Italian Parliament Elects President Sergio Mattarella

There was a sense of relief at the swearing-in ceremony of Italy’s 12th president Sergio Mattarella, 73, as spectators and legislators alike hope for increased efficiency and stability in the new Italian government.

“Our goal is to be a people with a true sense of community, who walk with new hope toward a future of serenity and peace,” said the new President in his first public statement, which was punctuated by nine standing ovations and 43 rounds of applause.

Politics runs through the Mattarella blood: the current president’s father Bernardo Mattarella was a Christian Democrat (DC) cabinet minister on and off throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1980. Mattarella has strong anti-mafia credentials, spurred by the assassination of his brother Piersanti Mattarella by the Mafia during his term as regional governor of Sicily.

Mattarella solidified his reputation for integrity during his time as a judge on Italy’s Constitutional court since 2011. The country’s first Sicilian president previously served as the Director off Il Popolo newspaper, Minister of Education, and Minister of Defense, where he oversaw substantial changes to the Italian military system, notably ending conscription.

One of his first acts as President included a surprise private visit to the Ardeatine Caves, a monument to the Roman victims of the World War II Nazi occupation. “The same unity in Europe and in the world will know how to defeat those who want to drag us into a new season of terror,” the Presidential Palace quotes him as saying during the visit.

Mattarella, a veteran center-left politician, succeeds Giorgio Napolitano and brings a legislative focus and aims to improve the Italian economy, corruption and sense of unity.

-Amanda Sztein