Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the

prime minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

from 1993 to 1994 and the

president of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian pol ...

from 1999 to 2006.

Biography

Education

Ciampi was born in Livorno (

Province of Livorno The province of Livorno or, traditionally, province of Leghorn ( it, provincia di Livorno) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city o ...

).Page at Senate website
. He received a B.A. in

ancient Greek literature Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic Greece, Archa ...

and

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

in 1941 from the

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. It was founded in 1810 wi ...

, one of the country's most prestigious universities, defending a thesis entitled '' Favorino d'

Arelate Arles (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...

e la consolazione Περὶ φυγῆς'' under the direction of the Hellenist

Augusto Mancini Augusto Mancini (2 March 1875 – 18 September 1957) was an Italian philologist, Hellenist and politician. Life Mancini was born in Livorno. In 1895 he graduated in letters from Pisa University in 1895 and began teaching at the Liceo Machiavel ...

. Then he was called to military duty in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

as a lieutenant. On 8 September 1943, on the date of the armistice with the Allies, he refused to remain in the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, and took refuge in

Abruzzo , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1 ...

, in

Scanno Scanno may refer to: * Scanno, Abruzzo, a ''comune'' in Italy * Lago di Scanno, a lake in Abruzzo * the equivalent of a typo, resulting from imperfect optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OC ...

. He subsequently managed to pass the lines and reach Bari, where he joined the Partito d'Azione (and thus the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

). In 1946 he married

Franca Pilla Franca Pilla (or Franca Ciampi; born 19 December 1920) was the first lady of Italy, when Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Life Pilla was born in Reggio Emilia on 19 December 1920. Pilla was in education when she w ...

. That same year, he obtained a B.A. in law from the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

and began working at the Banca d'Italia. He also joined the CGIL (Trade Union), which he left in 1980.

Bank of Italy

In 1960, he was called to work in the central administration of the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

, where he became Secretary General in 1973, Vice Director General in 1976, and Director General in 1978. In October 1979, he was nominated Governor of the Bank of Italy and President of the national Bureau de Change, positions he filled until 1993.

Political career

Ciampi was the first non-parliamentarian prime minister of Italy in more than 100 years. From April 1993 to May 1994 he oversaw a technical government. Later, as treasury minister from 1996 to May 1999 in the governments of Romano Prodi and

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also ser ...

, he was credited with adopting the euro currency. He personally chose the Italian design for the 1-euro coin, whereas all others were left to a television vote among some candidates the ministry had prepared (see also: Italian euro coins). Ciampi chose the

Vitruvian man The ''Vitruvian Man'' ( it, L'uomo vitruviano; ) is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to . Inspired by the writings by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two s ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially re ...

, on the symbolic grounds that it represented man as a measure of all things, and in particular of the coin: in this perspective, money was at the service of man, instead of its opposite. The design also fitted very well on the bimetallic material of the coin. According to the Italian weekly ''

Famiglia Cristiana ''Famiglia Cristiana'' (meaning ''The Christian family'' in English) is an Italian weekly magazine published in Alba, Italy. The magazine is a Catholic news magazine and has been in circulation since 1931. History and profile ''Famiglia Cristi ...

'', in 1993 Ciampi was a member of the regular

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

" of Livorno which was affiliated to the Grand Orient of Italy and linked the socalled Rito Filosofico Italiano.

President (1999–2006)

Ciampi was elected with a broad majority, and was the second president ever to be elected at the first ballot (when there is a requirement of a two-thirds majority) in a joint session of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

, the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

and representatives of the Regions. He usually refrained from intervening directly into the political debate while serving as president. However, he often addressed general issues, without mentioning their connection to the current political debate, in order to state his opinion without being too intrusive. His interventions frequently stressed the need for all parties to respect the constitution and observe the proprieties of political debate. He was generally held in high regard by all political forces represented in the parliament. The possibility of persuading Ciampi to stand for a second term as president by the election 2006 – the so-called ''Ciampi-bis'' – was widely discussed, despite his advancing age, but it was officially dismissed by Ciampi himself on 3 May 2006: "None of the past nine presidents of the Republic has been re-elected. I think this has become a meaningful rule. It is better not to infringe it". Ciampi, whose mandate was due to expired on the 18th, resigned on the 15th. His successor,

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...

took the oath on the same day. As head of state of the host country, he officially declared the 2006 Winter Olympics open, on 10 February 2006. As president, Ciampi was not considered to be close to the positions of the Vatican and the Catholic Church, in a sort of alternance after the devout Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. He often praised patriotism, not always a common feeling because of its abuse by the Italian Fascist regime.

Death

He died in Rome on 16 September 2016 at the age of 95.

Awards and honours

As President of the Italian Republic between 18 May 1999 and 15 May 2006, Ciampi held the roles of: *Head of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-rankin ...

*Chief of the Military Order of Italy *Head of the

Order of Merit for Labour The Order of Merit for Labour ( it, Ordine al Merito del Lavoro) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 1923 by King Vittorio Emanuele III. It is awarded to those "who have been singularly meritorious" in agriculture, industry and ...

*Head of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity *Head of the Order of Vittorio Veneto *Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

*Collar of the

Order of Pius IX The Order of Pope Pius IX ( it, Ordine di Pio IX), also referred as the Pian Order ( it, Ordine Piano), is a papal order of knighthood originally founded by Pope Pius IV in 1560. Currently, it is the highest honor conferred by the Holy See (being ...

(Papal Order) *1982: Great Cross of the

*1985: – Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(France) *1986: – Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany *1991: Honorary degree,

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it on ...

*1993: – Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

(Japan) *1995: Freeman of the City of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

*1999: – Collar of the Order of the White Rose (Finland) *2000:

Gold Medal of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe The Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe is a public-utility and independent institution, created in 1978 by Jean Monnet and Henri Rieben, and dedicated to the conservation of Monnet's archives. Based in Lausanne since its creation, the founda ...

*2000: – Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

(United Kingdom, 16 October 2000) *2000: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) *2001: – Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav *2001:

Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay The Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay is a distinction of Uruguay created by Law No. 16300 and awarded by the Presidency of the Republic at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to foreign personalities, by reason of the princip ...

. *2001: Grand Cross of the

Grand Order of King Tomislav The Grand Order of King Tomislav ( hr, Velered kralja Tomislava), or officially the Grand Order of King Tomislav with Sash and Great Morning Star (''Velered kralja Tomislava s lentom i Velikom Danicom''), is the highest state order of Croatia. It ...

("For outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and development co-operation between the Republic of Croatia and the Italian Republic." – Croatia, 19 October 2001) *2001: Honorary doctorate from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

Faculty of Economics *2002: – Grand Star of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria *2002: – Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the

Order of the White Double Cross The Order of the White Double Cross ( sk, Rad Bieleho dvojkríža) is the highest state decoration of the Slovak Republic. The Order was instituted on 1 March 1994 after Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993. It continues the Czechoslovak ...

(Slovakia) *2002: – Grand Collar of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of t ...

(Portugal, 22 February 2002) *2002: – Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic *2002: – Collar Pro Merito Melitensi of the

*2003: – Collar of the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five ...

*2003: – Honorary Recipient of the

Order of the Crown of the Realm The Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm ( ms, Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara) is a Malaysian federal award. It is ranked lower than the Order of the Royal Family of Malaysia. It should not be confused with the Order of Loyalty to th ...

(Malaysia) *2004: – Collar of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of t ...

(Estonia) *2004: – Commander Grand Cross with Chain of the

Order of Three Stars Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra", meaning "Thr ...

(Latvia) *(Malta, 19 May 2005) Honorary Member of the Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika *2005: Charlemagne Prize *2005: – Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles (Monaco, 13 December 2005)Nomination by Sovereign Ordonnanc
n° 331 13 December 2005
(French) *March 2005: honorary

Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a high ...

degree form the

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

* – Grand Cross of the

Order of the Southern Cross Emperor Pedro I of Brazil founded the National Order of the Southern Cross ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul) as a Brazilian order of chivalry on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate the independence of Brazil (7 September 182 ...

(Brazil) *2008: Honorary doctorate from the Economics Faculty of the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...

*15 June 2005: honorary doctorate by the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education sca ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciampi, Carlo Azeglio 1920 births 2016 deaths Action Party (Italy) politicians Central bankers Italian bankers Italian life senators Italian military personnel of World War II Italian resistance movement members Italian Roman Catholics People from Livorno Presidents of Italy Prime Ministers of Italy University of Pisa alumni 20th-century Italian politicians Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Knights of the Order of Pope Pius IX Knights of the Order of Vittorio Veneto Governors of the Bank of Italy Grand Collars of the Order of Prince Henry Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Crosses with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil) Recipients of the Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Recipients of the Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Recipients of the Military Order of Italy Recipients of the Order of Merit for Labour Recipients of the Order of Saint-Charles Recipients of the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay First Class of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)