Dario Franceschini

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.[3] 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[3] 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).[8] He has three daughters.

With the birth of the Democratic Party 14 October 2007 and the ascent to the secretariat of Walter Veltroni, he became National Deputy Secretary of the new party. Following this appointment, he resigned from the presidency of the group L'Ulivo in the House of Deputies, replaced by Antonello Soro.[12]

He was Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers in the shadow government of the Democratic Party from 9 May 2008 to 21 February 2009. He was elected deputy again in the general election of 2008. He represented until July 2012, the Italian Parliament to the Council of Europe and Western European Union Assembly.

Franceschini in 2009.

On 21 February 2009, after the resignation of Walter Veltroni,[13] he was elected secretary of the Democratic Party in the National Assembly, with 1,047 votes out of 1,258. His only opponent Arturo Parisi won just 92 votes.[4][5]

His first act after the election was to swear the oath on a copy of the Italian Constitution, in front of the castle of his native Ferrara, in the hands of his father Giorgio Franceschini, former partisan and former deputy.[14]

After of the primary elections of the Democratic Party of 25 October 2009, Franceschini was nominated secretary, along with Pier Luigi Bersani and Ignazio Marino. The slogan for his running for the position of secretary was "Free the Future". He organizes the election campaign focusing it on a series of speeches, "10 speeches to the Italians", which he delivers in cities or places related to the subject and significance for the history of the country. At Marzabotto, he delivers the "Address to the Free", in Genoa the "Address to the New Italian", in Cosenza the "Address to the Young People of the South." Each speech ends with the word "now", clearly inspired by the magazine Now, founded by Don Primo Mazzolari. The speeches are published in November 2009 in the book, published by Simon and Schuster: In ten words. Challenging the right over values Among the supporters of the candidacy of Franceschini there are Piero Fassino, Debora Serracchiani, Franco Marini, Marco Minniti, Giovanna Melandri, Tiziano Treu, Enrico Morando, Marina Sereni, Antonello Soro, Cesare Damiano, Pierluigi Castagnetti, Paolo Gentiloni, Sergio Cofferati, Rita Borsellino, Mario Adinolfi, David Sassoli. Former Secretary of the Democratic Party Walter Veltroni, while saying he would stay out of the party convention, had words of appreciation for the candidacy of Franceschini. He received support from many representatives from the world of culture and entertainment including Lorenzo Jovanotti, Nanni Moretti and Andrea Camilleri.

On 25 October 2009, in the primaries of the PD, Franceschini received over a million votes, representing 34% of the total, but was surpassed by Bersani, who then became the new secretary. That same evening, he acknowledged Bersani's victory and said that beyond the results, he would strive to ensure the unity of the party. On 17 November, he was elected President of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives after Antonello Soro had resigned as deputy. After the defeat in the primaries, he rearranged all the forces that had supported his candidacy in a domestic component to the Democratic Party, Democratic Area, which is now seen as a benchmark.

Franceschini at the Leopolda convention in Florence, 2014.

In the general elections of 2013 he was a candidate and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as head of the list of the Democratic Party in the constituency of Emilia-Romagna.

From 28 April 2013 to 22 February 2014 was Minister for Relations with Parliament and the coordination of government activity in the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

On 22 February 2014 he was sworn in as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism in the government of Matteo Renzi. He presided over the Council of European Ministers of Culture and the European Forum of Ministers of Culture and Tourism in the second half of 2014.

On 12 December 2016, when Renzi resigned as Prime Minister after the constitutional referendum, Franceschini was confirmed as Culture Minister by the new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.[15]

In 2006 he published his first novel Nelle vene quell’acqua d’argento ("That silver water in the veins"), which in 2007 won the Premier Roman in France Chambéry and, in Italy, the Opera Prima Prize of the City of Penne, Bacchelli Award. The novel was published by Gallimard in France in the series "L'Arpenteur", titled Dans les veines le fleuve d'argent, and later reissued in the paperback series "Folio". In 2007 he published the novel La follia improvvisa di Ignazio Rando ("The sudden madness of Ignazio Rando"), adapted as a play by the Varese theatre group "Giorni Dispari Teatro" . In 2011 he released Daccapo ("Again"), a novel that features the son of a provincial notary who had 53 children by as many secret prostitutes. In 2013 he published his fourth novel Mestieri immateriali di Sebastiano Delgado("The intangible crafts of Sebastiano Salgado").

He is a member of the jury of Premio Strega (Strega Prize).

• Il Partito popolare a Ferrara: cattolici, socialisti e fascisti nella terra di Grosoli e don Minzoni (1985)[16]
• Nelle vene quell'acqua d'argento (2006)[17]
• La follia improvvisa di Ignazio Rando (2007)[18]
• In 10 parole. Sfidare la Destra sui valori (2009)[19]
• Daccapo (2011)[20]
• Mestieri immateriali di Sebastiano Delgado (2013)[21]

•  Spain: Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (24 June 2016).[22]

• (in Italian) Official website