Carlo Ripa di Meana (15 August 1929 – 2 March 2018) was an Italian politician. He was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

, a European Commissioner with portfolio for the environment and was environment minister of Italy. He was the leader of the Italian Greens and president of the organization Italia Nostra.

Early life

Ripa di Meana was born on 15 August 1929 in

Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

, Tuscany. His father was Marquis Giulio Ripa di Meana, high official of the grenadiers, while his mother was Fulvia Schanzer, daughter of the senator and minister

Carlo Schanzer Carlo Schanzer (18 December 1865 – 23 October 1953) was a Vienna-born Italian jurist and politician. He held several cabinet posts from 1906 to 1922. Early life and education Schanzer was born in Vienna on 18 December 1865. His father was a Po ...

. He brought noble titles of noblemen of the Marquis of Giaglione, Marquis of Meana, lord of Alteretto and Losa, noble of the lords of the

Marquisate of Ceva The Marquisate of Ceva was a small independent state in north-western Italy, situated at the foot of the Apennines, with its seat at Ceva, in what is now a part of Piedmont. Establishment The marquisate was created in 1125 at the death of Bonifa ...

Career

In the period between 1953 and 1956, he directed in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, on behalf of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

(PCI), the International Student Union's newspaper, ''World Student News''. In Prague he also met

Bettino Craxi Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( ; ; ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician and statesman, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from 1 ...

. In 1957 he was made bookseller for Feltrinelli. In the 60s Ripa di Meana joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

and he came in its Central Committee. In 1970 regional election he was elected in the Regional Council of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. In 1971 he was among the hundreds of signatories of the open letter published in the weekly ''L'Espresso'' on the case of

Giuseppe Pinelli Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli (21 October 1928 – 15 December 1969) was an Italian railroad worker and anarchist, who died while being detained by the ''Polizia di Stato'' in 1969. Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named ...

, a railroad worker and anarchist who died while being detained by Italian police in 1969, in which police chief

Luigi Calabresi Luigi Calabresi (14 November 1937 – 17 May 1972) was an Italian ''Polizia di Stato'' officer in Milan. Responsible for investigating far-left political movements, Calabresi was assassinated in 1972 by members of ''Lotta Continua'', who blamed ...

was pointed out as responsible for his death. In 2007, in a public assembly, he asked "pardon of Mrs. Calabresi and her children", as a consequence of the subsequent murder of Calabresi in 1972. In the

1979 European Parliament election The 1979 European Parliament election was a series of parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the Eur ...

he was elected MEP. From 1973 to 1978 Ripa di Meana was also president of the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. From 1985 to 1992 he served as European Commissioner for the Environment and for the Culture in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and second Delors Commission, while in 1992 and 1993 he was

Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of a ...

in the Amato I Cabinet. From 1993 to 1996 Ripa di Meana was the Spokesperson of the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens (, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. The FdV was part of the Eur ...

, in the

1994 European Parliament election The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994. This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall numbe ...

he was again elected MEP, while in 2000 regional election he was elected in the Umbrian Regional Council. Since 2001 he had been President of the National Landscape Committee.

Personal life

Ripa di Meana was romantically linked to

Gae Aulenti Gaetana "Gae" Emilia Aulenti (; 4 December 1927 – 31 October 2012) was an Italian architect and designer. Aulenti began her career in the early 1950s, establishing herself as one of the few prominent female architects in post-war Italy. Alth ...

. In 1982 he married

Marina Punturieri Marina Ripa di Meana (born Maria Elide Punturieri and previously known as Marina Lante della Rovere; 21 October 1941 – 5 January 2018) was an Italian socialite, writer, actress, director, stylist, activist and television personality. Early l ...

, the former wife of Alessandro Lante della Rovere and mother of the actress

Lucrezia Lante della Rovere Lucrezia Lante della Rovere (; born 19 July 1966) is an Italian film, television and theatre actress, who made her debut in Mario Monicelli's ''Let's Hope It's a Girl, Speriamo che sia femmina'' (1986), where she acted along with Catherine Deneu ...

, in a civil ceremony at Campagnano di Roma. Witnesses were Antonio Giolitti, Bettino Craxi, Alberto Moravia and Goffredo Parise. In 2002 they followed with a religious ceremony at Monte Castello di Vibio, in Umbria. In 2010 the couple adopted a son, Andrea Cardella Ripa di Meana.

Death

Ripa di Meana died in Rome on the afternoon of 2 March 2018, two months after his wife Marina died after a long illness on 4 January 2018.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ripa Di Meana, Carlo 1929 births 2018 deaths Italian environmentalists MEPs for Italy 1994–1999 MEPs for Italy 1979–1984 Italian Communist Party politicians Italian Socialist Party politicians Federation of the Greens politicians Italian European commissioners Ministers of the environment of Italy European commissioners (1985–1988) People from Pietrasanta Italian untitled nobility