Annamaria Cancellieri (born 22 October 1943) is an Italian official and prefect who served as Minister of Interior in the

Monti Cabinet The Monti government was the sixty-first government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. This Government of Experts, Experts' cabinet was composed of independents, three of whom were women and was formed as an interim government. The ...

and

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the Letta Cabinet.

Early life and education

Cancellieri was born in Rome on 22 October 1943. She studied political science at the University of Rome.

Career

Cancellieri worked for the

ministry of interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

beginning in 1972. She then worked as a ''

Prefetto Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

'' (prefect) in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

and

Genova Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitants ...

. She retired from the provincial-level government representation. She was subsequently appointed special commissioner of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Bologna (in February 2010) and of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

(in October 2011), temporarily taking over from the

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

in the wake of political scandals. She was appointed minister of interior on 16 November 2011, and was one of the

technocrats Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

in the Monti cabinet. Her term in the Monti cabinet ended on 27 April 2013 when

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republ ...

announced that she would serve as justice minister in his cabinet. The following day her tenure as justice minister began and she replaced

Paola Severino Paola Severino (born 22 October 1948) is an Italian lawyer, academic and politician. She served as Minister of Justice in the Monti cabinet from November 2011 to April 2013, being the first woman appointed Minister of Justice in Italian history. ...

in the post. Andrea Orlando replaced her in the post in February 2014 when the Renzi cabinet was formed.

Italian court reform

In 2013, Cancellieri and Letta's government went ahead with Severino's (and Monti government's) reform of Italian courts initially planned in 2012. This overdue reform was deemed necessary by a number of people in order to streamline the functioning of some of the State's courts and was part of an effort by the Italian authorities to reduce the spending of public money. However, some harsh debate arose as cases occurred in which Cancellieri ordered to close efficient courts (e.g. the court of Bassano del Grappa, one of the quickest in Italy) merging them with slower, less efficient courts. The decree was also passed in contrast to the requests of various authorities of Bassano and Veneto, and even in contrast to the Italian Parliament's official stand. The closing of the court of Bassano was later confirmed by the

Constitutional Court of Italy The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic () is the highest court of Italy in matters of constitutional law. Sometimes, the name ''Consulta'' is used as a metonym for it, because its sessions are held in Palazzo della Consulta in Rome. ...

with the reason that "the courts of Bassano and Belluno could not be balanced within the same province..." despite the fact that Bassano and Belluno are not in the same province and the Court's judgement was thus based on a false premise.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cancellieri, Annamaria 1943 births Candidates for President of Italy Ministers of the interior of Italy Letta Cabinet Living people Politicians from Rome Sapienza University of Rome alumni Ministers of justice of Italy Women government ministers of Italy 21st-century Italian women politicians Female interior ministers Female justice ministers