Abstract
First of all, the essay delivers both an abstract and a case-law construction of section 688, par. 2, of the Italian Civil Code (ICC), on domestic substitutory provisions, which states, in a broad way, that if a testator provides in her will for a substitution for just one of the two situations when the appointed heir or legatee can't, or does not want to, receive her heirship or legacy, then the substitution is supposed to be applied to the other one too. All the above to prove that the presumption of said rule of law is not applicable, under the circumstances, to an English-styled will, drafted in Italian and subject to the Italian private law, which provides for a substitutory provision for the devisee untimely death. Secondly, the essay focuses on the interpretation of the ICC's provisions on the subjective field of application of the Italian legal instrument called rappresentazione, to display that they should be applied to all descendants of the appointed son, brother or sister who still can't, or does not want to, receive his/her heirship or legacy. That, despite an apparent reinforced judicial opinion of the Italian Supreme Court which affirms a strict construction of sections 468-469 ICC and accordingly limits the application of rappresentazione to the sole direct descendants of the aforementioned son, brother or sister. All the above, once again, to prove that eventually, under the circumstances, a niece, designated heir of the testator, could validly renounce to her heirship on behalf of her children, against, in addition to a trustee of a trust set up inter vivos by the testator herself (appointed as substitute if the niece should predecease), another heir of the de cuius, who claimed that niece's heirship should be his own too, in case of renunciation.