Nicola Zingaretti
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Nicola Zingaretti (; born 11 October 1965) is an Italian politician who served as
President of Lazio {{Infobox Political post , post = President , body = Lazio , insignia = Flag of Lazio.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Flag of Lazio , imagesize = 165px , image = Francesco_Rocca_Meeting_ ...
and was Secretary of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
from March 2019 until March 2021. During the 1990s, he was a prominent European youth leader, serving as National Secretary of the Left Youth, the youth-wing of the
Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, ...
and as President of the
International Union of Socialist Youth The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) is an international organization, founded in 1907, whose activities include publications, support of member organizations and the organization of meetings. It was formed as the youth wing of the S ...
. In 2004, Zingaretti became a
Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
for the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree. From 2008 to 2012, he served as President of the
Province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. T ...
. Zingaretti is considered a
social democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
and one of the most prominent members of the party's left-wing. Moreover, he is the longest-serving President of Lazio as well as the first one to be re-elected after a first five-year term. He is the brother of the actor
Luca Zingaretti Luca Zingaretti (; born 11 November 1961) is an Italian actor and film director, known for playing Salvo Montalbano in the '' Inspector Montalbano'' mystery series based on the character and novels created by Andrea Camilleri. Zingaretti is a na ...
, who plays
Salvo Montalbano Inspector, the chief of a precinct or station of the Italian National Police, i.e. a . Salvo Montalbano is a fictional police chief who is a brilliant detective created by Italian writer Andrea Camilleri in a series of novels and short stories. ...
in the '' Inspector Montalbano'' television series.


Early life

Nicola Zingaretti was born in Rome in 1965, where he grew up in a middle-class family. Zingaretti's mother is an
Italian Jew Italian Jews ( it, Ebrei Italiani, he, יהודים איטלקים ''Yehudim Italkim'') or Roman Jews ( it, Ebrei Romani, he, יהודים רומים ''Yehudim Romim'') can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in I ...
, who on 16 October 1943 managed to escape from the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
with her mother, while her grandmother Ester Della Torre was deported to
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, where she died after a few days. He has one sister, Angela, and an older brother,
Luca The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; th ...
, who has become a well-known actor, famous for playing
Salvo Montalbano Inspector, the chief of a precinct or station of the Italian National Police, i.e. a . Salvo Montalbano is a fictional police chief who is a brilliant detective created by Italian writer Andrea Camilleri in a series of novels and short stories. ...
in the '' Inspector Montalbano'' mystery series. While attending a professional school for dental technicians, Zingaretti started his commitment to associations taking part in the
peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
s. Moreover, at 17 years old he was one of the founders of the
anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...
association "Black and not only" (''Nero e non-solo''), whose main aims were to promote liberal immigration politics and to create a multicultural and
multiethnic society The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
. He obtained a certificate as a
dental technician A dental technologist (dental laboratory technician) is a member of the dental team who, upon prescription from a dental clinician, constructs custom-made restorative and dental appliances. There are four major disciplines within dental technol ...
in 1984. He then attended the faculty of Letters at the
Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...
, but passed only three exams and never graduated. During these years he met his future wife Cristina, with whom he has two daughters.


Political career


Youth leader

Zingaretti started his political career within the ranks of the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...
(PCI), where, between 1985 and 1989, he was the City Secretary for Rome. In the same years he also served as member of the National Board of
Italian Communist Youth Federation The Italian Communist Youth Federation ( it, Federazione Giovanile Comunista Italiana, FGCI) was the youth wing of the Italian Communist Party (''Partito Comunista Italiano''; PCI), and the direct heir of the Federazione Giovanile Comunista d'Ita ...
(FGCI). Zingaretti later became a member of PCI's heir, the
Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, ...
(PDS). In 1991 he was elected National Secretary of Left Youth (''Sinistra Giovanile''), the youth wing of the PDS. In the following year he was elected to the Rome City Council. During these years, he became a strong advocate of
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
and
environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...
; he also promoted many events against the
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
and organized both the first "Antimafia Youth Camp" in
San Vito Lo Capo San Vito Lo Capo ( scn, Santu Vitu) is a town and ''comune'' in North-Western Sicily, Italy, administratively part of the province of Trapani. The small town is located in a valley between mountains, and is home to a public beach that is destin ...
and numerous initiatives in memory of
Giovanni Falcone Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
and
Paolo Borsellino Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying t ...
, the two anti-mafia magistrates who were assassinated in 1992. From 1995 to 1997, he was President of the
International Union of Socialist Youth The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) is an international organization, founded in 1907, whose activities include publications, support of member organizations and the organization of meetings. It was formed as the youth wing of the S ...
and Vice President of the
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
. In these years, he was committed in rebuilding links with the social democratic parties and other democratic and progressive youth organizations in
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. Following the signing of the
Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски мир ...
in 1996, he spoke to the
UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
for the World Youth Year, as a Representative on the UN Committee. In 1998, at thirty-three years old Zingaretti joined the Commission to draw up the socialist political platform for the new century, "Global Progress", chaired by
Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...
and composed, among others, by
Martine Aubry Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor of Lille (No ...
,
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
and
Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...
. He was also committed in promoting the peace process between Israel and
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, organizing many initiatives to support dialogue between young wings of the
Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The pa ...
and
Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...
. From 1998 to 2000, he served as international relations spokesman for the
Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
(DS), the heirs of the PDS, and in 1998 he organized the Congress of European Socialists, in
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. In 1999 he took part in the Democrats of the Left delegation, along with Secretary
Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serve ...
, which visited
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
in support of the
National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanm ...
and met the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
for 1991
Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...
. In the same year, he organized the journey of the
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
in Rome. In 2000, Zingaretti was elected Provincial Secretary of Democrats of the Left for Rome. In the following year he was one of the main promoters of
Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serve ...
's candidacy for
Mayor of Rome The mayor of Rome ( it, sindaco di Roma) is an elected politician who, along with the City Council of Rome, Rome City Council ( it, Assemblea Capitolina) of 48 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Rome. As Rome is a ''Comune, ...
, contributing to his victory. Zingaretti was among the protagonists of a season of important results for the
centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
and for the Democrats of the Left: in 2003, after eight years, the DS became again the largest party in the capital city, defeating the
centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...
in the whole province of Rome.


Member of the European Parliament

In March 2004, Zingaretti run in the European election for the list United in the Olive Tree. He gained more than 213,000 preferences and was elected
Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
. During the first meeting of the Italian delegation he was appointed President. He was also a member of the
Committee on Development The Committee on Development (Commission du développement, DEVE) is a committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with deve ...
and
Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, Israel and in the parliamentary intergroup "
Volunteering Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group wikt:gratis, freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. O ...
", "
Disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...
", "
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...
" and "
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
". From 2005 to 2007, he was rapporteur for the European Parliament on the directive
IPRED2 The European Union (EU) directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights (2005/0127/COD) was a proposal from the European Commission for a directive aimed "to supplement Directive 2004/48/EC of 29 ...
about criminal sanctions for the protection of intellectual property rights and succeeded in pushing through a bill which uniformed the criminal sanctions in all EU Member States. The directive opposes criminal penalties for counterfeiters who import illegal and dangerous goods from countries outside the EU. The approval of the directive had a recognition by the
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
and an MEP Award nomination, a prestigious honor that is given annually to the most deserving MEPs. On 18 November 2006, Zingaretti was elected Regional Secretary of the DS for Lazio. On 14 October 2007 was elected Regional Secretary of the new-formed
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
with 282,000 votes (85.31%). On 16 June 2008, he resigned as MEP to assume the office of President of the Province of Rome.


President of the Province of Rome

On 28 April 2008, Zingaretti was elected President of the
Province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. T ...
winning 51.48% of the vote. In 2010, Zingaretti refused to run as centre-left candidate in regional election and for this was heavily criticized by some members of his party, like the Mayor of
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...
. Few months later during the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the
Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...
on 25 April 2010, Zingaretti participated together with the new president of Lazio
Renata Polverini Renata Polverini (born 14 May 1962 in Rome) is an Italian politician and trade unionist. She was President of the Lazio region and was formerly Secretary General of the General Labour Union (UGL); she resigned on 24 September 2012 after an ex ...
at an event organized in Rome at
Porta San Paolo The Porta San Paolo (English: Saint Paul Gate) is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. The Via Ostiense Museum (') is housed within the gatehouse. It is in the Ostiense quarter; just to the west is the Roma ...
. However, objects, slogans and insults were thrown toward the stage, contesting Polverini and her political background in the right-wing and Zingaretti was hit in the face by a lemon. After a few minutes, Zingaretti and Polverini were forced to abandon the event. Zingaretti's administration promoted the "ProvinciaWiFi" project, which consisted in the installation in
square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...
s,
libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
and meeting places of the provincial territory,
WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...
devices for free access to the Internet. In 2011, he inaugurated ''Porta Futuro'', a center for orientation, training and work. Born in the wake of "Port 22" of
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, the new structure, located in the district of
Testaccio Testaccio is the 20th ''rione'' of Rome, identified by the initials R. XX, deriving its name from Monte Testaccio. It is located within the Municipio I. Its coat of arms depicts an ''amphora'', referencing to the broken vessels that Monte Test ...
in Rome, managed the empowerment of citizens and businesses of the province of Rome. His administration also promoted a law which legalized the
condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
distributors in schools of Rome; these bill created lot criticisms from the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. On 28 June 2012 at Casina Valadier in Rome, he announced his intention to run in the upcoming municipal election in Rome, to challenge the rightist outgoing mayor
Gianni Alemanno Giovanni "Gianni" Alemanno (born 3 March 1958) is an Italian politician who from April 2008 until June 2013 was Mayor of Rome for the centre-right People of Freedom. He was the Secretary of the National Movement for Sovereignty from 2017 to 201 ...
; this statement immediately found the opposition of many members of his own party. The official candidacy took place on 16 July during an event in Piazza San Cosimato in
Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th ''rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'. Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lio ...
district, during which he announced his candidacy as
Mayor of Rome The mayor of Rome ( it, sindaco di Roma) is an elected politician who, along with the City Council of Rome, Rome City Council ( it, Assemblea Capitolina) of 48 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Rome. As Rome is a ''Comune, ...
. However, on 24 September 2012, governor Renata Polverini, resigned after a controversy regarding the personal use of public money at the hand of some members of the coalition that supported her, so on 4 October, Zingaretti retired his candidacy as Mayor, announcing his will to run as President of
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. On 7 December 2012, Zingaretti resigned as President of the Province of Rome, putting an end to his administration 5 months before the natural deadline, to run in the 2013 regional election. The Prefectural Commissioner Umberto Postiglione replaced him in his office.


President of Lazio

In the February 2013 election he ran against the centre-right candidate
Francesco Storace Francesco Storace (born 25 January 1959 in Cassino, Lazio) is an Italian politician and journalist. Biography He began his career at the right-wing newspaper ''Il Secolo d'Italia'', until entering the ranks of the neo-fascist party Italian Socia ...
, leader of the national conservative party The Right and supported by
Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
, the
Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...
's Davide Barillari and the notable lawyer,
Giulia Bongiorno Giulia Bongiorno (born 22 March 1966) is an Italian lawyer and politician who served as the Italian Minister of Public Administration from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. A prominent criminal defense attorney, she has served in both houses of th ...
, who was the candidate of the centrist
Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his polit ...
. Zingaretti won the election, gaining 1,329,643 votes (40.7%), against 29.3% of Storace, 20.2% of Barillari and 4.7% of Bongiorno. The centre-left coalition gained 28 seats out of 51, winning a solid
parliamentary majority A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...
. Under his presidency, the Regional Council approved a reform concerning live entertainments and cultural promotion, established the "Cancer Registry" of the Lazio Region and established a regional fund in favor of people concerned by over-indebtedness or
usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
. He also promoted a new legislation on historic houses and natural parks and the regional law concerning the cultivation of
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...
for commercial, food and environmental purposes. The Council approved a new legislation on the so-called "ecomuseum", passed the bill for the establishment of regional civil service and approved the new law for urban regeneration and building recovery. On 4 March 2018, Zingaretti was narrowly re-elected president with 1,018,736 votes (32.9%), defeating the centre-right candidate
Stefano Parisi Stefano Parisi (Rome, 12 November 1956) is an Italian businessman and politician, General Secretary of Confindustria for 4 years and founder of Energies for Italy, a political party member of the centre-right coalition. Biography Origins and pers ...
(31.2%) and the Five Star's Roberta Lombardi (27%). Despite the small margin of victory, Zingaretti's win was seen as a strong showing due to the poor electoral result of the centre-left coalition in the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
which was held on the same day. After the election defeat, the Democratic leader,
Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...
, resigned from secretary, his deputy
Maurizio Martina Maurizio Martina (born 9 September 1978) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies, who served as secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) from March to November 2018, being appointed after the 2018 Italian general election. ...
started functioning as acting secretary and a new leadership election was called for early 2019. On 7 July 2018, Nicola Zingaretti announced his intention to run as new party's leader. In August 2018, Zingaretti launched a political convention in support of his candidacy, named '' Piazza Grande'' ("Great Square"), which was held in Rome in October. Zingaretti's campaign was based on a
social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
platform, whose aim was to abandon the
social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
and centrist policies promoted by Matteo Renzi and to move the Democratic Party more on the left. The campaign's main themes were
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
and fight to
economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
. In September 2018, the
Regional Council of Lazio The Regional Council of Lazio (''Consiglio Regionale del Lazio'') is the legislative assembly of Lazio. It was first elected in 1970, when the ordinary regions were instituted, on the basis of the Constitution of Italy of 1948. Composition Th ...
approved a law containing urgent
vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...
prevention measures that reintroduced the mandatory vaccination, keeping the number of mandatory vaccines to 12 and not allowing those who have not been vaccinated to attend school. This law was introduced by the government of
Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...
in early 2017 and treated to be abolish by Giulia Grillo, the new
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...
. On 1 December 2018, Zingaretti faced a motion of no confidence proposed by the
centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...
, which was rejected with votes 26 against and 22 in favor, with one no-vote from a
Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...
member and three absents.


Secretary of the Democratic Party

On 3 March 2019, Zingaretti won the Democratic leadership election by a landslide, receiving 66% of the over 1.5 million votes cast and defeating
Maurizio Martina Maurizio Martina (born 9 September 1978) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies, who served as secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) from March to November 2018, being appointed after the 2018 Italian general election. ...
and
Roberto Giachetti Roberto Giachetti (born 24 April 1961) is an Italian politician, member of Italia Viva and of the Transnational Radical Party. He has been a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies since 2001. Biography Roberto Giachetti was born in Rome in ...
. During his victory speech Zingaretti dedicated his victory to
Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
, a young Swedish activist against
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. He was officially appointed by the National Assembly on 17 March 2019. On the same day, former Prime Minister
Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...
was elected the party's new president. After a month, on 17 April, Zingaretti appointed
Andrea Orlando Andrea Orlando (born 8 February 1969) is an Italian politician who served as minister of labour and social policies from 2021 to 2022 in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. From 2013 to 2018 he served as minister of the environment ...
and
Paola De Micheli Paola De Micheli (born 1 September 1973) is an Italian manager and politician of the Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party (PD), who served as Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport in the ...
as his deputy secretaries. In the run-up to the
2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
Zingaretti presented a special logo including a large reference to "We Are Europeans", a political manifesto promoted by former minister
Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born 9 April 1973) is an Italian business executive and politician. On 10 May 2016, he was appointed Minister of Economic Development in the government of Matteo Renzi and continued in that role in the government of Renzi's success ...
, and the symbol of the PES. Additionally, he forged an alliance with Article One, the party founded in 2017 by splinters from the PD. In the election, the PD gained 22.7% of votes, arriving second after the
League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...
. In August 2019, tensions grew within the populist majority, due to
Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...
's motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...
. On 20 August, Conte resigned his post to President Mattarella and on the following day, the national direction of the PD officially opened to a cabinet with the
Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...
(M5S), based on pro-Europeanism,
green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politi ...
,
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
, fight against
economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
and a new immigration policy. On 28 August, Zingaretti announced at the
Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzian ...
his favorable position on keeping Giuseppe Conte at the head of the new government, and on same day, Mattarella summoned Conte to the Quirinal Palace for the 29 August to give him the task of forming a new cabinet. The
Conte II Cabinet The second Conte government was the 66th government of the Italian Republic and the second government led by Giuseppe Conte. The government was sworn in on 5 September 2019 to 13 February 2021. The government was supported by the anti-establish ...
took office on 5 September. On 18 September, Renzi, who had been one of the earliest supporters of a M5S–PD pact in August, left the PD and established a new centrist party named
Italia Viva Italia Viva (, IV) is a liberal political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party (PD). History Background Matteo Renzi started ...
(IV). 24 deputies and 13 senators (including Renzi) left. However, not all supporters of Renzi followed him in the split: while the
Always Forward Always Forward ( it, Sempre Avanti) was a liberal and centrist faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy. Its leaders were Roberto Giachetti and Anna Ascani, close advisors of Matteo Renzi, party's former national secr ...
and
Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
factions mostly followed him, most members of Reformist Base remained in the party. Other MPs and one MEP joined IV afterwards. From 15 to 17 November, the party held a three-days convention in
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, named ''Tutta un'altra storia'' ("A whole different story"), with the aim of presenting party's proposals for the 2020s decade. The convention was characterized by a strong leftward move, stressing a strong distance from liberal and centrist policies promoted under Renzi's leadership. Some newspapers, like ''
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
'', compared Zingaretti's new policies to the ones of
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
and
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
. On 17 November, the last day of the convention, the National Assembly of the PD approved the new party's statute, which provided among others, the separation between party's secretary and candidate for premiership. On 7 March 2020, he announced he had tested positive for
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
. On 4 March 2021, after weeks of political infighting within the party, Zingaretti announced his intention to resign as party secretary.


Political views

Zingaretti is widely considered a
social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
and progressive politician. He is a strong supporter of
European federalism The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Americ ...
, but he had often criticized
austerity measure Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
s adopted by European leaders during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. Zingaretti favours the recognition of
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
s for
same-sex couple A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...
s and stepchild adoptions, a situation which occurs when at least one parent has children, from a previous relationship, that are not genetically related to the other parent. He also supports
advance healthcare directive An advance healthcare directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no ...
and
legalization Legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently not legal. Legalization is a process often applied to what are regarded, by those working towards legalization, as victimless crimes, of which one ...
of cannabis. During his career, Zingaretti was a strong advocate in the fight against
economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
. For his leftist ideas, some journalists and political analysts compared him to
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
and
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
. Moreover, he is a supporter of
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
and green policies, as well as of a more effective fight against global warming.


Health

On 7 March 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when t ...
, Zingaretti tested positive for COVID-19 and was isolated along with his family. On 30 March, he announced he had fully recovered.Zingaretti annuncia, "sono guarito"
ANSA


Electoral history


Authored books

*


References


External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Zingaretti, Nicola 1965 births Living people Presidents of Lazio Presidents of the Province of Rome Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 Italian people of Jewish descent