Valentina Cuppi (born 19 August 1983) is an Italian politician, and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD) since February 2020. Since June 2019, she is also serving as mayor of

Marzabotto Marzabotto ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in Italian region Emilia-Romagna, part of the Metropolitan City of Bologna. It is located south-southwest of Bologna by rail, and lies in the valley of the Reno. The area inc ...

, a town near

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

Biography

Valentina Cuppi was born in

in 1983, and grew up in

, a small town in the Bologna province. In 2008, she graduated in Philosophical Sciences at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

, where she also got a PhD in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 2014. Cuppi worked as an educator for many years in Marzabotto, before becoming a history and philosophy teacher in high school. In 2009 Cuppi was elected to the municipal council of Marzabotto, holding the role of councilor with responsibility for Peace and

Marzabotto massacre The Marzabotto massacre, or more correctly, the massacre of Monte Sole, was a World War II war crime consisting of the mass murder of at least 770 civilians by Nazi troops, which took place in the territory around the small village of Marzabotto, ...

's Memory. In 2010, she became a member of

Left Ecology Freedom Left Ecology Freedom ( it, Sinistra Ecologia Libertà, SEL) was a democratic socialist political party in Italy whose bulk was formed by former members of the Communist Refoundation Party. The party's leader was Nichi Vendola, a former Preside ...

(SEL), a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

party led by

Nichi Vendola Nicola "Nichi" Vendola (; born 26 August 1958) is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist who was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Apulia from 1992 to 2005 and President of Apulia from 2005 to 2015. He is one of the first o ...

. As member of SEL, she ran in the 2013 general election for the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

, but she was not elected. From 2014 to 2019, she held the position of deputy Mayor of Marzabotto and councilor for culture and tourism in the second municipal government of Romano Franchi. In the 2019 local election, Cuppi was elected Mayor of Marzabotto with 70.93% of the votes. During the 2019 Democratic Party leadership election, Cuppi joined the committee in support of

Nicola Zingaretti Nicola Zingaretti (; born 11 October 1965) is an Italian politician who served as President of Lazio and was Secretary of the Democratic Party from March 2019 until March 2021. During the 1990s, he was a prominent European youth leader, serv ...

's candidacy as secretary. Zingaretti, who was the party's left-wing candidate, won the election with 66% of votes. In February 2020, Zingaretti proposed Cuppi for the office of President of the Democratic Party, replacing former Prime Minister

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

, who was appointed

European Commissioner for Economy The European Commissioner for Economy is a member of the European Commission. The current Economy Commissioner is Paolo Gentiloni. From 2014 to 2019 the post was named ''Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs''. Un ...

in the

von der Leyen Commission The von der Leyen Commission is the current European Commission, in office since 1 December 2019 and is to last until the 2024 elections. It has Ursula von der Leyen as its president and it further consists of one commissioner from each of the m ...

in December 2019. On 22 February, the National Assembly of the party officially elected her as the party's new president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuppi, Valentina 1983 births Living people Politicians from Bologna University of Bologna alumni Women mayors of places in Italy Left Ecology Freedom politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 21st-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian women politicians