Alessandro Di Gregorio, known professionally as Alex Di Gregorio (born June 20, 1962), is an Italian

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

and author best known for his commentary on Italian national domestic and foreign policy from a progressive perspective.

Beginnings

Alex Di Gregorio was born in Parma but he grew up in Alessandria to a Roman

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family. He started drawing at a precocious age. His first works are classmate portraits when he was six.

Career

After graduating in 1981, Di Gregorio made his artistic debut as cartoonist in local newspapers in Alessandria. He moved to Milan in 1994 to become cartoonist for ''Mediolanum'' and ''Standa'', making storyboards for Economic TV shows, and cartoonist in Retequattro's TV show "Quadrante economico", created by Carlo Maria Lomartire. In 1998 he became cartoonist in the Italian TV

Telemontecarlo La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia. Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Swit ...

, then

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia. Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Swi ...

television show ''Crono-tempo di motori''. Since 1997, he is cartoonist at christian-democratic newspaper "La Discussione". His cartoons appear in Italian newspaper titles like "L'Indipendente", "Liberal", "Con", "L'Ago & il Filo", "Il Secolo d'Italia". From 2008, is cartoonist and communications, graphic and project manager of intellectual and author Magdi Cristiano Allam. Currently, Alex is cartoonist at "The Defender", the Robert F. Kennedy jr's Children's Health Defense Magazine; "Coldiretti", the largest Italian Farmers Union; "Univerde"; "Anbi". He always insisted on total editorial independence. As a lifetime

Christian Democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

, he focussed most of his attacks on the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

figures. On April 18, 2005, a series of Alex Di Gregorio's cartoons published on Italian Christian Democrats website criticized Italian Premier

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, mainly for the perilous course of his Administration. He usually satirized and criticized politicians and administrators and took the issues of the day: economic problems; abortion; the influence of fundamentalist Islamic groups and their impact on public policy.

Personal life

While he criticized the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and other communist aggressions, he also believed in policy dialogue between USA and USSR. He has a great interest in American political history, and human and civil rights and is a

Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights advocacy organization. It was named after United States Senator Robert F. Kenned ...

member, subscribed to the

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...

, member of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and Robert F. Kennedy jr's Children's Health Defense. He has published a cartoon about Robert Kennedy, ''RFK, the Dream Carries On'' (Washington DC, 2003) and "Pierre Salinger, le Superman de la Communication" edit by Pierre and Poppy Salinger Foundation (Avignon, France, 2007). He is a staunch supporter of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

and owns a dog called Teddy and two cats called Rory and Tigre.

Honors

On October 19, 2014, Alex Di Gregorio won a "Balena Bianca" Award for editorial cartoon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Gregorio, Alex 1962 births Living people Italian editorial cartoonists Italian cartoonists