17 Facts About Nichi Vendola

Nichi Vendola is one of the first openly LGBT Italian politicians and the first openly LGBT heads of a regional government in Italy.

Nichi Vendola went on to study literature at his university, presenting a dissertation on the poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Nichi Vendola came out as gay in 1978, and became an activist and a leading member of the Italian gay organisation Arcigay.

In 1992, Nichi Vendola was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, a seat which he held until 2005.

In 2005, Nichi Vendola ran for the first primary election ever held in Italy, held by the centre-left coalition The Union to choose their candidate for the presidency of the Apulia region.

Nichi Vendola won the primary over the rival Francesco Boccia.

Nichi Vendola identifies as a "believer" : he once said that "the most important book for a communist like me is the Bible".

Nichi Vendola was the first member of the Communist Refoundation Party to be elected as president of any Italian region.

In December 2009, Nichi Vendola became the first leader of the newly founded party Left Ecology Freedom, which the Movement for the Left had merged into.

In July 2010, during a general congress of the so-called "Factories of Nichi", Vendola announced his candidacy for the Primary Elections of the Italian centre-left.

Nationwide polls showed Nichi Vendola winning over either Democratic Party Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani or Silvio Berlusconi, then Prime Minister of Italy.

In May 2021, Nichi Vendola was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, due to involvement in the Ilva scandal.

Nichi Vendola said he had been "condemned without a shred of evidence" and that he would appeal the ruling.

Nichi Vendola has lived with his partner Edward "Ed" Testa since 2004.

Nichi Vendola is a poet: some of his poems have been collected in a book, named L'ultimo mare.

Nichi Vendola is a devout Roman Catholic, although he opposes many of the church's social positions.

On 17 October 2018, Nichi Vendola had a heart attack, but he is in no danger after being fitted with a stent at Rome's Gemelli Hospital.