ROME, March 22 - Italians began voting on Sunday in a referendum to confirm a contested judicial reform put forward by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a key test for her right-wing coalition ahead of a general election due next year.

Voters must decide whether to back constitutional changes to separate the career paths of judges and public prosecutors -- an issue that has long roiled domestic politics -- and split Italy's judicial self-governing body into two separate entities.