Giovanni Spadolini was a
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Italian
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, the
45th Prime Minister of ItalyThe Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.
Biography
Spadolini was born in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
As a journalist, he sometimes used the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Giovanni dalle Bande NereLodovico de Medici also known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:Giovanni was born in the Northern Italian town of Forlì to Giovanni de' Medici and Caterina Sforza, one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance.From an early age, he demonstrated great...
. Before entering politics, he was editor of
Il Corriere della Sera from 1968 to 1972.
Giovanni Spadolini served as Ministro dei Beni e delle Attività culturali (
Minister for Cultural Assets and ActivitiesThe Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities is the ministry of culture of the Republic of Italy. It is based at 27 via del Collegio Romano, Rome, and the current minister is Lorenzo Ornaghi....
) from 1974 to 1976.
He was leader of the
Italian Republican PartyThe Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
(PRI) from 1979 to 1987, during both the 10th and the 11th Legislatures.
He served as
Prime Minister of ItalyThe Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
from 1981 to 1982, the first in the post-1945 Republic to do so who was not a member of the
Christian DemocratChristian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
party.
From 1987 to April 1994 he was President of the
Italian SenateThe Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
. Following the electoral success of
Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's
House of FreedomsThe House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
, he lost the chairmanship of the Senate to
Carlo Scognamiglio PasiniCarlo Scognamiglio Pasini is an Italian Italian economist and politician. He is a university professor in applied economics and was chancellor of the Luiss University of Rome ....
by a single vote. He died four months later in Rome, on 4 August 1994.