Gianluigi Paragone (born 7 August 1971) is an Italian politician and journalist.

Biography

Paragone was born in

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

in 1971. After working as a journalist for a local newspaper and a local television network, Paragone became editor of ''

La Padania ''La Padania'' was an Italian daily newspaper, and the official press organ of the political party Lega Nord. History and profile ''La Padania'' was the official newspaper of Northern League of Umberto Bossi founded in 1997 by Davide Caparini a ...

'', the official newspaper of the Northern League. Subsequently, he worked for the newspaper ''Libero'', of which he was deputy editor and (for a short period) acting editor to replace Vittorio Feltri. In 2009, he presented the political talk show ''Malpensa Italia'', aired in late evening on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...

. On 5 August 2009 he was appointed deputy director of

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

, thus abandoning the management of ''Libero''. On 24 September 2009, Paragone left the Rai 1 vice-direction to become vice-director of Rai 2. From 15 January 2010, he led the political talk show ''L'ultima parola'' on Rai 2. In 2013, he resigned as deputy director of Rai 2 and left the

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

. Subsequently, he switched to La7, where he led the talk shows ''La gabbia'' (2013–2017) and ''In onda'' (2015). From 7 April 2014 to 3 February 2017, together with Mara Maionchi and , he led ''Benvenuti nella giungla'' on

Radio 105 Radio 105 is an Italian private radio station, owned by Mediaset, who also owns Virgin Radio Italia and Radio Monte Carlo. It was founded on 1976 as ''Radio Studio 105''. External links Radio 105 Network Official Website Radio 105 Networkon Yo ...

. In 2018, he was elected Senator among the ranks of 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 ...

, and on 1 January 2020, was officially expelled from this party, but continued his membership in the Senate as an independent. In July 2020, Paragone launched his own political party, Italexit, with the aim of bringing Italy out of 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paragone, Gianluigi 1971 births Living people 20th-century Italian journalists Italian political party founders Five Star Movement politicians Italexit politicians Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy Politicians from Varese Italian eurosceptics 21st-century Italian journalists