Mattarella, Sergio, 1941–, Italian political leader. Born into a prominent Sicilian family, he studied law at the Sapienza Univ. of Rome and taught constitutional law at the Univ. of Palermo. He was first elected to parliament, as a Christian Democrat, in 1983, after his brother, Piersanti, who had been president of Sicily, was killed by the Sicilian Mafia. He served in the Chamber of Deputies until 2008, and was minister for parliamentary relations (1987–89), minister of public education (1989–90), deputy prime minister (1998–99), and minister of defense (1999–2001). He then served as a judge on Italy's constitutional court from 2011 to 2015, when he was elected president of Italy.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Italian History: Biographies
