Nicola Zingaretti

Zingaretti's mother is an Italian Jew, who on 16 October 1943 managed to escape from the Nazis with her mother, while her grandmother Ester Della Torre was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she died after a few days.

He has one sister, Angela, and an older brother, Luca, who has become a well-known actor, famous for playing Salvo Montalbano in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series.

While attending a professional school for dental technicians, Zingaretti started his commitment to associations taking part in the peace movements.

Moreover, at 17 years old he was one of the founders of the anti-racist association "Black and not only" (Nero e non-solo), whose main aims were to promote liberal immigration politics and to create a multicultural and multiethnic society.

Nicola Zingaretti (born 11 October 1965) is an Italian politician who served as President of Lazio from March 2013 to November 2022 and was Secretary of the Democratic Party from March 2019 until March 2021.

Nicola Zingaretti was born in Rome in 1965, where he grew up in a middle-class family.

He obtained a certificate as a dental technician in 1984.

He then attended the faculty of Letters at the Sapienza University of Rome, but passed only three exams and never graduated.

During these years he met his future wife Cristina, with whom he has two daughters.

Zingaretti started his political career within the ranks of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), where, between 1985 and 1989, he was the City Secretary for Rome.

In the same years he also served as member of the National Board of Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI).

Zingaretti later became a member of PCI's heir, the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS).

During the 1990s, he was a prominent European youth leader, serving as National Secretary of the Left Youth, the youth-wing of the Democratic Party of the Left and as President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.

In 1991 he was elected National Secretary of Left Youth (Sinistra Giovanile), the youth wing of the PDS.

In the following year he was elected to the Rome City Council.

During these years, he became a strong advocate of sustainable development and environmental protection; he also promoted many events against the Mafia and organized both the first "Antimafia Youth Camp" in San Vito Lo Capo and numerous initiatives in memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the two anti-mafia magistrates who were assassinated in 1992.

From 1995 to 1997, he was President of the International Union of Socialist Youth and Vice President of the Socialist International.

In these years, he was committed in rebuilding links with the social democratic parties and other democratic and progressive youth organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1996, he spoke to the UN General Assembly for the World Youth Year, as a Representative on the UN Committee.

In 1998, at thirty-three years old Zingaretti joined the Commission to draw up the socialist political platform for the new century, "Global Progress", chaired by Felipe González and composed, among others, by Martine Aubry, Shimon Peres and Ricardo Lagos.

He was also committed in promoting the peace process between Israel and Palestine, organizing many initiatives to support dialogue between young wings of the Israeli Labor Party and Fatah.

From 1998 to 2000, he served as international relations spokesman for the Democrats of the Left (DS), the heirs of the PDS, and in 1998 he organized the Congress of European Socialists, in Milan.

In 1999 he took part in the Democrats of the Left delegation, along with Secretary Walter Veltroni, which visited Burma in support of the National League for Democracy and met the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi.

In the same year, he organized the journey of the Dalai Lama in Rome.

In 2000, Zingaretti was elected Provincial Secretary of Democrats of the Left for Rome.

In the following year he was one of the main promoters of Walter Veltroni's candidacy for Mayor of Rome, contributing to his victory.

Zingaretti was among the protagonists of a season of important results for the centre-left and for the Democrats of the Left: in 2003, after eight years, the DS became again the largest party in the capital city, defeating the centre-right in the whole province of Rome.

In 2004, Zingaretti became a Member of the European Parliament for the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree.

In March 2004, Zingaretti run in the European election for the list United in the Olive Tree.

He gained more than 213,000 preferences and was elected Member of the European Parliament.

During the first meeting of the Italian delegation he was appointed President.

He was also a member of the Committee on Development and Committee on International Trade.

He also took part in the interparliamentary delegations for relations with the Korean Peninsula, Israel and in the parliamentary intergroup "Volunteering", "Disability", "LGBT rights" and "Tibet".

From 2005 to 2007, he was rapporteur for the European Parliament on the directive IPRED2 about criminal sanctions for the protection of intellectual property rights and succeeded in pushing through a bill which uniformed the criminal sanctions in all EU Member States.

The directive opposes criminal penalties for counterfeiters who import illegal and dangerous goods from countries outside the EU.

The approval of the directive had a recognition by the International Herald Tribune and an MEP Award nomination, a prestigious honor that is given annually to the most deserving MEPs.

From 2008 to 2012, he served as President of the Province of Rome.

Zingaretti is considered a social democrat and one of the most prominent members of the party's left-wing.

Moreover, he is the longest-serving President of Lazio as well as the first one to be re-elected after a first five-year term.

He is the brother of the actor Luca Zingaretti, who plays Salvo Montalbano in the Inspector Montalbano television series.