Roberto Formigoni (b. Lecco, Italy, 1947) is an Italian politician, and the current (from april 2005) Governor of Lombardy, Italy.

Formigoni was very young when he began his political career in Democrazia Cristiana (DC, or the Christian Democrat party) through youth movements such as Gioventù Studentesca and Comunione e Liberazione (of which he became the most representative leader). These movements, which have in recent years withdrawn from partisan politics, were especially distinguished for their Catholic vision, which some declared to be an integralist or fundamentalist position. Thus these entities were not officially embodied in the political structure of DC, but were, so they claimed, inspired by the Catholic tradition of the main party and effectively supported it in practical politics, despite their severe criticism of DC's pragmatism which led to repeated concessions in favor of non-Catholic groups.

In 1976 he founded the "Popular Movement" (re-using the name of the Popolari, of which the same DC was a development) and was elected a deputy in both the European and Italian Parliaments. He was also the Vice-President of the European Parliament for 5 years and has served as "sottosegretario" (sub-secretary) in the Italian government with a delegation for environmental matters.

In 1990 he garnered attention when he was involved in a mission to Iraq which successfully concluded with the freeing of some Italian technicians who were hostages of the local government.

When DC's party was finally transformed into a dozen new parties, he joined with Pierferdinando Casini (the political heir of Arnaldo Forlani) in the founding of CDU (now in government with Silvio Berlusconi's "Polo delle Libertà"). He later moved to Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party.

He was elected the Governor of Lombardy in 1995.

Formigoni became famous to the general public after he publicly and repeatedly declared his virginity, as did his colleague Ms. Rosy Bindi .

Promoting a decidedly conservative platform on many issues, resulting in a political backlash from some liberal groups, President Formigoni was re-elected in 2000 carrying over 62% of the approximately 3.5 million votes, and in 2005.

External links

• Official Website