Giustina Mistrello Destro (

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, 9 June 1945) is an Italian politician and entrepreneur. An entrepreneur by profession, Destro joined politics relatively late in her life. In 1999 she formed a list for Padua municipal election and ran as an independent candidate for mayor, with the support of centre-right parties, notably including

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI). Her bid was successful as she defeated outgoing mayor

Flavio Zanonato Flavio Zanonato (born 24 July 1950 in Padua) is an Italian politician. He is the former mayor of Padua. Career A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and of its successor parties, he joined the Democratic Party. After two terms as ma ...

in a run-off. Having joined FI in 2001, she ran as the official FI candidate four years later. Most Paduans were unimpressed by her record as mayor and she was consequently trounced in the election: she obtained just 33.6% of the vote and her long-time opponent Zanonato went on to win in the first round with 51.9% of the vote. Despite her unpopularity among voters in Padua, she continued her political career through the ranks of FI and, later,

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

(PdL). She was elected to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

at the 2006 general election and re-elected in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. An enthusiastic supporter of fellow entrepreneur

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 ...

, during her second term as deputy, she grew critical of him. In November 2010 she joined former minister

Claudio Scajola Claudio Scajola (; born 15 January 1948 in Imperia (city), Imperia) is an Italian politician, current Mayor of Imperia (city), Imperia. Career A long-time Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democrat, he was Mayor of Imperia (city), Imperia ...

and the

Christopher Columbus Foundation The Christopher Columbus Foundation, whose complete name is Christopher Columbus Foundation for Freedoms (''Fondazione Cristoforo Colombo per le Libertà'', FCL) was an organization and think tank connected to The People of Freedom (PdL), a politi ...

, whose members were known as ''

Scajoliani Scajoliani refers to the faction around Claudio Scajola, a leading member of The People of Freedom (PdL), a political party in Italy. The group wielded particular influence within Forza Italia (FI), the main precursor of PdL. Scajola and his allies ...

'' and tended to be critical of Berlusconi. In August 2011 she expressed her support for

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (; born 31 August 1947) is an Italian businessman, former Chairman of Ferrari, and formerly Chairman of Fiat S.p.A. and President of Confindustria and FIEG. He comes from an aristocratic family from the region of Piedm ...

Future Italy Future Italy (''Italia Futura'', IF) was an Italian liberal-centrist think tank, formed in 2009 by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, chairman of Alitalia (since 2014) and former chairman of Ferrari (1991–2014), FIAT (2004–2010) and Confindustria (2 ...

. On 14 October 2011 Destro voted against Berlusconi's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

during a vote of confidence. Following this, she abruptly left the PdL and confirmed her support to Montezemolo instead, saying that he would soon launch his political bid.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Destro, Giustina 1945 births Living people Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Mayors of Padua 21st-century Italian women politicians