Vincenzo De Luca

Last updated

Rosa Zampetti
​
​
(m. 1979;div. 2008)​
Vincenzo De Luca
Vincenzo De Luca crop.jpg
De Luca in 2015
President of Campania
Incumbent
Assumed office
18 June 2015
Domestic partnerMaria Maddalena Cantisani
Children2, including Piero
Alma mater University of Salerno
Profession
  • Politician
  • teacher
Signature Vincenzo De Luca Signature.gif

Vincenzo De Luca (born 8 May 1949) is an Italian politician who has been serving as president of Campania since 18 June 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (PD), he also served as mayor of Salerno for more than 17 years, becoming one of the longest serving mayors in Italy. Often described as a populist politician, De Luca attracted national attention for his histrionic manner and incendiary tones, earning him a number of nicknames, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Contents

De Luca began his political career during the 1970s in the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and later joined the PCI's successor parties. He was a member of Salerno's city council in the 1990s and served three terms as mayor, being appointed in 1993 and then directly elected later that year, serving in the position until 2015 to run for president of Campania. He was also a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2008 and Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation from 2013 to 2014. After being elected in 2015, he was re-elected as president of Campania in a landslide victory in 2020.

Early life and education

De Luca was born on 8 May 1949 in the Basilicata village of Ruvo del Monte in the province of Potenza. [1] He and his family then moved to Salerno in the Campania region at an early age. [1] [2] After obtaining a high school diploma at Salerno's liceo classico named after Torquato Tasso, he graduated in philosophy at the University of Salerno. [1] Before entering politics, he worked as a philosophy teacher in high schools. [3]

Political career

Salerno City Council

During the 1970s, De Luca became a member of the PCI, at the time led by Enrico Berlinguer. In 1975, after having been head of the party's provincial organization, he was appointed as provincial secretary, leading the federation for a decade. In those years, he was jokingly nicknamed O Professore (Neapolitan for "The Professor") because of his job as a philosophy teacher. [4] Due to his impetuous and strong style, De Luca was also nicknamed "Pol Pot", just like the Khmer Rouge dictator. [5]

De Luca was elected to the Salerno City Council in 1990, holding the posts of both Commissioner of Public works and Deputy Mayor. [1] In the spring of 1993, he was promoted to the office of mayor of Salerno due to the resignation of Vincenzo Giordano, who found himself involved in the Tangentopoli investigation. [1] A month later, the resignation of the majority of councilors resulted in the dissolution of the municipal council. [1] The subsequent elections marked a significant success of De Luca's Progressive List for Salerno, with 57.8% of votes in a second ballot against Giuseppe Acocella of the centre-right coalition. [1] On 16 November 1997, De Luca was re-elected mayor in the first round with 71.3% of the vote. [1] [6]

Member of the Chamber of Deputies

Not being able to run for a third term as mayor, De Luca resigned in order to run for a parliamentary seat in the 2001 Italian general election. [7] On 31 May 2001, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with of 55.4% of the vote, the highest percentage obtained by a candidate of The Olive Tree coalition in Southern Italy. [8] After the 2006 Italian general election, De Luca was re-elected at the Chamber of Deputies and was appointed as a member of the Agriculture Commission. [9]

Mayor of Salerno

During the 2006 Italian local elections, De Luca was re-elected as mayor of Salerno for a third term after a run-off election, gaining 56.9% of the vote. He ran as the candidate of the centre-left list Progressives for Salerno, in opposition to Alfonso Andria, the member of the European Parliament supported by The Daisy, and some members of the Democrats of the Left, which were against De Luca's candidacy due to his strong dissent towards the party regional president Antonio Bassolino. In the 2008 Italian general election, he was unable to run due to the incompatibility provided by law between the offices of member of Parliament and mayor of a city with more than 15,000 inhabitants. While in office, De Luca was one of the longest tenured and most popular mayors in Italy, [10] [11] having been ranked first in the 2008 Governance Poll by Il Sole 24 Ore . [12]

Among De Luca's accomplishments as mayor of Salerno were leading provincial capitals for waste sorting (74.16% in October 2009), safety and quality of life, municipal nursery school system and social policies, and events and culture such as Luci d'Artista. [1] He also promoted urban transformation featuring major names in the sector, such as Santiago Calatrava (Marina d'Arechi Village), Zaha Hadid (Stazione Marittima), Ricardo Bofill (Crescent and Piazza della Libertà), Oriol Bohigas (Municipal Urban Plan), and David Chipperfield (Cittadella Giudiziaria) that in 2015 won Salerno the Tripadvisor's "Travelers' Choice Awards Destinations on the Rise 2015" among the ten European destinations with the fastest growth in tourism. [1]

On 30 January 2010, De Luca announced his candidacy to become president of Campania in the 2010 Campania regional election. His centre-right coalition rival Stefano Caldoro, a former minister and leader of the New PSI (a party that merged into Silvio Berlusconi's The People of Freedom in 2009) won by a convincing margin, thanks to a 20% swing in favor of the centre-right coalition, which included the Union of the Centre led by Ciriaco De Mita, an influential former leader of Christian Democracy. [13] In 2011, De Luca was re-elected for a fourth term as mayor of Salerno with 74.42% of votes. [14] From 2013 to 2014, while mayor of Salerno, he was also Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation under Prime Minister Enrico Letta, [1] raising again the problem of incompatibility. [15]

President of Campania

In late 2014, De Luca announced his candidacy as president of Campania. [1] In March 2025, he won the primary elections with 52% of the vote, becoming the PD-led centre-left coalition candidate for the 2015 Campania regional election. [1] On 31 May 2015, De Luca was elected president of Campania, [1] with 41% of the vote, defeating incumbent president Stefano Caldoro with a margin of 66,000 votes. [16] During the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the postponement of the election from May to September, he was re-elected in the 2020 Campania regional election, [1] which he won with 68% of the vote. [17] In November 2021, De Luca was investigated for corruption regarding a scandal involving the maintenance of city streets, public greenery, and parks of Salerno. The public prosecutor denounced the presence of an alleged cartel composed of eight cooperatives, which allegedly rigged the public procurements' tenders. [18] The news was first reported by Massimo Giletti, who published a video on Twitter that was picked up by the Corriere della Sera . [19]

Character and persona

De Luca with the then Italian president Giorgio Napolitano in 2010 Vincenzo De Luca with Giorgio Napolitano.jpg
De Luca with the then Italian president Giorgio Napolitano in 2010

During his career, De Luca was known for his populist persona and his many public outbursts, [20] earning him both supporters and criticism, including from Massimo Cacciari, a philosopher and former mayor of Venice affiliated with the centre-left coalition who in his general criticism of populism praised Veneto president Luca Zaia of the centre-right coalition and dismissed De Luca as a left-wing populist. [21] [22] Nicknamed lo Sceriffo ("The Sheriff") due to his outspokenly impetuous and strong government style, [23] he was also called Don Vicienzo due to his restrictive policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. [24]

Well known for making hyperbolic statements, his behavior was brought to national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his fellow but unrelated politician Cateno De Luca was often used as a comparison due to sharing an histrionic character and populist rhetoric. On 20 March 2020, he threatened to send Carabinieri "with flamethrowers" after those organizing graduation parties. [25] On 16 October, in explaining the decision to impose a curfew, he urged Campanians not to celebrate Halloween, calling it a "huge stupid Americanism". [26] His statements, made in jest but with a serious tone and purpose, were variously described as "comic" and "uncouth". [25] Notably, Italian software house DigiLabSoftware satirized De Luca's statements with some HTML browser games freely playable on their website, including a parody of Super Mario . [27]

In April 2025, De Luca targeted Elon Musk in a public outburst. During a press interaction, De Luca referred to Musk as a "crazy drug addict" and stated that he "should be locked up in a psychiatric hospital", suggesting a 5150 psychiatric hold, known in Italy as TSO (Italian : trattamento sanitario obbligatorio). [28] De Luca also criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for associating with Musk, implying a contradiction with her party's claimed values of "God, Fatherland and Family". [28] He added further insults, accusing Musk of being "a cokehead, a junkie, a nutcase", and referencing Musk's numerous children as part of his critique. [28] Musk responded on X (formerly Twitter) by sharing a screenshot of a Grok AI-generated roast in Italian, captioned "Buono sera, buono sera [ sic ]". [28] He later referred to De Luca as a "poor deluded fool" and mocked the authenticity of mainstream news. [28]

Personal life

In 1979, De Luca married Rosa Zampetti, a sociologist, from whom he had two sons, Piero and Roberto, both of which got involved in politics. Roberto served as a regional responsible for economy in the PD of Campania, while Piero was elected in 2018 a member of the Chamber of Deputies. [29]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Vincenzo De Luca". Regione Campania (in Italian). 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. ↑ Russo, Aurora (17 October 2023). "Chi è Vincenzo De Luca, il presidente della Regione Campania". News Mondo (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "Vincenzo De Luca: biografia del Presidente della Regione Campania". The Italian Times (in Italian). 12 October 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  4. ↑ Bojano, Gabriele (15 June 2015). "Figli, compagna e politica, se per De Luca la famiglia è potere". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Manzo, Giuseppe; Pellegrino, Ciro (2014). "Lo sceriffo di Salerno. Biografia non autorizzata di Vincenzo De Luca". MicroMega (in Italian). No. 2. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "Elezioni comunali a Salerno del 1997". Eligendo (in Italian). 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "XIV legislatura – Deputati – La scheda personale – De Luca Vincenzo". La Camera dei Deputati (in Italian). 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  8. ↑ "Vincenzo De Luca". Comune di Salerno (in Italian). 2010. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  9. ↑ "XV legislatura – Deputati – La scheda personale – De Luca Vincenzo". La Camera dei Deputati (in Italian). 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  10. ↑ "Governance Poll 2008: Sindaci". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). 2008. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  11. ↑ Baker, Brian; Dalle Fratte, Matteo (1 March 2013). "Mayor of the Month for March 2013". City Mayors (in Italian). Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  12. ↑ "Il Sindaco De Luca primo Sindaco d'Italia nell'indagine Governance Poll del Sole 24 Ore". Comune di Salerno (in Italian). 7 January 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  13. ↑ "Elezioni amministrative. La Campania torna al centrodestra". La Città di Salerno (in Italian). 30 March 2010. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  14. ↑ "Elezioni amministrative 2011". Comune di Salerno (in Italian). 2011. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Buonomo, Giampiero (2014). "Incompatibilità parlamentari: l'Italia prende in giro l'Europa e la Consulta". L'Ago e Il Filo Edizione Online. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Regionali Campania 2015: De Luca vince, ora nodo legge Severino" (in Italian). ANSA. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  17. ↑ Bufi, Fulvio (22 September 2020). "Elezioni regionali 2020 in Campania, i risultati definitivi". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  18. ↑ Beneduce, Titti (11 May 2021). "Vincenzo de Luca indagato nello scandalo coop di Salerno, notificato un avviso di proroga indagini". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  19. ↑ "Salerno e coop, avviso di garanzia a de Luca: Si indaga per corruzione. Giletti dà la notizia". Il Secolo d'Italia (in Italian). 5 November 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  20. ↑ Roncone, Fabrizio (5 February 2020). "Coronavirus, il granduca Vincenzo De Luca, oratoria a effetti speciali tra la ragione e il lanciafiamme". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  21. ↑ Vecchio, Concetto (3 May 2020). "Cacciari: 'L'exploit di Zaia? Competenza e modestia. Ma non attaccherà Salvini'". La Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  22. ↑ Napolitano, Pasquale (4 May 2020). "Cacciari demolisce De Luca: 'Un populista di sinistra'". Anteprima24.it (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  23. ↑ Di Giorgio, Giovanna (15 March 2020). "Coronavirus, lo sceriffo De Luca scatena l'ironia dei social: è il supereroe del web". Il Mattino (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  24. ↑ "Don Vicienzo da sceriffo a Duce". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 14 March 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  25. 1 2 Roncone, Fabrizio (2 May 2020). "Coronavirus, il granduca Vincenzo De Luca, oratoria a effetti speciali tra la ragione e il lanciafiamme". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  26. ↑ Embury-Dennis, Tom (17 October 2020). "'Huge stupid Americanism': Italian governor rails against Halloween in angry tirade" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  27. ↑ "De Luca come Super Mario: il Presidente della Regione in un videogame". Resto al Sud (in Italian). 27 May 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 "'Poor Deluded Fool', Says Elon Musk As Italian Minister Calls Him 'A Crazy Drug Addict' And 'Should Be Locked Up In A Psychiatric Hospital'". The Times of India. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  29. ↑ "Profilo di Piero De Luca". Piero De Luca (in Italian). 2015. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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