Piero Franco Rodolfo Fassino (born 7 October 1949) is an Italian politician. He was

Mayor of Turin The mayor of Turin (Italian: ''sindaco di Torino'') is an elected politician who, along with the Turin City Council of 40 members, is accountable for the government of Turin, in the Italian region of Piedmont. The incumbent mayor is Stefano Lo ...

from 2011 until 2016.Prodi Clears Final Hurdle as Deficit Pressures Mount
11 May 2006, ''

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately-held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Ze ...

''. Accessed 15 April 2009
Archived
15 April 2009.

Early life and education

Fassino was born in

Avigliana Avigliana (; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of Italy, with 12,129 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023. It lies about west of Turin in the Susa valley, on the motorway going from Turin to ...

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 ...

(

province of Turin The province of Turin (; ; ) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Turin. Geography It ...

), in a traditional

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

family. His father Eugenio was a

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

, commander of the 41st

Garibaldi Brigade The ''Brigate Garibaldi'' or Garibaldi Brigades were Italian partisan brigades, partisan units aligned with the Italian Communist Party active in the Italian resistance, armed resistance against both German and Italian fascist forces during Ital ...

, and his paternal grandfather Piero was beaten to death by the

Italian Fascists Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

in 1944 because he did not want to reveal his son's hideout, while his maternal grandfather Cesare Grisa was one of the founders of 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 ...

. He graduated in Political Sciences.

Political career

Early career

Fassino registered with the

Italian Communist Youth Federation The Italian Communist Youth Federation (, FGCI) was the youth wing of the Italian Communist Party (''Partito Comunista Italiano''; PCI), and the direct heir of the Federazione Giovanile Comunista d'Italia of the PCd'I. In 2016 it was refounded ...

of Turin in 1968. In 1975, he was elected as a Member of the City Council of the Piedmont regional capital, a position he remained in for ten years. From 1985 to 1990 he was Provincial Councillor, also in Turin. He was also secretary of the provincial

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) federation of Turin from 1983 to 1987, when he was elected as a member of the National Secretary's Office of the party, first as the Secretary's Office Coordinator, then as Responsible of Organization, during the period where the party was transformed from the PCI into the

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left (, PDS) was a democratic-socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, the party was the largest in the A ...

(PDS). From 1991 to 1996, Fassino was International Secretary of the new party; in 1994 he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Re-elected in 1996, he was appointed in 1998 as Minister for Foreign Commerce in the government headed by

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 Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...

. Between 2000 and 2001 he was Minister of Justice in the

Giuliano Amato Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Upon Arnaldo Forlani's death in July 2023, Amato became the country's earliest-servin ...

government. Candidate as vice-premier of The Olive Tree coalition in a ticket with former

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Mayor

Francesco Rutelli Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016 and re-elected for the 2020–2022 term, plus ANICA Servizi. ...

for the 2001 general elections in Italy won by the

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms (, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/ Pole of Good Government and the Pole for Freedoms. The former ...

rival coalition, he was still re-elected as a Member of Parliament. In addition to his role in Parliament, Fassino was a member of Italian delegation to the

Assembly of the Western European Union The Assembly of the Western European Union, also called the European Security and Defence Assembly, was a parliamentary assembly for delegations from the national parliaments of the member countries of the Western European Union (WEU), a securit ...

from 2006 until 2011, where he served as chairman of the Committee on Political Affairs and as

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

for the

Western Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. From 2007 until 2010, Fassino served as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's special envoy for

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, appointed by the Union’s

High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Un ...

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...

Secretary of Democrats of the Left

In 2001, during the National Party Congress of 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 ...

, Fassino was elected as secretary (a position of leader in Italian political parties). He was then re-elected in February 2005, during the party congress. In 2003, Fassino and other high-ranking party members – including

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 ...

Lamberto Dini Lamberto Dini (; born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Italian Minister of the Treasury, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Ital ...

and

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 ...

– were accused of taking millions of pounds in backhanders when state-run

Telecom Italia TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed, public and mobile telephony, and DSL data services. It is ...

bought a 29% stake in Telekom Serbia in 1997. During his time in office, Fassino asserted that ''

Il Giornale (), known from its founding in 1974 until 1983 as (), is an Italian-language daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 28,933 in May 2023. In 2006, it was considered one of Italy's main national newspapers. History an ...

'', a right-wing newspaper, published confidential wiretap transcripts shortly before the 2006 election to create the impression that he had exercised improper pressure in the attempted takeover of

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. Established in 1913, the bank has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006. Integration process was concluded in 2008, BNL with its group oversees the commercial ...

by insurer

Unipol Unipol Assicurazioni S.p.A. is an Italian financial services holding company operating in the insurance and banking fields with headquarters in the Unipol Tower, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The com ...

in 2005. In 2013, a court awarded 80,000 euros in damages to Fassino for the incident.

Mayor of Turin

Fassino served as Mayor of

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 ...

from 2011 until 2016. In the 2016 elections, he was defeated by

Chiara Appendino Chiara Appendino (born 12 June 1984) is an Italian politician and sports manager, mayor of Turin and the Turin metropolitan city from 30 June 2016 to 27 October 2021 and vice president of the Italian Tennis Federation from 2 October 2020. She is ...

, who overturned an 11-point gap after the first round to win 55 per cent of the vote.

Back to the Parliament

Fassino has been serving as a member of the Italian delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

since 2018. As member of the Democratic Party, he is part of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. In the Assembly, he serves on the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(since 2018); the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (since 2018); and the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World (since 2019). He also serves as the Assembly's co-rapporteur on

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

(alongside

Ian Liddell-Grainger Ian Richard Peregrine Liddell-Grainger (born 23 February 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician and former property developer. He was MP for Bridgwater from 2001 until 2010, and until 2024, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset. Thro ...

) and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

Recognition

Fassino received the ''America Award'' from the Italy-USA Foundation in 2010.

Other activities

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), Member of the Council * Italy-USA Foundation, Member (since 2018)

Personal life

Fassino is married to Anna Maria Serafini, who was elected to the

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

in 2006. He considers himself Roman Catholic.

Electoral history

External links

Fassino proclaimed mayor

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fassino, Piero 1949 births Living people People from Avigliana Italian Roman Catholics Italian Communist Party politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Ministers of justice of Italy Government ministers of Italy Deputies of Legislature XII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVIII of Italy Mayors of Turin University of Turin alumni Deputies of Legislature XIX of Italy