Journalist Walter Veltroni was born in 1955 in Rome, where he has always lived. He is married to
Flavia and has two daughters, Martina and Vittoria.
Veltroni was a city councillor for Rome from 1976 to 1981, and was elected to the Italian Chamber
of Deputies in 1987. He played a leading role in the birth of the Democratic Party of the Left in
1989.
From 1992 to 1996 he was editor-in-chief of “L’Unità” daily newspaper.
In 1995, together with Romano Prodi, he promoted the creation of L’Ulivo, the centre-left coalition
which went on to win the April 1996 general election. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister for Cultural Heritage in the Prodi government.
As Minister, he committed himself to safeguarding the vast cultural heritage of Italy. The
significant results achieved in the development and recovery of its cultural heritage returned Italy to
its status as “a nation of art”. His success did not go unnoticed even abroad, where France decided
to award him the Légion d’honneur in May 2000.
In November 1998 he was elected leader of the Democrats of the Left. In June 1999 he was elected
Member of the European Parliament for Italy, where he was part of the Committee on Culture,
Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. In Strasbourg he was also chairman of the “Cinema,
audiovisual policy and intellectual property” and “Tibet” intergroups.
In May 2001 he was elected Mayor of Rome. During this time the Italian capital experienced
extraordinary economic development, exceptional results in the tourism sector, an improved social
network and renewed cultural vitality, earning him international recognition and media attention
from all over the world.
From 2002 to 2007, Veltroni hosted the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome, and in
2006 he became Co-President together with Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 2006, Veltroni was re-elected Mayor at the first stage with 61.4% of the votes.
On 27 June 2007, he presented his candidacy for the leadership of the new Democratic Party
from the Lingotto complex in Turin. With 75.81% of the votes, he became the first leader of the
new Democratic Party on 14 October 2007. He announced his resignation on 17 February 2009.
His fight in favour of Third World debt cancellation and his commitment to bring Africa’s plight
to the attention of the international community in terms of its hunger and poverty, prompted him
to undertake a long journey across many African countries. He described the experience in his
book, “Forse Dio è malato” (Perhaps God is sick). Africa is also the central theme in the night-
time radio programme “Il Sindaco e il dj” (The mayor and the DJ) on RAI Radio 2, from which
the compilation album “Me, We” was generated. All proceeds of this go towards building wells in
Mozambique. As Mayor of Rome he promoted the ItaliaAfrica event for three years, and together
with schools in Rome, promoted decentralized co-operation activities which lead to the construction
of schools in various African countries.
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