[1][2] Its composition resulted from the snap election of 13–14 April 2008, called after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved the houses on 6 February 2008.

[3] The dissolution of the Parliament was a consequence of the defeat of the incumbent government led by Romano Prodi during a vote of confidence in the Senate.

[4] The legislature was dissolved by President Napolitano on 22 December 2012, a few months before the end of its natural five-year term.

At the start of the legislature there were seven life senators (Francesco Cossiga, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as former Presidents, as well as nominated life senators Giulio Andreotti, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Emilio Colombo and Sergio Pininfarina), making the total number of senators 322.

At the end of the legislature, after the deaths of Cossiga, Scalfaro, Levi-Montalcini and Pininfarina, and the nomination of a new life senator (Mario Monti) the total number of senators went down to 319.