Arturo Parisi (born 13 September 1940) is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party and a four-time member of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform ...

. He was also

minister of defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Romano Prodi Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...

from 2006 to 2008.

Biography

Parisi was born in San Mango Piemonte,

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

on 13 September 1940. He moved soon with his family to

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. A strong supporter of

, in 1995 he founded, with him, the

Olive Tree The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

coalition, and on 30 November 1999 he won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to replace him in the

. He also succeeded Prodi as president of The Democrats from 1999 to 2002, when the party was dissolved. He then became president of the Federal Assembly of the new Daisy party, and was re-elected to the Chamber in the 2001 general election. After being re-elected Deputy in the 2006 general election, he was appointed

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the cabinet of Prime Minister

, a position he retained until 2008 when the governing Union coalition crumbled and new elections were called. Meanwhile, Parisi joined the new Democratic Party, formed in 2007 from the merger of the Daisy and the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...

, as leader of the

Olivists The Olivists (''Ulivisti'') are a faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy. The group includes both Christian left politicians, social democrats and social liberals. They have been close supporters of Romano Prodi, he ...

' faction. On 22 April 2008 he was elected deputy for the fourth time. After the resignation of party secretary

Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist and politician. He served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the Italian centre-left opposition until his resignation on 17 February 2009. H ...

, the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Party convened on 21 February 2009 to elect a new leader. Parisi,

Enrico Morando Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from '' Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry ( English), Henri ( French), ...

and Stefano Ceccanti presented a motion asking for the immediate calling of

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

s open to all members of the party. The motion was rejected, so the Assembly itself had to vote for the new secretary. Parisi ran for the post against former deputy secretary Dario Franceschini but obtained 92 votes out of 1,258.

References

External links

Personal website
1940 births Living people People from the Province of Salerno Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Ministers of defence of Italy Nunziatella Military School alumni {{Sardinia-politician-stub