Katia Tarasconi (born 5 October 1973) is an Italian politician,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

since 2022.

Biography

Tarasconi graduated in 1998 with a degree in graphic arts from

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

where she worked for two years for the editorial art department of the

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

. Back to Italy, she worked as commercial manager of the communication company Irix from Piacenza, of which she was managing director from 2001 to 2008.

Assessor and Councilor

She joined the Democratic Party and has been assessor for trade in

from 2007 to 2015 with the Mayor Roberto Reggi (PD) until 2012 and with the Mayor Paolo Dosi (PD) since 2012. In the

2014 Emilia-Romagna regional election The Emilia-Romagna regional election of 2014 took place on 23 November 2014. The three-term incumbent President of the Region, Vasco Errani of the centre-left Democratic Party resigned in July 2014 after the conviction for fraudulent misreprese ...

, she became the first of the non-elected in the Piacenza district, but after Paola Gazzolo's nomination as Regional assessor (according to the Italian law, a role in the Regional executive is not compatible with the legislative seat) Tarasconi was proclaimed on 27 July 2015 in the former seat of her predecessor Gazzolo in the Legislative Assembly of Emilia-Romagna, being later re-elected at the 2020 regional election.

Mayor of Piacenza

On the occasion of the 2022 local elections, she announced her candidacy for the office of Mayor of Piacenza as official candidate of 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 ...

( Democratic Party, Azione and four civic lists). After obtaining 39.93% in the first round, she enters the ballot against the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

candidate and outgoing mayor Patrizia Barbieri and is elected new mayor with 53,46% of the votes. She left her seat in the Regional council on 28 June - according to the Italian law, the office of Mayor is not compatible with membership of the National Parliament or Regional Council - and she officially took office as new Mayor of Piacenza on 29 June.

Personal life

Divorced, already married to an American citizen, she had two children: in September 2021, she lost her 18-year-old son Kristopher Dixon, involved in a car accident in

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, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarasconi, Katia Living people 1973 births University of Miami alumni Mayors of places in Emilia-Romagna Politicians from Piacenza Women mayors of places in Italy Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 21st-century Italian women