Dario Franceschini

Dario Franceschini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdaːrjo frantʃesˈkiːni]; born 19 October 1958) is an Italian lawyer, writer, and politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD), of which he briefly became leader in 2009. Franceschini served as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, a position that he held from February 2014 to June 2018 and again from September 2019 to October 2022, making him the longest-serving cultural heritage minister in the history of the Italian Republic. Franceschini also served as Minister for Parliamentary Relations from 2013 to 2014.

Franceschini was a prominent member of the Italian People's Party (PPI), of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL), and the first Deputy Secretary of the PD. Following the resignation of Walter Veltroni on 21 February 2009, the Constituent Assembly of the PD elected him the new secretary. On 25 October 2009, he lost the 2009 PD leadership election to Pier Luigi Bersani, and subsequently accepted his offer to become the party's leader in the Chamber of Deputies. Franceschini, who is considered a centrist and a Christian leftist, is the leader of AreaDem, which is the majority faction in the PD.

Franceschini was born in Ferrara in 1958. His father Giorgio was a Catholic partisan and MP for the Christian Democrats in the Second Legislature, from 1953 to 1958. He graduated in law at the University of Ferrara. with a thesis on the history of doctrines and political institutions, published as a book Il Partito Popolare a Ferrara. Cattolici, socialisti e fascisti nella terra di Grosoli e Don Minzoni ("The Popular Party in Ferrara. Catholics, socialists and fascists in the land of Grosoli and Don Minzoni") and on the same subject he participated in conferences and publications. In 1985 he graduated from the University of Ferrara and started practicing civil law in civil court of cassation, he was admitted to the auditors and has been an effective member of the supervisory board of Eni in its first three years of privatization. From 1985 to 1989 he edited for Formez the bimonthly review of regional legislative documentation.

He was president of the Palio di Ferrara. He is an honorary citizen of the City of Borgo Velino. On 8 March 2014, during a visit to Palmanova, he was hospitalized due to a heart attack while he was in the barracks Ederle. The official bulletin of the hospital will report later that the minister was suffering from an acute coronary syndrome treated positively and promptly. He was then transferred to the hospital Santa Maria della Misericordia of Udine. He was released 16 March 2014. He received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2016.

Franceschini is divorced from his first wife, Silvia Bombardi. He married Michela Di Biase in 2014 in Sutri (VT). He has three daughters.

His political activity began at the student level, from Antonio Roiti High School in Ferrara in the fall of 1974 when he founded the Democratic Student Association, of Catholic and centrist inspiration. The ASD is present in almost all high schools in the city in the early elections scheduled by "decrees". From 1974 to 1977 he was elected to the various student organisations (class councils, disciplinary and institutional). Later, he was elected student representative to the board of directors of the University of Ferrara. He founded the Cultural Cooperative Christmas Gorini, which is concerned with art cinema.

The charismatic figures that since his youth aroused his attention are, among others, Benigno Zaccagnini and don Primo Mazzolari. In particular, Don Mazzolari is repeatedly pointed out to during his campaign to be the secretary of the Democratic Party. He dedicated one of the most significant parts in the final speech of his campaign, delivered in Marzabotto 24 October 2009

He enrolled in the Christian Democrats after the election of Benigno Zaccagnini and was elected provincial youth delegate. In 1980 he became councillor of Ferrara in 1983 and party whip of the council. The following year, he enters the national leadership of the DC youth movement, for which he founded and directed the magazine New Policy. In 1989 he directs in Rome the monthly "Seventy-six" gathering thirty years history of the left DC and is called to the vice-direction of the monthly Comparison (il Confronto) and in the preparation of the party's weekly La Discussione.