In Italy, an attempt at mediation is obligatory before legal action is taken in some areas of law (for example, inheritance matters). However, the creditor of a claim can apply for an order for payment even without an attempt at mediation. The objection may lead to an adversarial procedure which makes mediation mandatory in the areas of law mentioned above. Until now, some Italian courts of first instance and the third chamber of the Court of Cassation have considered that the debtor is obliged to initiate mediation. This question, which is relevant in practice, has now been decided by the United Senates of the Court of Cassation on 19.09.2020 (19596\2020): it is the creditor's responsibility to initiate the mediation procedure. If he remains inactive, the issued order to pay will be revoked.