diff --git a/harness/.pi/extensions/gate/__tests__/reserved_labels.test.js b/harness/.pi/extensions/gate/__tests__/reserved_labels.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8104943c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/harness/.pi/extensions/gate/__tests__/reserved_labels.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+const test = require("node:test");
+const assert = require("node:assert");
+const { isReserved, stripReserved } = require("../../reserved-labels.mjs");
+
+test("Altro variants (any punctuation/case) are reserved", () => {
+  assert.equal(isReserved("Altro — specifica…"), true);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("Altro - specificare"), true);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("altro"), true);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("ALTRO (specificare)"), true);
+});
+
+test("English Other variant is reserved", () => {
+  assert.equal(isReserved("Other — specify"), true);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("other"), true);
+});
+
+test("canonical quit/back labels stay reserved", () => {
+  assert.equal(isReserved("Esci da Pi (/quit)"), true);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("Torna indietro (fase precedente)"), true);
+});
+
+test("normal merit options are NOT reserved", () => {
+  assert.equal(isReserved("procedura"), false);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("patologia"), false);
+  assert.equal(isReserved("altrove"), false); // starts with "altro"? no — "altrove" -> normalized "altrove" starts with "altro" -> guard below
+});
+
+test("stripReserved drops every Altro/other variant, keeps merit order", () => {
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    stripReserved(["procedura", "Altro - specificare", "patologia", "other"]),
+    ["procedura", "patologia"],
+  );
+});
diff --git a/harness/.pi/extensions/reserved-labels.mjs b/harness/.pi/extensions/reserved-labels.mjs
index bbb97070..ad163669 100644
--- a/harness/.pi/extensions/reserved-labels.mjs
+++ b/harness/.pi/extensions/reserved-labels.mjs
@@ -10,15 +10,34 @@ export const QUIT_LABEL = "Esci da Pi (/quit)";
 export const BACK_LABEL = "Torna indietro (fase precedente)";
 export const CONTROL_LABELS = new Set([QUIT_LABEL, BACK_LABEL]);
 
-const RESERVED = new Set([ALTRO, QUIT_LABEL, BACK_LABEL]);
-
-// true se l'etichetta e' una di quelle che il gate aggiunge da se'.
-export function isReserved(label) {
-	return RESERVED.has(label);
+// Normalize a label to lowercase ASCII tokens: strip diacritics, turn every run
+// of punctuation/space into a single space, trim. "Altro — specifica…" -> "altro specifica".
+function normalize(label) {
+	return String(label)
+		.normalize("NFD")
+		.replace(/[̀-ͯ]/g, "")
+		.toLowerCase()
+		.replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/g, " ")
+		.trim();
 }
 
-// rimuove da una lista di etichette ogni voce riservata (Altro + controlli),
-// preservando ordine e voci normali. Idempotente.
+const NORM_QUIT = normalize(QUIT_LABEL);
+const NORM_BACK = normalize(BACK_LABEL);
+
+// true if the label is one the gate adds itself. Robust to the variants models
+// emit ("Altro - specificare", "altro", English "Other — specify"): reserved when
+// the FIRST normalized token is exactly "altro"/"other", or the whole normalized
+// label equals the canonical quit/back labels. First-token match keeps real
+// options like "altrove" out of the reserved set.
+export function isReserved(label) {
+	const n = normalize(label);
+	if (!n) return false;
+	const first = n.split(" ")[0];
+	return first === "altro" || first === "other" || n === NORM_QUIT || n === NORM_BACK;
+}
+
+// removes every reserved entry from a list of labels, preserving order and normal
+// entries. Idempotent.
 export function stripReserved(labels) {
 	return labels.filter((label) => !isReserved(label));
 }