Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

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Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
In office
May 18, 1999 – May 15, 2006
Preceded by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Succeeded by Giorgio Napolitano
In office
28 April 1993 – 10 May 1994
President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Preceded by Giuliano Amato
Succeeded by Silvio Berlusconi
Born December 9, 1920 (age 86)
Livorno, Italy
Political party (non-aligned)
Spouse Franca Pilla

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (born 9 December 1920 in Livorno) is an Italian politician and banker who has been both Prime Minister of Italy and President of the Italian Republic. He resigned as President before the swearing-in ceremony of his successor Giorgio Napolitano. He is currently a senator for life in the Italian Senate.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Education

Ciampi was born in Livorno (Tuscany).

After receiving a degree in literature in 1941 from the Scuola Normale of Pisa, one of the country's most prestigious universities, he was called to military duty in Albania as a lieutenant. On September 8, 1943, the date of the armistice with the Allies, he refused to remain in the Fascist Italian Social Republic, and took refuge in Abruzzo, in Scanno. He subsequently managed to pass the lines and reach Bari, where he joined the Partito d'Azione (and thus the Italian resistance movement).

In 1946 he married Franca Pila. The same year, he also obtained a degree in law from the University of Pisa in 1946. That same year, he began working at the Banca d'Italia. He also inscribed to CGIL, a member of which he remained until 1980.

The Italian design for the Euro coin, chosen by Ciampi.
The Italian design for the Euro coin, chosen by Ciampi.

Oxford University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in March 2005.


[edit] Career in the Banca d'Italia

In 1960, he was called to work in the central administration of the Banca d'Italia, where he became Secretary General in 1973, Vice Director General in 1976, and Director General in 1978. In October 1979, he was nominated Governor of the Banca d'Italia and President of the Ufficio Italiano Cambi, positions he filled until 1993.

[edit] Prime Minister

From April 1993 to May 1994, he was the Italian Prime Minister overseeing a technical government. Later, as Treasury Minister from 1996 to May 1999 in the governments of Romano Prodi and Massimo D'Alema, he was credited with adopting the euro currency. He personally chose the Italian design for the 1-euro coin, whereas all others were left to a television vote among some candidates the ministry had prepared. (See also: Italian euro coins)

Ciampi chose the Vitruvian man of Leonardo da Vinci, on the symbolic grounds that it represented man as a measure of all things, and in particular of the coin: in this perspective, money was at the service of man, instead of its opposite. The design also fitted very well on the bimetallic material of the coin.

[edit] President of Italy

Ciampi was elected with a broad majority, and was the second president ever to be elected at the first ballot (when there is a requirement of a two-thirds majority) in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies, the Italian Senate and representatives of the Regions.

As a president, he usually refrained from intervening directly into the political debate. However, he has often addressed general issues, without mentioning their connection to the current political debate, in order to state his opinion without being too intrusive. His interventions have frequently stressed the need for all parties to respect the constitution and observe the proprieties of political debate. He is generally held in high regard by all political forces represented in the parliament. The possibility of persuading Ciampi to stand for a second term as president - the so-called Ciampi-bis - was widely discussed, despite his advancing age but it was officially dismissed by Ciampi himself on 3 May 2006, just a few days before his mandate expired.

President Ciampi is not considered to be close to the positions of the Vatican and the Catholic church, in a sort of alternance after the devout Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. He has often praised patriotism, not a common feeling in Italy because of its abuse by the Fascist regime; President Ciampi, however, seems to want to stress self-confidence rather than nationalism.

On May 5, 2005, he received the Charlemagne Award of the city of Aachen. On June 15, 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the École Normale Supérieure of Paris.

Preceded by
Paolo Baffi		 Governor of Banca d'Italia
1979–1993		 Succeeded by
Antonio Fazio
Preceded by
Giuliano Amato		 Prime Minister of Italy
1993–1994		 Succeeded by
Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro		 President of the Italian Republic
1999-2006		 Succeeded by
Giorgio Napolitano
Preceded by
Morihiro Hosokawa		 Chair of the G8
1994		 Succeeded by
Silvio Berlusconi
v • d • e
Prime ministers of Italy
Kingdom of Italy
Italian Republic

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