A chain through the text
Good Italian prose names something once and then picks it up again with varying means. This is called ripresa. The words standing in for the original are pro-forme. Word-for-word repetition sounds heavy in Italian much sooner than in English.
One news item, four references back
Il Comune ha approvato un nuovo piano per il traffico in centro.
The council has approved a new traffic plan for the city centre.
First mention.
Il provvedimento entrerà in vigore a marzo.
The measure comes into force in March.
Synonym from official vocabulary.
Tale decisione ha suscitato le proteste dei commercianti e dei residenti.
This decision has sparked protests from shopkeepers and residents.
Broader term with tale.
Questi ultimi, in particolare, temono un aumento del traffico nelle vie laterali.
The latter, in particular, fear more traffic in the side streets.
quest'ultimo points to the last thing mentioned.
The tools
Lexical
A synonym (il farmaco → il medicinale), a broader term (il Barolo → il vino) or an epithet (Milano → il capoluogo lombardo). Epithets are typical of newspapers.
Summarising noun
A noun sums up a whole sentence: I prezzi sono saliti del 10%. Questo aumento pesa sulle famiglie. The noun often adds a judgement: questa scelta, questo errore.
Pointing words
questo is neutral, tale elevated, detto and suddetto official. tale and detto take no article: tale questione, detto provvedimento.
Order
quest'ultimo refers to the last thing mentioned. With two items, il primo and il secondo sort them out, agreeing in gender and number.
Standing in for a verb
A whole action comes back with farlo, fare altrettanto or lo stesso vale per.
In context
Roma e Milano hanno scelto strade diverse: la prima punta sul turismo, la seconda sulla finanza.
Rome and Milan have taken different paths: the former is betting on tourism, the latter on finance.
Marco ha scritto a Luca, ma quest'ultimo non ha mai risposto.
Marco wrote to Luca, but Luca never replied.
With lui it would be unclear who is meant.
Avrebbe dovuto avvisarci, ma non l'ha fatto.
He should have warned us, but he didn't.
Giulia ha rinunciato al bonus e i colleghi hanno fatto altrettanto.
Giulia gave up her bonus and her colleagues did the same.
Gli affitti in centro sono raddoppiati. Lo stesso vale per i prezzi dei ristoranti.
City-centre rents have doubled. The same goes for restaurant prices.
English often gets by with a bare auxiliary (but he didn't, so did they). Italian has no such auxiliary echo and needs farlo or fare altrettanto.
When you do repeat
In contracts, instructions and technical texts, clarity matters more than variety. Once a term is fixed (il Conduttore, il campione), it stays the same. A synonym there would suggest something else is meant.
