23 Facts About Francesco Rutelli

Francesco Rutelli was during 15 years co-president of the European Democratic Party, a centrist European political party.

Francesco Rutelli was then chosen as Ministry of Environment and Urban Areas in 1993, although he resigned after one day in the post.

Francesco Rutelli served as a Member of European Parliament from 1999 to 2004.

Francesco Rutelli was defeated by Silvio Berlusconi in the 2001 general election as Prime Minister candidate for the centre-left Olive Tree coalition, gathering 16.4 million votes, against 16.9 million of the right wing coalition.

Francesco Rutelli led the party until it merged into the Democratic Party on 14 October 2007.

In December 2010, the ApI became a founding member of the new centrist formation New Pole for Italy, and Francesco Rutelli became one of the new group's main leaders, along with UdC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini and Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the Future and Freedom party and former leader of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement and the national-conservative National Alliance, until 2012.

Francesco Rutelli has been again elected to the Camera dei Deputati in 2001 and 2006, and to the Senate in 2008, when he became the Chairman of COPASIR, where he drafted and published reports on human trafficking as a strategic threat, and the first Report to the Parliament and the Government on Cyberspace and its implications for national security.

Francesco Rutelli founded the European Democratic Party, together with the French political leader Francois Bayrou.

Francesco Rutelli was unanimously voted co-president of the party.

Francesco Rutelli is the President of the political foundation affiliated to the EDP, the Institute of European Democrats.

Francesco Rutelli has been elected to the European Parliament, sitting in the ALDE Group, introducing Reports and many Parliamentary initiatives.

Francesco Rutelli has been one of the main promoter of the Referendum for a stronger integration between Italy and the EU ; he has been awarded the Crocodile-Altiero Spinelli Prize, as a proEuropean personality.

Francesco Rutelli chaired for two terms the Human Rights Committee in the Chamber of Deputies.

Francesco Rutelli got a Diploma in International Organizations from the Italian Society for International Organization, SIOI.

Francesco Rutelli has been the Honorary President of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.

Francesco Rutelli promoted the "Cultural and Creative Industries Italy-China " Forums.

Francesco Rutelli quit University in 1977; 40 years later, at the age of 62, a degree in Landscape and environmental planning and design, with highest grade and honors by Universita La Sapienza and Tuscia University.

Mario Francesco Rutelli was the author of the Najadi Fountain in Rome, the Anita Garibaldi's Monument, and dozens of public and private sculptures; among them, some of the most important monuments in Palermo.

Francesco Rutelli oversaw the restoration of San Carlo Theatre and Petruzzelli Theatre, the construction of the new Maggio Fiorentino Auditorium, the radical restructuring of Museo Archeologico di Reggio Calabria and the conclusion of the Reggia di Venaria restoration.

Francesco Rutelli established the Teatro Festival in Naples and re-launched the International Festival of Spoleto.

Francesco Rutelli promoted the first White Book on Italian creative industries.

Francesco Rutelli led a significant Cultural Diplomacy strategy for Italy, and through successful negotiations managed the recovery of priceless stolen crafts and historical masterpieces, in the UNESCO Conventions framework, in cooperation with international museums and cultural institutions, developing new agreements on lending policies and scientific cooperation.

Francesco Rutelli is married to Barbara Palombelli, a radio and television journalist for the Italian broadcasting company Mediaset; they have four children, 3 of which are adopted.