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Walter Veltroni

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Mayor of Rome
Walter Veltroni

Incumbent
Assumed office 2001
Preceded by	Francesco Rutelli
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Minister of Culture and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
In office 17 May 1996 – 21 October 1998
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Antonio Paulucci
Succeeded by	Giovanna Melandri

Born	July 3 1955 (1955-07-03) (age 52) Rome, Italy
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Flavia Veltroni
Profession	Politician
Religion	Atheist

Walter Veltroni (born July 3, 1955) is an Italian politician, leader-elect of the Democratic Party, and Mayor of Rome since 2001. He was elected as the first leader of the newly-founded Democratic Party on October 14, 2007, winning an open primary and summing around 2.6 millions of votes, which represent a percentage of approximately 75%.^[1]

1 Biography
2 Works
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

Biography

Walter Veltroni was born in Rome in 1955. His father, Vittorio Veltroni, an eminent RAI manager in the 1950s, died only one year later.^[2] His mother, Ivanka Kotnik, was the daughter of Ciril Kotnik, the Slovenian ambassador of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the Holy See who helped numerous Jews and antifascist to escape Nazi persecution after 1943. Veltroni joined the Federazione Giovanile Comunista Italiana (Italian Youth Communist Federation) at the age of 15, and was elected Rome city councilor in 1976 as member of the Italian Communist Party, serving until 1981. He was then elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1987. As a member of the Italian Communist Party's national secretariat in 1988, he played a leading role in the transformation into the Social-democratic Party it is today. Veltroni, a professional journalist, was editor-in-chief of the newspaper of the Democratic Party of the Left (later the DS) L'Unità from 1992 to 1996 as . He then successfully ran as vice-premier candidate, together with Romano Prodi, for the 1996 national election in Italy. In 1998 he resigned, subsequent to his election as National Secretary of the Democrats of the Left. Despite his background as a journalist, he has been involved in controversial episodes related to freedom of expression. For example in 2001, after the late night show Satyricon aired an interview that discussed indictments on links between the right-wing leader and the mafia, Marco Travaglio reported that Veltroni dispatched a messenger menacing the closure of the show.^[3] In 2001 Veltroni resigned as leader of the party after being elected Mayor of Rome. In 2003 he received a honoris causa degree in Public Services by the John Cabot University of Rome. On January 1, 2006 Veltroni received the Cavaliere di Gran Croce (Knight of the Great Cross), Italy's highest award, from President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. He has been criticised for his social hyperactivity and advised to focus on more practical problems. ^[4]. On May 29, 2006, Veltroni was confirmed Mayor of Rome, easily defeating former Minister of Agriculture Gianni Alemanno, of National Alliance, obtaining an unprecedented 61.4% of the valid votes against only the 37.1% achieved by his main opponent. The large success obtained by Veltroni in the 2006 Rome's vote might indicate that the critiques on "social hyperactivity" are factious, as the percentage of votes that supported Veltroni's second term in office is a record in local elections. Veltroni is widely considered one of the most popular centre-left politicians in Italy and he has often been singled out for the leadership of the Democratic Party. On June 19, 2007 DS leader Piero Fassino publicly asked Veltroni to run for the party leadership, offering support from all of his party. Several other Democratic Party leading members publicly stated their support for a possible candidacy of Veltroni. Furthermore, the strongest of his possible contenders, Pier Luigi Bersani, which polls showed as having a 50% support in center-north regions, ^[5] withdrawn to avoid a 'confusing candidacy'.^[6] Veltroni presented officially his candidacy for the leadership of the Democratic Party ad a rally in Turin on the 27 of June 2007. In this occasion he introduced the four key issues his programme would address: environment, generational pact, education, public security.^[7] He was elected leader of the new Democratic Party with 75% of votes.

Works

Veltroni has written a number of books on various topics, such as music, social issues, fiction, biographies and, of course, politics.

1977 - Il PCI e la questione giovanile (The PCI and the Youth Question)
1978 - A dieci anni dal ’68. Intervista con Achille Occhetto (Ten Years since '68: Interview with Achille Occhetto)
1981 - Il sogno degli anni sessanta (The dream of the Sixties)
1982 - Il calcio è una scienza da amare (Football is a science to be loved)
1990 - Io e Berlusconi (e la Rai) (Berlusconi and me (and RAI))
1992 - I programmi che hanno cambiato l’Italia (Programs that changed Italy)
1992 - Il sogno spezzato. Le idee di Robert Kennedy (The broken dream. The ideas of Robert Kennedy)
1992 - La sfida interrotta. Le idee di Enrico Berlinguer (The interrupted challenge. The ideas of Enrico Berlinguer)
1994 - Certi piccoli amori (Certain small Loves)
1995 - La bella politica (interview book) (Politics, the beautiful)
1997 - Certi piccoli amori 2 (Certain Small Loves II)
1997 - Governare da sinistra (To Govern from the Left)
2000 - I care
2000 - Forse Dio è malato. Diario di un viaggio africano (Perhaps God is sick: Diary of an African journey)
2003 - Il disco del mondo. Vita breve di Luca Flores, musicista (The disk of the world: A brief life of Luca Flores, musician)
2004 - Senza Patricio (Without Patricio)
2006 - La scoperta dell'alba (Discovering of the dawn)

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Veltroni is the Italian dubber of character Mayor Turkey Lurkey for the animated movie Chicken Little, released by Walt Disney Pictures in late 2005. His remuneration for the part was donated to charity.^[8]
Even though a native of Rome, Veltroni is a well-known supporter of Juventus, a football team from Turin.
He is a friend of singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori and film director Nanni Moretti. In the 1990s, both of them appeared alongside Veltroni in some celebrations after political elections in Italy.

References

^ Rome Mayor Set to Win Left's Leadership. Associated Press (2007-10-14). Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
^ AteneOnline. Chi è Walter Veltroni. Non solo politico (Italian). Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
^ Travaglio, Marco; Daniele Luttazzi. "Intervista a Daniele Luttazzi su La Repubblica", La Repubblica di Torino, 08/11/2001. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. (Italian) "Dopo quella puntata famosa di Satyricon, Veltroni mandò un emissario alla mia regista per dire che, se non la smettevamo di fare casino, ci chiudevano loro"
^ "La dolce vita revisited: Rome's new emperor", The Independent, 2007-07-09. Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
^ Pd: Letta-Bersani volano nel Nord in sondaggi riservati - Il Sole 24 ORE. Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
^ ANSA.it - PD: BERSANI, NON MI CANDIDO. Retrieved on 2007-07-09., RaiNews24 - Bersani rinuncia alla segreteria del Pd. "La mia candidatura avrebbe disorientato". Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
^ "Italy's Left Looks Beyond Prodi", The Guardian, 2007-06-27. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
^ La Repubblica. "Veltroni doppia il sindaco Tacchino nel nuovo cartone Disney sui polli", 2005-11-15. Retrieved on 2007-07-01. (Italian)

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Antonio Paolucci as Minister of Culture and Environment	Minister of Culture and Deputy Prime Minister 1996 - 1998	Succeeded by Giovanna Melandri as Minister of Culture and Environment
Preceded by Francesco Rutelli	Mayor of Rome 2001 – present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Massimo D'Alema	Secretary of the Democrats of the Left 1998–2001	Succeeded by Piero Fassino
Preceded by New Party	Secretary of thr Democratic Party 2007 - present	Incumbent

• • e Prodi I Cabinet (1996-1998)
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