Cateno Roberto Salvatore De Luca (born 18 March 1972) is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Messina from 2018 to 2022 and the mayor of

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...

since 2023. He was also the mayor of Fiumedinisi, his hometown, from 2003 to 2011 and of Santa Teresa di Riva from 2012 to 2017. De Luca began his career at the age of 18 in

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

(DC), the ruling party of post-war Italy. He often changed political parties, and switched between the DC's successors and other

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

parties, such as the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD) and the Union of the Centre (UdC), and regionalist ones, such as the Movement for Autonomy (MpA) and True Sicily (VS), which he founded as a split from the MpA in 2007. He also switched political alliances, at times allying with the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...

and at other times supporting the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1995, when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left coalition has ruled the c ...

or neither of the two largest blocs. In 2022, De Luca founded his own national political party, South calls North (ScN), and was able to elect a deputy and senator to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

. He was a candidate for president of Sicily in 2012 and was the distant runner-up in 2022; that same year, he led ScN to become the largest party in

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

and the third-most voted party in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. Due to his overbearing personality, De Luca is often nicknamed ''Scateno'' () by the national and local press.

Early life and education

De Luca was born in Fiumedinisi, in the

province of Messina The province of Messina (; ) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , ...

, the third son of a

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

and mason family. As a teenager, De Luca raised rabbits and collected oregano, walnuts, and chestnuts and then sold them to the farmers of his hometown under the control of his mother. During the summer when in middle school, he worked as a bricklayer with his father. When in high school, De Luca worked in the bars of Fiumedinisi and in the winter attended a law firm in

that dealt with

labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...

and

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

. He opened the first patronage office in Fiumedinisi at 18 and inaugurated the first office of the National Autonomous Federation of Small Entrepreneurs (FENAPI) in Messina at 22. De Luca said that he bought his first car, a 1200-injected

Opel Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car manufactured and marketed by Opel since 1982 — as well as other brands, namely Vauxhall Motors, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Holden. At its height of popularity, the Corsa became the best-selling car in the ...

, from a car showroom in Messina with his own savings at the age of 18. He graduated in law at the

University of Messina The University of Messina (; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the world's first Jesuit college, and today it ...

Political career

Mayor of Fiumedinisi and Santa Teresa di Riva

De Luca's interest in Italian politics came from an early age; when he was 14, De Luca joined the youth section of

(DC), the ruling party of the

First Italian Republic The history of the Italian Republic concerns the events relating to the history of Italy that have occurred since 1946, when Italy became a republic after the 1946 Italian institutional referendum. The Italian republican history is generally div ...

, and shared manifestoes for the DC in his hometown. He began his official political career at the age of 18, when he was elected to the city council of his city, the youngest to do so. At the age of 22, he was appointed assessor to his own municipality. Within first the DC and then the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD) of

Pier Ferdinando Casini Pier Ferdinando Casini (; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician. He served as President of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006. Casini is the honorary president of the Centrist Democra ...

, he was politically trained under the wing of Salvatore D'Alia, a leading exponent of the DC/CCD in Sicily. After losing the 1998 Fiumedinisi municipal election, De Luca ran again for mayor in 2003, and this time he was successful. He was re-elected in 2008, and resigned as mayor of Fiumedinisi in 2011. In May 2012, De Luca ran for the office of mayor of Santa Teresa di Riva, winning in the first round with 51% of the votes; he resigned from the

Sicilian Regional Assembly The Sicilian Regional Assembly () is the legislative body of Sicily. While it has a long history as an autonomous entity, the modern Region of Sicily was established by Royal Decree on 15 May 1946, before the Italian Republic. The Regional Assem ...

(ARS) in July 2012 in order to "start my revolution in Sicily", enjoying the support of FENAPI, and remained in office until June 2017. As he was not able to run for re-election in Fiumedinisi, De Luca supported two candidates, Alessandro Rasconà and Francesco Sentineri. Both candidates were supported by two

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

s tied to De Luca, De Luca True Sicily and Fiumedinisi in the True Heart of Sicily, and Rasconà was elected with 63.42% of the votes. De Luca said: "True Sicily will present by the end of June

012 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive br ...

the political and economic program based on clear autonomist and separatist choices."

Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly

At the 2006 Sicilian regional election, De Luca was elected deputy to the ARS with the

Movement for the Autonomies Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

(MpA) of Raffaele Lombardo, with whom he would later come to have conflictual relations; he was re-elected with the MpA at the 2008 Sicilian regional election. As part of a split from the MpA, of which he was the vice-secretary, De Luca founded True Sicily (VS), a political-cultural association that later became a regional political party, in March 2007. In February 2008, he returned to the MpA and sat among its members in the ARS until 2010, when he became the group leader in the ARS of

Force of the South Force of the South (, FdS) was a liberal-conservative political party in Italy based in Sicily. In September 2010, after years of weighting, Gianfranco Micciché, long-time leader of Forza Italia and, later, The People of Freedom (PdL) in Sicil ...

(FdS), which was founded by Gianfranco Miccichè. During his time at the ARS, De Luca stood out due to his lashes at the majority deputies, painting them with catchphrases and insults; he told Francesco Cascio of

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 ...

(FI) that he was "a baronet, a regime politician who squanders public money", called Salvino Caputo of

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 ...

(PdL) "a street charlatan", and told to Micchichè, the then ARS president, that he had "legalized the absences of deputies" and to the then Sicily president

Salvatore Cuffaro Salvatore "Totò" Cuffaro (born 21 February 1958) is a former Italian politician and former President of Sicily. He has served an almost 5-year jail sentence for aiding Cosa Nostra. Among his slogans during his career at the ARS were "I Am a Free Hitter" and "Let's Demolish the Sicilian Region". From 21 June 2011 to 19 July 2011, De Luca was suspended from the position of regional deputy because he was placed under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

. The

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, who had asked for a sentence of five years, argued that, from 2004 to 2010, De Luca allegedly used public funds intended for the construction of containment works for a stream at risk of flooding to build a hotel in Fiumedinisi; meanwhile, De Luca and his lawyer, Carlo Taormina, had unsuccessfully argued for the trial venue to be moved from Messina to

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

. In November 2017, De Luca was acquitted of the charges of abuse of office and forgery, while the attempted extortion was time-barred; he felt vindicated by the acquittal, especially because he had been placed in the list of not-presentable

candidates by the Antimafia Commission, including by the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...

(M5S) presidential candidate Giancarlo Cancellieri, after his arrest. In December 2018, De Luca was definitively convicted in the accounting justice system but acquitted in the penal system, after Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation rejected his appeal, as part of the inqury about the expenses of the ARS. In April 2017, he had already been sentenced by the Court of Counts to pay a fine of €13,000, which he did, expecting that his appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation would be rejected. In December 2011, when he returned to the ARS six months, De Luca attacked the prosecutor who investigated him and made complaints against the Messina prosecutor's office. At the 2012 Sicilian regional election, De Luca was a candidate for president of Sicily and was supported by the Sicilian Revolution list; as he garnered 1.23% of the votes, De Luca was not re-elected to the ARS due to the 5%

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various w ...

, and was listed among the candidates that did not reach the threshold. He had called for the elimination of political discontent, the reduction of 50% of the costs of politics and bureaucracy, and the streamlining of the regional bureaucratic structure; despite his 2011 arrest, De Luca's 2012 electoral campaign had opened with a

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

-style convention at the Politeama Theatre in Palermo, and the walls of Sicilian cities were plastered with his 3x6s electoral manifestoes with slogans referencing his Scateno nickname like "I Revolutionize Sicily. I Unleash De Luca". De Luca also criticized the ARS and ''

comuni A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

''. He promised to "kick the ass of the idlers and professional sick people" of the Messina municipality. In support of the centre-right coalition candidate and eventual winner

Nello Musumeci Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci (born 21 January 1955) is a right-wing Italian politician. Musumeci is serving as Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies since 22 October 2022 in the government of Giorgia Meloni. He previously served as ...

, De Luca's True Sicily made an agreement with the Union of the Centre (UdC) for the 2017 Sicilian regional election, in which he was re-elected as a member of the ARS among the ranks of the UdC after garnering 5,418 preferential votes; he left the UdC group and joined the Mixed Group in the ARS on 20 December 2017. On 7 November 2017, De Luca apologized to his electors for not thanking them one by one, and wrote to his supporters: "They will acquit me in this too, I am a specialist in acquittals." He wrote on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

: "I will try to thank all of you one by one for the result we have achieved. For now I am not answering anyone either on the phone or by message because I am concentrated with my lawyers as on 9 November I have the last hearing of the last trial which concerns my judicial ordeal which has lasted since 27 June 2011 with 14 criminal proceedings already closed in my favour. I apologize." On 8 November 2017, after being acquitted from the 2011 charges, De Luca was charged for

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

(€1,750,000), and was again placed under house arrest; this was subsequently revoked and replaced by an interdictive measure of the prohibition to hold top positions in the bodies involved in the investigation. To his supporters, De Luca spoke of a conspiracy against him, stating: "They are afraid that I will become mayor of Messina, as I publicly announced I wanted to be last January

017 017 may refer to: * DOL-017, GameCube console * '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album * Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event * Swift 017.n, racing car * Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car See also * 17 (disambiguation) Seventeen o ...

and so they found a way to stop me." In 2022, De Luca was acquitted of the tax evasion charge in both the first-instance trial and on appeal.

Mayor of Messina

In April 2017, De Luca announced his candidacy for mayor of Messina, with the support of six

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

civic lists. In the 2018 Italian local elections, De Luca was elected mayor of Messina. In the first round, he came second with 19.81%. Although none of the lists that supported him received any seats, he won the election runoff on 24 June 2018 with 65.28% of the votes, beating the centre-right coalition candidate Dino Bramanti. He also automatically became mayor of the

Metropolitan City of Messina The Metropolitan City of Messina () is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina. It replaced the province of Messina and comprises Messina and 107 other ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). It has 595,948 inhabitants as o ...

, which was established after the introduction of the metropolitan cities of Italy by the

Renzi government The Renzi government was the 63rd government of the Italy, 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 (Italy), Democratic Party (PD). The ...

in 2015. In October 2018, De Luca resigned as regional deputy to maintain the position of mayor of Messina; it was the third time that he did not finish the regional legislature. His seat was assigned on the same day to Danilo Lo Giudice, mayor of Santa Teresa di Riva and second of those elected on the UdC list in the Messina constituency, who had joined the Mixed Group in the ARS and De Luca's True Sicily. For the

2019 European Parliament election in Italy The 2019 European Parliament election in Italy were held on 26 May 2019, electing members of the 9th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union. Background In 2014, the gov ...

, De Luca made an agreement with

and Gianfranco Miccichè, the regional coordinator of Berlusconi's

(FI) party in Sicily, to have Dafne Musolino as candidate for the European Parliament among the FI lists in the Italian Islands constituency. In addition to guaranteeing a candidate for De Luca's True Sicily, the pact was based on a shared program for the city of Messina to be brought to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. With 47,187 preferences, Musolino was the second-most voted candidate not to be elected. De Luca remained the mayor of Messina until his resignation in 2022 to run for president of Sicily. In October 2021, on the occasion of the Sicilia Vera assembly, De Luca had announced that he would run for president of the Sicilian region, challenging the outgoing centre-right coalition president

. On 25 January 2022, he resigned as mayor of Messina; his resignation became effective on 14 February 2022. He rejected Miccichè's proposal to be the centre-right coalition candidate to run autonomously. At the

2022 Italian local elections The 2022 Italian local elections were held in various Italian local communities on 12 June 2022, with a run-off round on 26 June. Local elections in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol were held on 15 May, with a second ballot on 29 May, while local e ...

, he supported the True Sicily candidate Federico Basile, who was elected in the first round as mayor of Messina, and was elected municipal councilor. On 13 July 2022, he was elected president of Messina's municipal council with 23 votes out of 32.

Return to the Sicilian Regional Assembly and mayor of Taormina

On 27 June 2022, De Luca founded the South calls North (ScN) to support his candidacy for the presidency of Sicily. In the subsequent consultations, he took the role of coordinator, while Dino Giarrusso, 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 ...

(MEP) and former

(M5S) who was working on a Meridionalist political project, with whom he had developed an agreement a few days earlier but that ended in August 2022, became ScN's secretary. The former '' Le Iene'' journalist Ismaele La Vardera also joined ScN in the role of federal president of the party and spokesperson in De Luca's electoral campaign for the 2022 Sicilian regional election, where De Luca came second, with 23.95% of the vote, behind the centre-right coalition candidate

Renato Schifani Renato Maria Giuseppe Schifani (; born 11 May 1950) is an Italian politician who has served as the president of Sicily since 13 October 2022. Schifani was Silvio Berlusconi's chief whip and was a prominent member of the Senate of the Republic f ...

; he was the presidential candidate of True Sicily (VS). ScN, his newly founded political party, was the third-most voted party, just behind the M5S and ahead of the Democratic Party (PD), and he was re-elected as a member of the ARS, alongside seven others ScN members. He sat at the opposition. During the

2022 Italian general election Snap election, Snap general elections were held in Italy on 25 September 2022. After the fall of the Draghi government, which led to a parliamentary impasse, President of Italy, President Sergio Mattarella dissolved Parliament on 21 July, and ca ...

, which was held on the same day, he unsuccessfully ran, as part of VS and ScN, for the Senate of the Republic in the

single-member district A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

of the Sicily 4 (

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

) constituency; he said that his party would not be "the taxi to give the possibility of recycling and being the Pharisees of politics", and came third with 14.44% of the votes, while the centre-right coalition

was elected with 36.4% of the votes. Despite this, De Luca's party elected two members of the

in the single-member districts (Francesco Gallo in 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 Bourb ...

and Dafne Musolino in the Senate of the Republic. De Luca's party was the largest in Messina. In January 2023, De Luca announced his candidacy for mayor of

; he was supported by the former deputy Carmelo Lo Monte, who had joined ScN, and was elected mayor with 63.49% of the votes, defeating the outgoing mayor of the centre-left coalition Mario Bolognari, a member of the PD who was also supported by some from the centre-right coalition, such as FI and Lega. In August 2023, De Luca he announced his candidacy for the single-member constituency of Lombardy 6 (

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

) for the Senate of the Republic in the by-elections following the death of Silvio Berlusconi. He called himself more '' leghista'' than

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has four sons, ...

. Despite an optimistic prediction at the start of his campaign of a double digit result, De Luca garnered 2,313 preferences, which were equal to 1.76% of the votes, placing him third. In October 2023, De Luca's True Sicily party ceased to exist as a group in the ARS after Salvatore Geraci joined the League (Lega) and all other formed members had joined De Luca's ScN group. In December 2023, De Luca said that he was working on the ''campo largo'', the journalistic definition for the opposition that had obtained a plurality of votes but was divided, with the PD and the M5S. In Aprili 2024, De Luca called for Schifani's resignation, and placed himself at the helm of a ScN–M5S–PD coalition for the next regional elections; he added that, if he were elected president of Sicily, the first person he would appoint as part of the regional government would be the M5S member Luigi Sunseri as the Assessor at the Economy.

Freedom list for the 2024 European Parliament election

Ahead of the

2024 European Parliament election in Italy The 2024 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 8 and 9 June 2024, electing members of the 10th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the broader 2024 European Parliament election from 6 to 9 June. It was held conc ...

, where he was exempt from the collection of signatures due to having elected to members of the

in 2022, De Luca attempted to form an electoral list starting in March 2023, as part of a project to bring together various exponents of the former

Third Pole The Third Pole, also known as the Hindu Kush-Karakoram- Himalayan system (HKKH), is a mountainous region located in the west and south of the Tibetan Plateau. Part of High-Mountain Asia, it spreads over an area of more than across nine countrie ...

and the

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

, and liberal area to create a new political entity with the likes of

Letizia Moratti Letizia Maria Moratti (née Brichetto Arnaboldi; born 26 November 1949) is an Italian businesswoman and politician. She was president of RAI (1994–1996), Minister of Education, University and Research (2001–2006), mayor of Milan (2006–201 ...

, Clemente Mastella, and Roberto Castelli, then in August 2023 with

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...

, and in December 2023 with

Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born April 9, 1973 in Rome) is an Italian business executive and politician. Since October 13, 2022, he has served as a Senator of the Republic and, since February 20, 2022, as Secretary of ''Action (Italian political party), Azione ...

. When this failed, De Luca presented his own electoral list,

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, and announced his candidacy to the European Parliament in all of Italy's constituencies. His

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

list attracted attention due to the record number of minor and heterogeneous parties (from agrarianists and farmers to

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

s and supporters of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

, from pro-Europeanists to

Eurosceptics Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

, from pro-vaccines to vaccine sceptics, from supporters of greater autonomy for the

regions of Italy The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italy, Italian Republic, constituting its second Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, #Autonomous regio ...

, particularly in the North, to opponents like De Luca himself), as well as members of civic lists and former members of the M5S and Lega, which would be exempt from having to collect signatures at Italy's national elections if De Luca's list elects at least one MEP; De Luca described the collection of signatures for new parties as unjust and offered to help them. La Vardera, the ScN's group leader at the ARS, Sergio De Caprio, a former anti-Mafia ''

Carabiniere The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

'' who arrested Totò Riina and thus was subsequently forced to wear a mask, which he removed for the first time when he was announced as part of De Luca's list, and longstanding representatives of the Northern League (LN) like Castelli were among the announced candidates and supporters of De Luca's electoral list; De Luca called his list a union "to defend the rights of the South and North against bureaucratic Europe". As of April 2024, among the many parties in De Luca's European Parliament list, which was first announced in March 2024 and became a subject of national attention due the number of its member parties and its logo, included De Luca's parties (South calls North and True Sicily),

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

forces ( Italexit's spliter party Movement for Italexit, Shared Horizons, Together Free, and Vita), regionalist parties and movements of former representatives of Lega ( Great North, True North, Valdostan Rally, and Venetian People), the M5S, and the Pensioners Party (Pensioners' Party + Health), as well as various mayors (Civics in Movement), symbols of anti-Mafia like De Caprio (Captain Last) and Piera Aiello, and animal-rights activists (Rizzi), farmers and fishermen (Us Farmers & Fishers), street vendors (Us Free Vendors), environmentalists ( Green Front and Sustainable Progress), Europeanists and moderates (Moderate Party of Italy), sovereignists (Sovereignty), and Catholics ( The People of the Family). The main points of De Luca's list, which was called by its supporters the Freedom Front, are represented by the slogan "Less Europe, More Sovereignty, More Autonomy, More Italy". He compared his list to the

Expedition of the Thousand The Expedition of the Thousand () was an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto al Mare near Genoa and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Ki ...

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

, and said that "we will become millions". De Luca further stated: "Each symbol is a star in the firmament of freedom. Each symbol represents a story and is the interpreter of a message and will have the possibility of bringing the demands of its territory and its history into the European Parliament. We have put together forces civic and political ones who want to give a push to this liberticidal Europe in a list not of purpose to overcome the barrier f the electoral threshold but with the common denominator fless Europe, more autonomy, more sovereignty, more equity."

Political views

After being elected mayor of Messina in 2018, De Luca said: "I will be the bearer of that revolution that you wanted and this council will help me to make concrete actions that we have proposed within the programme. ... Loving Messina is not a slogan. This city must return to being an Agora, a place where we are together, and to do this we must break down the barriers of individualism and create community." He called for all political parties of the newly elected city council to work together but reiterated his opposition to the old politics way, saying: "I was elected as a transversal mayor, without any political colour, and I will remain so. ... I want a land where politics is not a tool for cultivating

clientele In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product, or an idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or an exchang ...

and I will work so that the revolution christened the 24 June becomes a way of governing." De Luca is critical of differentiated autonomy (''autonomia differenziata''), which is especially supported by

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

and by right-wing parties that is criticized for increasing the gap between Northern and

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

, as part of the Southern question. He also criticized the

, saying: "This differentiated autonomy is the result of a strategy of the centre-left oalitionwhich in 2001 attempted in vain to pursue mbertoBossi." In 2023, De Luca described the differentiated autonomy draft law proposal by the Meloni government and

Roberto Calderoli Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the Senate of the Republic. He was a Minister without portfolio for Legislative Simplification in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. He previously served as Minister without ...

, the Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, as "a criminal law", and called it "a criminal plan carried out by a political force that no longer has anything to say, namely the League". De Luca is a supporter of his own Sicilian differentiated autonomy. At the March 2023 national assembly of South calls North (ScN), De Luca said: "Anything but fear of differentiated autonomy, we want the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...

. We are federalists and we aim to aggregate while respecting autonomy, we no longer want a centralist state. We are the only national civic movement and we must become a mass party, no to

leaderism The Russian political term leaderism (, ''vozhdism'') means "a policy directed at the affirmation/confirmation of one person in the role of an indisputable or infallible leader". Manifestations of ''vozhdism'' include clientelism, nepotism, tribal ...

. We are not part of any pole and we are not interested in entering into this logic." About the

Strait of Messina Bridge The Strait of Messina Bridge () is a proposed suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, connecting Torre Faro in Sicily with Villa San Giovanni on the Italian peninsula. The bridge has been controversial due to the impact of earthquake ...

, De Luca said: "Years ago, when I held pro-bridge demonstrations, Minister atteoSalvini hoped that

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

and Etna would erupt to kill us all. I have always been pro-bridge, he hasn't. The Northern League deputy prime minister is probably in favour of the bridge due to other interests, but I am against building the bridge over the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, with ...

using money that should be used for other things, but I have always been in favour of the 'Berlin-Palermo' corridor." When asked in 2024 if he is

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

, De Luca replied: "Neither one nor the other, I'm about my own business, I'm Sturziano, I'm an administrator and not a politician, I was mayor by beating those who held seances to get votes." He is a strong critic of the centre-right coalition incumbent Sicily president

, accusing him of not caring about differentiated autonomy damaging Southern Italy and Sicily and of being the president of

(FI) and not of Sicily. De Luca said that he does not like the incumbent

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

president

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

, and when asked about who he would prefer instead of her, De Luca answered: "Myself, I'm running for the presidency of the European Commission." Regarding

Italia Viva Italia Viva (, IV) is a Liberalism, liberal list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party ( ...

(IV) leader

, with whom he had a tense relationship – due to the defection of senator Dafne Musolino to Renzi's party, among other things – he said: "If you know Renzi, you avoid him, I've met him and I avoid him." De Luca praised the Democratic Party (PD) secretary

Elly Schlein Elena Ethel "Elly" Schlein (; born 4 May 1985) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the secretary of the Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party (PD) since 12 March 2023. She is a member of Italy's Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Ch ...

, saying: "She's surprising me, I must say, I like her, she's very good."

Public image

De Luca attracted attention for his histrionic and overbearing personality, as well as for his impetuosity and propensity to argue with journalists and other politicians, earning the nickname ''Scateno'', a pun of words between his first name and the Italian word for "unleash" in English; he is also described as a

Masaniello Tommaso Aniello (29 June 1620 – 16 July 1647), popularly known by the contracted name Masaniello (, ), was an Italian fisherman who became leader of the 1647 revolt against the rule of Habsburg Spain in the Kingdom of Naples. Name and place ...

. As a result, he is often compared to and confused with the incumbent Campania president

Vincenzo De Luca Vincenzo De Luca (born 8 May 1949) is an Italian politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been serving as president of Campania since 18 June 2015. De Luca also served as mayor of Salerno for more than 17 years, becoming one of t ...

, with whom he is not related, although he shares his histrionic manner and incendiary tones. In 2007, De Luca staged a protest, stripping himself naked in the press room of Palazzo dei Normanni, against the decision of the then

(ARS) president not to include him in the Budget Commission; his naked body was covered by the Trinacria flag from the stomach down while he held a wooden

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

in his right hand and a

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

in his left hand. In other occasions, De Luca showed up in his underwear at the province of Messina headquarters to protest against cuts in the water supply to the

Aeolian Islands The Aeolian Islands ( ; ; ), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after their largest island, are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after Aeolus, the mythical ruler of ...

, dressed up as a character from '' Money Heist'' to monitor the progress of the construction sites when he was mayor of Messina, and once said: "I will set the ARS on fire, Palermo will collapse, and I will make the buildings tremble." In part due to his simple and frank language, De Luca was able to elected a deputy and a senator in the

. He is also well known for his live streamings on Facebook, and he once blew a raspberry when referring to then Sicily president

. In one of his live streamings in March 2020, when he was still mayor of Messina during the early stages of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

, De Luca went to the port of Messina to block the transit of passengers arriving in Sicily. He addressed with offensive words Luciana Lamorgese, the then

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, who denounced him for contempt of the Italian Republic, the constitutional institutions, and the Armed Forces. In June 2020,

Alfonso Bonafede Alfonso Bonafede (born 2 July 1976) is an Italian lawyer and politician who has served as the Italian Minister of Justice since 1 June 2018. A lawyer by profession, Bonafede has also served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 15 March 201 ...

, the then

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, authorized the Messina prosecutor's office to proceed with the charges against De Luca, who was sentenced to pay a fine of €1,500 in June 2021. This was not the first time De Luca was the subject of an investigation, as he was twice arrested in 2011 and 2017, although he was acquitted both times. In November 2022, De Luca was among those investigated by the Messina prosecutor's office for

environmental crime Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. These illegal activities involve the environment, wildlife, biodiversity, and natural resources. International bodies such as, G7, Interpol, European Union, United Na ...

s linked to a former landfill in the Messina municipality; in particular, he was accused of the crime of failure to remediate for facts ascertained in October 2020. In October 2023, he was given eight months, with suspended sentence, for defamation due to what he wrote in the book ''Lupara giudiziaria'' (''Judicial Lupara'') about the former public prosecutor Vincenzo Barbaro, who had subsequently denounced him.

Personal life

De Luca is married with Giusy Gregorio, and the couple has two children. De Luca said that he does not sleep at night, and mostly stay in bed for four hours and only sleep three hours a day in what he called his semi-sleep mode. De Luca further stated that he usually gets up from bed at 5:30 am and drink a liter of water at room temperature, then reads the press review, drink a coffee, and smokes a cigarette before taking what he said is his true passion, the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. In his first act as regional deputy after being released from prison in December 2017, De Luca played a

zampogna Zampogna (, , ) is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered bagpipes that can be found throughout areas in Latium. The tradition is now mostly associated with Christmas, and the most famous Italian carol, " Tu scendi dalle stelle" ( ...

Electoral history

Works

* ''Lupara giudiziaria. Nella dialettica processuale un arresto ci sta!'', with preface by Carlo Taormina, Messina, Armando Siciliano Editore, 2018. * ''Origini e prospettiva dell'autonomia siciliana. Breve testimonianza del saccheggio della Casta'', Messina, Armando Siciliano Editore, 2018. * ''Manuale dell'aspirante amministratore comunale'', Messina, Armando Siciliano Editore, 2018. * ''Non tutto è successo!'', with preface by Catena Fiorello and postface by Red Ronnie, Milan, Edizioni Piemme, 2023.

References

External links

De Luca Cateno detto Messina
at Assemblea Regionale Siciliana (in Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:De Luca, Cateno 1972 births 20th-century Italian politicians Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Christian Democratic Centre politicians Living people Mayors of Messina Union of the Centre (2002) politicians