Francesco Schittulli (born 21 April 1946 in

Gravina in Puglia Gravina in Puglia (; ; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. The word ''gravina'' comes from the Latin ''grava'' or from the messapic ''graba'', with the meaning of ''rock'', ''shaft'' and ''erosi ...

) is an Italian surgeon and politician. Since 2000 is the President of the Lega Italiana per la Lotta ai Tumori (''Italian League Against Cancer'').

Biography

Francesco Schittulli was the son of Angelo Schittulli, regional secretary of

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 ...

in Apulia in the 80s and 90s. He graduated with honors in Medicine and Surgery and specialized in

general surgery General surgery is a Surgical specialties, surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and Abdomen, abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, Appendix (anatomy ...

and

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

. Since 1993, the year of its establishment, he has been a member of the National Oncology Commission of the Ministry of Health. He was also the scientific director of the Oncological Institute of

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

from 1993 until 1997. Elected several times councilor to the Order of Doctors of Bari, Schittulli was also a national councilor of the ''Italian Society of Surgical Oncology'' and director of the ''Special School of Surgical Breast'' of ''Italian Hospital Surgeons Association''. Furthermore, he has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Foggia The University of Foggia, located in Foggia, Italy, was founded in 1991 and was fully recognized in 1999. Although it has taken some time for the university to receive its entitlement and acknowledgement, through that timestamp it has branched off ...

and then at the Graduate School of Oncology of the

University of Bari The University of Bari Aldo Moro () is a public higher education institution founded in 1925 in Bari, Apulia, in Southern Italy. The university has a student population of around 40,000. A recent name change refers to the statesman and prime mi ...

and of the

University of Rome Tor Vergata University of Rome Tor Vergata, also known as the University of Tor Vergata (), is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the university combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on ...

. On 7 June 2009 Schittulli, supported by the centre-right coalition, was elected President of the Province of Bari with 50.05% of the vote. On 31 October 2011 he resigned from his position, however, after 18 days he withdrew his resignation for the newfound cohesion of the coalition. Schittulli was candidate for president in the

2015 Apulian regional election The Apulian regional election of 2015 were held on 31 May 2015.A ...

, but after the political breaking between

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (; born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician who has served as Vice-President of the European Commission, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Cohesion and Refo ...

and

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 ...

he was supported by only a part of the centre-right coalition ( Schittulli Political Movement−

Popular Area Popular Area (, AP) was a centre-right and mainly Christian-democratic coalition, which included two parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. "Popular" was a reference to ''popol ...

, Over with Fitto and

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy (, FdI) is a National conservatism, national-conservative and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Italy, that is currently the country's ruling party. After becoming the largest party in the 2022 Ita ...

), while

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 ...

supported the candidacy of

Adriana Poli Bortone Adriana Poli Bortone (born 25 August 1943) is an Italian politician who was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2008. She represented Southern Italy. She was mayor of Lecce from 1998 to 2007 and since 2024. Biography Born in Lecc ...

. Finally, Schittulli finished third, obtaining 18.29% of the vote, behind

Michele Emiliano Michele Emiliano (born 23 July 1959) is an Italian politician and former judge. He is the incumbent president of Apulia Region since June 2015, and he previously served as mayor of Bari from 2004 to 2014. Emiliano has often been considered a pop ...

( PD) and Antonella Laricchia ( M5S), but surpassing the other centre-right candidate, Adriana Poli Bortone.Regionali Puglia, tutti sconfitti nel derby di centrodestra. Fitto non cancella Forza Italia
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schittulli, Francesco 1946 births Living people People from Gravina in Puglia Presidents of the Province of Bari Italian surgeons Italian oncologists