Antonio Decaro (born 17 July 1970) is an Italian politician and former Mayor of

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

Biography

Decaro graduated in engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bari. After a brief work experience as deputy head of the department of the Apulian Aqueduct, he was employed by

ANAS ''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was s ...

in 2000. In 2004 he was hired by mayor of

Michele Emiliano Michele Emiliano (born 23 July 1959) is an Italian politician and former judge. He is the incumbent president of Apulia Region since June 2015, and he previously served as mayor of Bari from 2004 to 2014. Emiliano has often been considered a pop ...

as Councilor for mobility and traffic, distinguishing himself for his environmentalism: Decaro has contributed to the implementation of initiatives and infrastructures that have marked the change in the mobility and traffic policies in

. His goal was to empty the city center of cars and redefine the spaces and lifestyle of citizens and commuters. In 2010 he was elected regional councilor in

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

as a member of the Democratic Party and was group leader of the party in the regional assembly from 2010 to 2013, when he was elected Deputy after the 2013 elections.

Mayor of Bari

In January 2014, he announced on his

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page his intention to run for mayor of

. In June, he is elected mayor, with the support of his predecessor

, the Democratic Party,

Left Ecology Freedom Left Ecology Freedom (, SEL) was a democratic socialist political party in Italy whose bulk was formed by former members of the Communist Refoundation Party. The party's leader was Nichi Vendola, a former President of Apulia. On 17 December 201 ...

Italy of Values Italy of Values (, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the party in 2014. IdV has ai ...

and the Democratic Centre. On 12 October 2016, Decaro was elected President of the National Association of Italian Comunes, the association of all the mayors of the country. On 26 May 2019, Decaro ran for re-election as mayor of Bari. He won handily with nearly two-thirds of the vote (66.27%) in the first round, thus avoiding a runoff. In 2020, in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

that ravaged Northern Italy, even though he is mayor of a Southern city, Decaro became a social media star and instant sensation overnight due to his strong-mannered rebukes of citizens who would not respect the stay-at-home rule. Decaro even had Facebook and Instagram fan pages read by women who immediately claimed to be attracted to him because of his online rants appealing to his constituents to comply with the rule became popular.

Member of the European Parliament

In 2024, with his second term as mayor coming to an end, Decaro ran for the European Parliament as number two candidate on the Democratic Party list in the Southern Italy constituency. He received 499,661 preference votes in the constituency, only second after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (555,720) and was thus elected. In his hometown of Bari, he received 59,339 preference votes - 40% of all votes cast in the city, and besting Meloni by almost 46,000 votes. On 23 July of the same year, he was elected Chairman of

European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 81 full members and is currently chaired by Antonio Decaro. Evolution During the 1990s its relatively low importance led to ...

Electoral history

References

External links

*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XVII
legislature. {{DEFAULTSORT:Decaro, Antonio 1970 births Living people People from Bari Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Politicians of Apulia Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Mayors of Bari Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs MEPs for Italy 2024–2029