Matteo Renzi

He was Mayor of Florence from 2009 to 2014, leader of the Democratic Party, and Prime Minister of Italy from February 2014 to December 2016. He is named among the possible contenders for Prime Minister of Italy in the next general election.

Career

Renzi graduated in law from the University of Florence in 1999. He belonged to the Italian People's Party and The Daisy before joining the Democratic Party in 2007. He presided over the Province of Florence from 2004 to 2009 and was Mayor of Florence from 2009 to 2014. He led the Democratic Party from 2013, with a brief interruption in 2017, until his resignation after the 2018 election defeat. He became Prime Minister in February 2014 and resigned in December 2016 after voters rejected his constitutional reform in a referendum. He left the Democratic Party in 2019 to found Italia Viva, withdrew its support from the second Conte government in January 2021, and has been a Senator since 2018.

Positions

Observers describe Renzi as a centrist and liberal. In August 2026 Il Foglio reported that he wants Italia Viva to field a reformist mayor in the centre-left coalition's broad primaries, naming Silvia Salis and Gaetano Manfredi as profiles, and that he is considering standing himself if none is found. He argues that without the centre the coalition cannot win, and calls for firm pacts among the centre-left parties against Giorgia Meloni's coalition.

Controversies

Florence prosecutors investigated the Open foundation, which backed Renzi's political initiatives, on suspicion of illicit party financing. The Court of Cassation repeatedly rejected the prosecutors' view that the foundation was a party organisation, and the Constitutional Court ruled in Renzi's favour on a conflict over seized correspondence. On 19 December 2024 the Florence preliminary hearing judge acquitted Renzi and ten others, and Il Sole 24 Ore reported no appeal against the verdict. Renzi called the case an absolute scandal.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Il Sole 24 Ore · Il Foglio

Photo: PSD Romania, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)