Barbara Degani (

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, 11 August 1966) is an Italian politician from

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. Born in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, Degani grew up in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, Veneto. She entered politics in 1994 by joining

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

. In 1996 she became head of the regional secretariat of the party under

Giorgio Carollo Giorgio Carollo (born 30 March 1944 in Vicenza) is an Italian politician. He is a Member of the European Parliament for North-East, elected with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Commit ...

. She was elected to the

Regional Council of Veneto The Regional Council of Veneto () is the parliament, legislative assembly of Veneto, Italy. The council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal (Venice), Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when Re ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. In 2009 she was elected President of the

Province of Padua The province of Padua () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua. Geography It has an area of 2,142 km2, and a total population of 936,492 (2016) making it the most populated provi ...

for

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

. Having joined the

New Centre-Right New Centre-Right (, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's reformation as Forza Italia (2013), Forza Italia (FI) ...

, she was appointed undersecretary of Environment in

Renzi Cabinet The Renzi government was the 63rd government of the Italian Republic, in office from February 2014 to December 2016. It was led by Matteo Renzi, secretary and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). The government was made of members ...

in 2014. As February 28, 2014 she is Secretary of the Environment, appointed in the

and confirmed in the

Gentiloni Cabinet The Gentiloni government was the 64th government of the Italy, Italian Republic, in office from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. The government was headed by Paolo Gentiloni, former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affair ...

. Degani is married to Raffaele Grazia, whom she met in the Regional Council as he was a councillor of Forza Italia too, before switching to Carollo's Veneto for the European People's Party and, finally, to the Union of the Centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Degani, Barbara Politicians from Padua 1966 births Living people Presidents of the Province of Padua University of Padua alumni Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Members of the Regional Council of Veneto 21st-century Italian women politicians