ROME — The Italian Senate voted to abolish the last reference to capital punishment in its constitution, one that allowed for its use in cases of martial law.

Yesterday’s vote of 231 for, 1 against, and 4 abstentions, comes a day after Prime Minister Prodi spoke before the U.N. General Assembly in favor of a worldwide ban on capital punishment. Though Italy bans the death penalty, as in the rest of the European Union, the constitution allowed for its possible use during wartime.

The decision “officially completes our country’s abolitionist course,” Amnesty Italia said in a statement. The decision also excludes any possibility of reintroducing the death penalty in Italy, Amnesty Italia said.

Mr. Prodi yesterday said the European Union’s initiative to ban the death penalty worldwide is a “difficult battle” because influential countries, including America and China, still use it. China last year carried out more than 5,000 executions, while America put 53 people to death, more than any other nation considered a liberal democracy, according to a report last month by lobbyist group Hands Off Cain.

Italy is staunchly against the use of capital punishment. Rome’s Coliseum has become a symbol for human rights and ending the practice worldwide. The 2,000-year old amphitheater originally used for gladiator fights is lit up whenever a country abolishes capital punishment or commutes a death sentence. The death penalty was abolished in Italy in 1948.