Francesco Rutelli

Francesco Rutelli is an Italian politician and journalist. He was born in Rome in 1954. He is Chairman of the political movement of “Alleanza per l’Italia” and co-Chairman of the European Democratic Party. In the last two decades, as Mayor of Rome and, more recently, as Minister of Culture, Francesco Rutelli has contributed to the creation and development of many crucial infrastructures, cultural institutions, museums and galleries in Italy.

Career

Overseer of the restoration of the Auditorium-Città della Musica, the MAXXI Museum, the new Ara Pacis shrine, and the opening of over 20 museums and exhibition spaces in Rome, including the National Gallery of Ancient Art, MACRO and the Scuderie del Quirinale complex, Rutelli oversaw the restoration of San Carlo theatre in Naples and the Petruzzelli theatre in Bari as well as the Maggio Fiorentino Auditorium and the completion of the restoration of the Reggia di Venaria in Torino. During his political career he enacted a new tax credit system for the movie industry. He established the Teatro Festival in Naples and breathed new life into the International Festival of Spoleto. Moreover he has promoted the first guide to Italian creative industries, spearheaded a cultural diplomacy strategy for Italy and made successful negotiations and has managed the recovery of priceless stolen artefacts and historical pieces of art, developing new agreements and lending policies and building bridges for scientific cooperation. He was elected as a member of Camera dei Deputati (the lower House of Parliament) in 1983 athte young age of 29 and then again in 1987, 1992, 2001, and 2006. In 2008, he was elected to the Senate and to the European Parliament in 1999. Since 1989, he has been President of the Centro per un Futuro Sostenibile (Centre for Sustainable Future), which promotes global environment initiatives. In December 1993, he became the youngest elected Mayor of Rome at 39, as well as the first to be elected directly by citizens and in 2001, he was even selected as a priministerial candidate by the centre-left Ulivo coalition and challenger to Silvio Berlusconi. In 2006 Rutelli was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture in the Prodi Government as well as being minister for Tourism.

Other roles

Between 2008 and 2011, he was Chairman of Copasir (the Parliamentary Committee of Overview on Intelligence) where he drafted and published many reports on human trafficking. He was the first to consider it as a strategic threat. In his international engagement, he also chaired for two terms the Human Rights Committee of the Camera dei Deputati. He has a Diploma in International Organizations from SIOI (the Italian Society for International Organization). He has also chaired the Urban Policies Committee in Brussels, been an Advisor for Urban Development to the former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali and today he contributes to several international think tanks activities.

External Links

http://www.francescorutelli.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=801&Itemid=2