Luigi Manconi (born 21 February 1948) is an Italian academic and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a senator from 1994 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2018.

Early life and career

Manconi graduated in Political Sciences at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

and started teaching Sociology in the

University of Palermo The University of Palermo () is a public university, public research university in Palermo, Italy. It was founded in 1806, and is currently organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although it ...

and the IULM University of Milan. In the 1980s, Manconi founded and directed, together with

Massimo Cacciari Massimo Cacciari (; born 5 June 1944) is an Italian philosopher and politician who served as Mayor of Venice from 1993 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2010. Biography Born in Venice, Cacciari graduated in philosophy from the University of Padua (1967), ...

and Rossana Rossanda, the magazine ''Antigone''. He was a columnist and commentator for Italian newspapers, such as

Il Messaggero ''Il Messaggero'' (English: "The Messenger") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper based in Rome, Italy. It has been in circulation since 1878. It is one of the main national newspapers in Italy. History and profile ''Il Messaggero'' ...

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

; he is currently a columnist for

Il Foglio ("The Paper"), or more formally ("The daily Paper"), is an Italian daily newspaper with nationwide circulation. It was founded in 1996 by Giuliano Ferrara, an Italian journalist, television host, and politician. Since 2015, it has been edited ...

and

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

Political career

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, Manconi was elected, as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

on the list of the Greens, and again elected in the following elections. He took part in the work of numerous commissions on the issues that have always characterized his militancy and his research activities: justice and guarantee, individual freedoms and social guarantees, and the autonomy of the person. In 2005, Manconi joined 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 ...

for which he was head of the national civil rights department and a member of the national leadership. He was

undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...

of state for

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

in the

Prodi II Cabinet The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislatur ...

from 2006 to 2008. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, Manconi was elected

in the list of the Democratic Party and was appointed president of the Human rights Commission of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. A former exponent of the No on the occasion of the constitutional referendum of 4 December 2016, on 23 October 2017 Manconi did not participate in the votes of confidence on ''

Rosatellum The Italian electoral law of 2017, colloquially known by the nickname ''Rosatellum'' after Ettore Rosato, the Democratic Party (PD) leader in the Chamber of Deputies who first proposed the new law, is a parallel voting system, which acts as a m ...

'', the new electoral law. In October and December 2017 he launched the initiative of a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

for the approval of the

jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( or , ), meaning 'right of soil', is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contrast to ''jus sanguinis'' ('right of blood') ass ...

law, which did not reach the quorum in the Senate. On 2 February 2018, Prime Minister

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...

appointed Manconi as coordinator of the Office for the Promotion of Equal Treatment and the Removal of Discrimination established within the Department for Equal Opportunities.

Personal life

He is the father of three children: Davide, Giacomo, and Giulia, the latter had by his second wife, journalist

Bianca Berlinguer Bianca Maria Berlinguer (; born 9 December 1959 in Rome) is an Italian journalist and former news anchor. She was the director of TG3 from October 2009 to August 2016. Biography The first of the four children of the Italian Communist Party le ...

. Since 2007 he has suffered from a severe form of low vision caused by several factors, including

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

retinal detachment Retinal detachment is a condition where the retina pulls away from the tissue underneath it. It may start in a small area, but without quick treatment, it can spread across the entire retina, leading to serious vision loss and possibly blindness. ...

, and severe

myopia Myopia, also known as near-sightedness and short-sightedness, is an eye condition where light from distant objects focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry, while close objects appear normal. ...

References

External links

*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XII
legislature 1948 births Living people People from Sassari 20th-century Italian politicians Federation of the Greens politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians {{Italy-politician-DemocraticPartyItaly-stub University of Milan alumni Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy) Academic staff of the IULM University of Milan Academic staff of the University of Palermo Candidates for President of Italy