Curriculum vitae

Walter VELTRONI
Mayor of Rome

Walter Veltroni was born in 1955 in Rome, where he has lived ever since. He is married to Flavia and has two daughters, Martina who is 15 and Vittoria who is 12.

In 1976 he was elected Municipal Councillor in Rome, remaining in office until 1981.

In 1987 he was elected member of parliament on the PCI list.

He joined the national secretariat in 1988, and the following year co-operated with Achille Occhetto in founding the Democratic Party of the Left. At the founding congress in 1991 he was elected to the political co-ordinating body, with responsibility for information and communication. In this capacity he dealt with cultural affairs, concentrating on the field of information, telecommunications and the cinema.

In 1992, as a professional journalist and thanks to the interest in communication and information which he had inherited from his father Vittorio, one of the first directors of the RAI TV and radio news department, Walter Veltroni became editor of the daily newspaper “L’Unità”.

He held this position from May 1992 to April 1996, four years during which the newspaper developed and flourished, against an extremely difficult political background. In 1995 he returned to a more direct political engagement, joining Romano Prodi in instigating the “Ulivo”, a centre-left coalition which was destined to win the subsequent parliamentary elections in April 1996. After the elections he took office as Vice-President of the Council and Minister for Cultural Affairs in the Prodi Government.

His ministerial duties facilitate his active involvement in safeguarding the important cultural heritage of our nation, and of Rome in particular.

The outstanding results which he obtained in enhancing and rehabilitating national cultural assets have transformed Italy into a “nation of arts”. This achievement has also been recognised abroad, with France awarding him the Légion d’Honneur in May 2000.

In November 1998, after the fall of the Prodi Government, Veltroni was elected National Secretary of the Left-Wing Democrats. In June 1999 he was elected member of the European Parliament, where he joined the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. Continuing to follow his passion for communication and entertainment in Strasbourg, he also became Chairman of the Intergroup on Cinema, Audiovisual Policy and Intellectual Property.

He was elected Mayor of Rome in the May 2001 administrative elections.

He has published a number of books over the years: “Il Pci e la questione giovanile” (The PCI and the youth issue) (Newton Compton, 1977); “A dieci anni dal ’68, intervista con Achille Occhetto” (Ten years on from 1968: interview with Achille Occhetto) (Editori Riuniti, 1978); “Il Sogno degli anni Sessanta” (The Sixties dream) (Savelli, 1981); “Il calcio è una scienza da amare” (Football is a science to be loved) (Savelli, 1982); “Io e Berlusconi (e la Rai)” (Berlusconi [and the RAI] and me) (Feltrinelli, 1990); “I programmi che hanno cambiato l’Italia” (The programmes that have changed Italy) (Feltrinelli, 1992). In 1981 he wrote “Il Sogno spezzato” (The shattered dream) on the figure of Robert Kennedy, and in 1994 he dedicated a book to another figure of great importance to his political formation, “La Sfida interrotta” (The interrupted challenge), which investigated the ideas of Enrico Berlinguer; both these books were published by Baldini and Castoldi.

In 1994 he turned his attention to the cinema, compiling the reviews written for the Venerdi di Repubblica, including Certi piccoli amori published by Sperling and Kupfer, followed in 1997 by Certi piccoli amori 2. In 1995 Rizzoli published his book of interviews produced in co-operation with Stefano Del Re, La Bella Politica. In 1997 he wrote an essay entitled “Governare da sinistra” (Governing from the left) for Baldini and Castoldi.

His fight for the cancellation of Third World debts and his commitment to drawing international attention to conditions in Africa and action against starvation and poverty took him on a long journey through various African countries.

He described this experience in his book “Forse Dio è malato” (Perhaps God is ill), published in 2000 by Rizzoli. Africa was also the subject of the late-night radio programmes which he broadcast with Pierluigi Diaco (on RAI Radio 2), entitled “Il Sindaco e il dj” (The Mayor and the DJ). These shows produced a musical compilation entitled Me We. All proceeds from the sale of this CD, which was published in October 2002 by the CGD (the Italian Warner Group), were channelled into well projects in the suburbs of Maputo, Mozambique. The wells were inaugurated in July 2003.

In May 2003 Veltroni was awarded an honorary “Public Services” degree by John Cabot University. Also in May 2003 Rizzoli published his work “Il disco del mondo” (The world record) on the life of the young jazz musician Luca Flores.