Guglielmo Minervini (22 May 1961 – 2 August 2016) was an Italian politician, who served as the mayor of

Molfetta Molfetta (; Molfettese: ) is a town located in the northern side of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It has a well restored old city, and its own dialect. History The earliest local signs of permanent habitation are a ...

from 1994 until 2001. From 2005 to 2016, he was a member of the Regional Assembly of Apulia, serving as an assessor under the Nichi Vendola presidency.

Biography

Minervini has been a close collaborator of bishop

Antonio Bello Antonio Bello (18 March 1935 – 20 April 1993) was an Italian people, Italian Catholic Church, Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi from 1982 until his death from cancer in 1993. Bello studied in vario ...

and in 1985 he founded the "House of Peace", a point of reference for the fight against crime for many young people in the city. A progressive catholic, in 1994 Minervini was elected mayor of

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

supported by the

Alliance of Progressives The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a left-wing political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The allianc ...

, becoming the first mayor elected directly by the people of

. He was re-elected in 1998 with the support of The Olive Tree coalition, and in that year he joined

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

's The Democrats, that later converged into

Francesco Rutelli Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016. He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...

The Daisy ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. During his administrative term, he laid down the conditions for the development of the industrial area of

. After the 2005 Apulian regional elections, Minervini supported the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

candidate Nichi Vendola and was elected regional councilor, becoming the most voted candidate in the

province of Bari The Province of Bari ( it, provincia di Bari, nap, pruvincia 'e Bari, nap, label= Barese, provinge de Bare) was a province in the region of Apulia, Italy. Its capital was the city of Bari. It has an area of , and a total population of 1,594,1 ...

. Vendola appointed him Councilor for transparency and active citizenship, with delegations to sport and youth policies. Minervini was re-confirmed as regional councilor after the 2010 regional elections and this time was appointed Councilor for mobility and transports. In his ten years as councilor he was remembered for the call for the social reuse of assets confiscated from

the Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

, the reorganization of regional offices and, above all, the ''Bollenti spiriti'' program that promoted training and the start of work for thousands of young Apulians. On 31 January 2013, Minervini revealed that during the previous year he found out that he had

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Despite his health problems, he did not lessen his political commitment, turning his attention especially to the fight against illegal hiring. In 2014, Minervini was a candidate for the

primaries to choose Vendola's successor as gubernatorial candidate, together with the former mayor of Bari

Michele Emiliano Michele Emiliano (born 23 July 1959) is an Italian politician and former judge. He is the incumbent president of Apulia Region since June 2015, and he previously served as mayor of Bari from 2004 to 2014. Emiliano has often been considered a popu ...

and senator

Dario Stefano Dario Stefano (born 2 August 1963) is an Italian politician. Graduated in Economy, Stefano has been a member of the Apulian division of the General Confederation of Italian Industry and taught Economics and Industrial Accounting at the Universit ...

: Minervini reached third place, behind the winner Emiliano, who was later elected governor, and Stefano. Despite his critical attitude towards Emiliano, Minervini supported him during the 2015 regional elections and was re-elected at the regional assembly as the leader of the movement ''Us on the Left for Apulia'', becoming the group leader in the assembly. Minervini lost his battle against

and died on 2 August 2016, at the age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minervini, Guglielmo 1961 births 2016 deaths Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians