Matteo Renzi is an Italian politician born on 11 January 1975 in Florence.
He grew up in the nearby town of Rignano sull’Arno in a Catholic family with strong ties to scouting through the Association of Catholic Guides and Scouts of Italy.
His parents are Tiziano Renzi, a former small-business owner and Christian Democracy municipal councillor, and Laura Bovoli, a former teacher.
Renzi attended the Liceo Classico Dante in Florence, graduating with top marks, and later earned a law degree from the University of Florence in 1999 with a thesis on former Florence mayor Giorgio La Pira.
He is married to Agnese Landini, a high-school teacher of Italian literature, Latin and history, and they have three children: Francesco, Emanuele and Ester.
Siblings
Matteo is the second of four children. His older sister Benedetta, born around 1972, studied political science at the Cesare Alfieri faculty in Florence.
She has lived in the Bologna area, specifically Castenaso, and has been involved in local politics, including election as a municipal councillor for the Democratic Party.
She has also held shares in the family’s marketing company Eventi6 Srl.
His younger brother Samuele, born in 1983, studied medicine at the University of Florence and works as a paediatrician.
The youngest sibling is Matilde, born in 1984.
She has lived near the family in the Florence area, held shares in Eventi6 Srl alongside her sister and mother, and has largely stayed out of the public spotlight compared with her more prominent brother.
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Career
Renzi entered politics in the mid-1990s with the Italian People’s Party, becoming provincial secretary in Florence in 1999.
He later joined La Margherita and then the Democratic Party.
In 2004 he was elected president of the Province of Florence, serving until 2009.
That year he won election as mayor of Florence, a position he held until 2014 and used as a platform for national visibility.
In December 2013 he became secretary of the Democratic Party after a decisive primary victory.
Following Enrico Letta’s resignation, Renzi was appointed prime minister in February 2014 at the age of 39, becoming the youngest person to hold the office in Italian history and the youngest G7 leader at the time.
His government pursued labour-market reforms (the Jobs Act), public-administration changes, the introduction of same-sex civil unions and other measures aimed at modernising the economy and institutions.
After the defeat of his constitutional-reform proposals in a December 2016 referendum, he resigned as prime minister.
He briefly returned as Democratic Party secretary in 2017 before stepping down again after the 2018 general election, in which he was elected to the Senate.
In September 2019 he left the Democratic Party and founded Italia Viva, which he continues to lead.
He has remained active in parliamentary politics and has participated in subsequent government formations and European election campaigns.
Accolades
During his time as prime minister and party leader, Renzi received international recognition.
In 2016 he was awarded a Global Citizen Award by the Atlantic Council for his contributions on the world stage.
He was also named one of the most influential people under 40 by Fortune magazine and included among Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers.
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