Mario Mantovani (born 28 July 1950, in

Arconate Arconate ( or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. Arconate borders the following municipalities: Dairago, Buscate, Busto Garolfo, Inveruno, Cuggion ...

) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

politician. His daughter is the deputy of the

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 ...

Lucrezia Mantovani.

Early life and career

Mantovani graduated in foreign languages and literature in 1975. From 1981 to 1986 he was director of the Padre Beccaro Institute in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In 1990 he founded the Sodalitas non-profit organization, which in Bellaria-Igea Marina has a series of residences and summer camps. In 1996 he opened the Mantovani Foundation, specialized in the construction and management of nursing homes for the elderly. With his appointment as undersecretary in 2008 he leaves the presidency of the Mantovani Foundation, leaving the guide to his family. Mantovani owns the Immobiliare Vigevanese company, as well as the Mantovani Foundation. With the first he builds social welfare residences and with the second he manages four RSAs in the province of Milan which, added to those led by Sodalitas, make eleven structures and 830 beds, all accredited in the Lombardy region rankings. It also manages 13 day care centers for the disabled managed on behalf of the ASL of Milan 1.

Political activity

Member of the European Parliament

In 1999 he was elected MEP among the ranks of

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 ...

with 39,000 preferences and was re-elected in 2004 with 50,000 preferences. He sat in the

European People's Party group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

. In 2008 he was elected to 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 ...

and left the seat in the European Parliament to

Iva Zanicchi Iva Zanicchi (; born 18 January 1940) is an Italian pop singer and politician. She has a mezzo-soprano voice and is nick-named by the press as the "Eagle from Ligonchio" (). Biography Iva Zanicchi was born in Ligonchio, in the province of ...

Mayor of Arconate

In 2001 he was also elected mayor of

with 51% of the votes and was re-elected in 2006 with 68% of the votes. In November 2008, the municipal councilors that supported Mantovani resigned to allow him to reapply for the third consecutive time for mayor. He was reconfirmed mayor of Arconate in the municipal elections of 2009 with 66% of the votes. In May 2015 he resigned as municipal councilor.

Senator and Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Transport

In 2008 he was elected Senator and was appointed Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Transport in the

Berlusconi IV Cabinet The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th Cabinet (government), government of Politics of Italy, Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving ...

. From 29 January 2011 he became the new regional coordinator of

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, succeeding the resigning

Guido Podestà Guido Podestà (born 1 April 1947 in Milan) is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament for North-West with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal ...

, president of the

Province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

. In the 2013 general elections he was re-elected to the Senate of the Republic. Also elected to the

Regional Council of Lombardy The Regional Council of Lombardy () is the parliament, legislative assembly of Lombardy, Italy. It was first elected in 1970, when the Regions of Italy, ordinary regions were instituted, on the basis of the Constitution of Italy of 1948. Compos ...

, he resigned as Senator due to incompatibility on 3 June 2013.

Vice-president and assessor in the Lombardy Region

Following the regional elections in Lombardy in 2013, he was elected regional councilor on the PdL list, being the most voted among all the candidates with almost 13,000 preferences. He was subsequently appointed by the president Roberto Maroni as vice president of the Lombardy Region and Assessor for health. On 1 September 2015, after the regional health reform with the creation of the super-department between Health and Welfare, he left the regional health department (which will be governed ad interim by President Maroni) for the delegation of regional councilor for Relations with European Union, Community Planning and International Relations, until 13 October 2015. In December 2016 he joined

Daniela Santanchè Daniela Garnero (born 7 April 1961), commonly known by her former married name as Daniela Santanchè (), is an Italian politician. Between 2010 and 2011 she served as Undersecretary to the Ministry for the Implementation of the Government Progra ...

's movement

We Republicans – Sovereign People In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (objective ...

. He follows the party colleague also in January 2018, leaving his party, Forza Italia, and joining the movement led by

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since 2022. She is the first woman to hold the office. A member of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies since 2006, s ...

Judicial proceedings

On 13 October 2015, he was arrested in Milan, accused of corruption, bid-rigging, and misdirection of public funds for school construction and patients needing dialysis transport, between 2012 and 2014, while Vice President of

. In 2019 he has been sentenced to five years and six months for corruption, extortion and auction disruption.Milano, Mario Mantovani condannato a 5 anni e 6 mesi. Assolto Garavaglia
/ref> Those sentences have been overturned by the Court of Appeal of Milan on 14 March 2022, which acquitted him "for not having committed the fact"; on 6 July 2022, as no appeal was received before the Court of Cassation by the general prosecutor's office, Mantovani's acquittal became final. Il Giornale: Mantovani assolto, la prova era fals

Il Corriere della sera, cronaca Milano: Mario Mantovani assolto, il fatto non sussist

Il Giorno: L'intercettazione diceva altro, Mantovani assolto

Giustiziami: dopo 7 anni Mantovani assolto, PM ormai sempre k

Sky Tg 24: Massimo Garavaglia e Mario Mantovani assolt

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mantovani, Mario 1950 births Living people People from the Metropolitan City of Milan Forza Italia MEPs MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Forza Italia (2013) politicians Brothers of Italy politicians MEPs for Italy 2024–2029