutional and tax law, commercial and insolvency law, labor and social security law, European Union law, public and private international law, and elements of legal informatics and the judicial system. An interview in English, French, Spanish, or German is also required, as well as a new addition: a psycho-aptitude interview aimed at verifying the absence of conditions of unsuitability for the judicial function, preceded by tests administered in a single mandatory collective session. Suitability requires at least 6/10 in each oral subject and an overall score of no less than 108 points.

Who can apply

The call for applications reserves access to several categories, without the possibility of accumulating the seniority provided for in the individual cases:

• administrative and accounting magistrates;
• State attorneys (Stato) without disciplinary sanctions;
• State employees with managerial status or area C with at least five years of seniority;
• tenured university staff teaching legal subjects;
• public employees, including those of local authorities, with managerial status or directive area and five years of seniority;
• those qualified to practice the legal profession, including those not registered in the bar association;
• those who have performed the functions of an honorary magistrate for at least six years without merit issues;
• law graduates with a university course lasting no less than four years.

Those who, by the deadline of the call, have been declared unsuitable in four competitions for admission to the judiciary are excluded.

Commission and appointment

The commission is appointed at least fifteen days before the start of the written exam by decree of the Minister of Justice, upon a conforming resolution of the Superior Council of the Judiciary: a magistrate with at least the sixth professional evaluation presides over it, twenty magistrates with at least the third evaluation, five tenured university professors, and three lawyers practicing before the higher courts. If the candidates who complete the written exam exceed two thousand, the commission is supplemented up to twenty-three magistrates, six professors, and four lawyers. Magistrates, lawyers, and professors who have taught in the competition preparation schools in the previous ten years cannot be part of it.

The ranking list is transmitted to the Superior Council of the Judiciary, which approves it and resolves the appointment of the winners within twenty days; the decrees are issued by the Minister within the following ten days and published in the Official Bulletin of the Ministry of Justice.

For thousands of law graduates, the call for applications represents the only gateway to the judiciary, according to the constitutional principle of access via competitive examination: the thirty-day timeframe and the written exam of June 2027 already establish a rigid calendar, while the publication of the notice in the Gazzetta Ufficiale will serve as notification for all intents and purposes.

Source: Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, 4th Special Series “Competitions and Exams”, no. 87 of November 10, 2026 — Ministry of Justice, decree of November 5, 2026, “Competitive examination for three hundred positions of ordinary magistrate”, ref. 26E06207.