Gianluigi Paragone (born 7 August 1971) is an Italian politician and journalist.

Biography

Paragone was born in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

in 1971. After working as a journalist for a local newspaper and a local television network, Paragone became editor of ''

La Padania ''La Padania'' was an Italian daily newspaper, and the official press organ of the political party Lega Nord. History and profile ''La Padania'' was the official newspaper of Northern League of Umberto Bossi founded in 1997 by Davide Caparini an ...

'', the official newspaper of the Northern League. Subsequently, he worked for the newspaper ''Libero'', of which he was deputy editor and (for a short period) acting editor to replace

Vittorio Feltri Vittorio Feltri ( Bergamo, born 25 June 1943) is an Italian journalist and editor in chief of daily ''Libero''. Biography Feltri was born in Bergamo, Italy. He graduated with a degree in Political Science and then started his career as journa ...

. In 2009, he presented the political talk show ''Malpensa Italia'', aired in late evening on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, talk ...

. On 5 August 2009 he was appointed deputy director of

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

, thus abandoning the management of ''Libero''. On 24 September 2009, Paragone left the Rai 1 vice-direction to become vice-director of

. From 15 January 2010, he led the political talk show ''L'ultima parola'' on Rai 2. In 2013, he resigned as deputy director of Rai 2 and left the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

. Subsequently, he switched to La 7, where he led the talk shows ''La gabbia'' (2013–2017) and ''In onda'' (2015). From 7 April 2014 to 3 February 2017, together with

Mara Maionchi Mara Maionchi (; born 22 April 1941 in Bologna) is an Italian record producer and a TV personality. Biography Mara began her career in 1967, as secretary in the '' Ariston Records'' press office, working with Ornella Vanoni and Mino Reitano. ...

and , he led ''Benvenuti nella giungla'' on Radio 105. In 2018, he was elected Senator among the ranks of the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

, and on 1 January 2020, was officially expelled from this party, but continued his membership in the Senate as an independent. In July 2020, Paragone launched his own political party, Italexit, with the aim of bringing Italy out of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paragone, Gianluigi 1971 births Living people 20th-century Italian journalists Italian political party founders Five Star Movement politicians Italexit politicians Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy Politicians from Varese Italian eurosceptics 21st-century Italian journalists