Why Italy retained obsolete capital ships for treaty bargaining

Why did Italy keep obsolete capital ships in service instead of scrapping them before the treaty era?

Their tonnage strengthened Italy's bargaining position with France and supported claims for future replacement ships.

The aging ships offered little modern combat value, but they still counted toward Italy's apparent fleet strength. Retaining them preserved nominal capital-ship tonnage while Rome bargained against France under the treaty system. Scrapping them too early would reduce Italy's baseline and weaken its argument for replacement construction. Treaty-era navies could therefore keep obsolete hulls for diplomatic accounting rather than operational use.