Podesta

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A mayor, alderman, or other magistrate, in some towns of Italy.

(2): ( n.) One of the chief magistrates of the Italian republics in the Middle Ages.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

The name given to the chief magistrate of an Italian town, with military as well as municipal authority; he was salaried, and annually elected to the office by the council, and had to give an account of his administration at the end of his term.