Occhiuto, from governor of Calabria to the next leader of Forza Italia? The leader's path
A long-standing politician (he made his debut in 1993), he was formerly leader of the Azzurro group in the Chamber of Deputies. Pier Silvio Berlusconi likes him: he could represent the future after Antonio Tajani
Pier Silvio Berlusconi said it clearly: Forza Italia, the party founded by his father Silvio, needs new faces. At these words, many have taken to looking at Roberto Occhiuto, the first president of the Calabria region in the last 30 years capable of being re-elected for a second term. A coup that succeeded him in October when voters rewarded his choice of early resignation and re-election one year before the natural expiration of the legislature after he was warned of corruption. Occhiuto, a 56-year-old Cosenza native, is actually a long-time politician with a political commitment that began over thirty years ago. He has a degree in Economics from the University of Calabria, is a freelance journalist, an entrepreneur in the wine sector and in the premium publishing sector, and was the general manager of the Media TV group of Calabrian television broadcasters, which brought together a number of Calabrian television broadcasters such as Ten, Rete Alfa and Telestars, creating a television network.
Beginning in politics in 1993
He began his political activity in 1993 when he became a municipal councillor in Cosenza with the Christian Democratic Party. In 1994, with the dissolution of the DC, he joined Mino Martinazzoli's Ppi and the following year followed Rocco Buttiglione, secretary of the Ppi, and the wing of the party in favour of the alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia in the birth of the Cdu. In 2000, he left the Cdu and joined Fi, with which he was elected to the regional council the same year with 8,588 preferences, making him the party's youngest regional councillor. In 2002, due to disagreements with the local Forza Italia leaders, he joined Pier Ferdinando Casini's Ccd, which then merged with the Udc, with which he was re-elected as a regional councillor at the 2005 regional elections, holding the position of vice-president of the Council.
In Parliament in 2008
In 2008 the national leap into Parliament with his election in the Udc lists and, since 2014 with Forza Italia. After having been deputy vice president of the Azzurro group in Montecitorio, from 2021 he held the role of group leader - since February 2024 he has also been deputy secretary of the party - until his election as president of the Calabria Region.
