Strisciuglio, Salvini’s internal choice to succeed Donnarumma

A 25-year career spent entirely within the FS Group, culminating in his appointment as chief executive. This is the story of Gianpiero Strisciuglio, a 50-year-old from Bari with a degree in Transport Engineering, who has been appointed to replace Donnarumma at the helm of the state-owned company that manages Italia’s rail transport, infrastructure network and mobility.

Matteo Salvini is backing an “expert” from within the group whom he had already selected in January 2025 as CEO of Trenitalia (his current role) following his successful track record at the helm of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, another subsidiary of FS. The move from managing the railway infrastructure (RFI) to managing passenger transport services (Trenitalia) had also been facilitated by the approval of the main majority party, Fratelli d’Italia. However, the completion of the ratification procedures by the Ministry of Economy and Finance had required a detailed technical and legal review of Strisciuglio’s move from CEO of RFI to another transport company, which was subsequently resolved with the go-ahead.

An internal appointment on which the European Commission had also sought clarification from the Government. In particular, as reported by *L’Espresso*, what had prompted Brussels’ objection was ‘the transfer of a senior executive from the position of chief executive of the vertically integrated infrastructure manager to the position of chief executive of the main rail operator within the same group’, which was in breach of European regulations.