Who is Stefania Proietti, the mayor of Assisi, the new governor of Umbria

From mayor of Assisi (passing through the Province of Perugia) to candidate for the presidency of the Region of Umbria, in the wake of the values of Saint Francis. Stefania Proietti (civic), candidate of the broad centre-left camp, has won the 'challenge', with the outgoing governor, the Leghist Donatella Tesei.

Born in 1975, married, mother of two, engineer and university lecturer, Catholic, civic-minded, candidate from the wide field, the new governor of Umbria has been a citizen of the city of St. Francis since 2016 (and also president of the Province of Perugia). It is precisely from the contents of the Canticle of Creatures that she has said she wants to inspire her government programme. Peace, non-violence, attention to the last, therefore, but also health, employment and wages, new generations, innovation and sustainable development, environment and climate crisis, social justice. A programme that he presented to Umbrian citizens with an election campaign 'from below', through participatory meetings with citizens, based on the model that had recently brought success to the current mayor of Perugia, Vittoria Ferdinandi, again with the broad centre-left camp.

Priority will be given to healthcare that is 'public, universal and accessible to all. With private healthcare subsidiary to public healthcare'. Proietti will start 'from the promotion of prevention and a hospital network that is efficient for citizens and attractive to health personnel, who must be encouraged to stay in Umbria'. With regard to employment, the key word is pay, 'for a good wage, a minimum wage'. Attention then to welfare, for a society that has 'the person at the centre', but also culture and education. Finally, important space will be given to the environment and ecological transition. The programme reiterates a strong 'no' to the construction of a new incinerator, focusing instead on the circular economy 'to reach 80 per cent separate waste collection by 2030'.

Commitment to peace has particularly characterised her activities over time. As mayor of Assisi, she has also proposed that the city, 'whose social friendship over the years has always been expressed towards the two peoples of Israel and Palestine, and the whole of Umbria, play a role as a land of peace and open dialogue, inspired by St Francis and Aldo Capitini, and become a venue for a path of peace negotiations'. 'We will make peace,' he assured during the election campaign, 'our flag in all actions, even in relations with the minority, even in the regional council and in international relations'. And at section 31 in Costa di Trex, a hamlet of Assisi, on Mount Subasio, Proietti entered with a copy of the Constitution in her hand, symbolically indicating the road she intends to take in this term as president of the Umbria Region.As mayor of Assisi, Proietti took part in the United Nations Conferences on Climate Change in Marrakech (COP22) and Bonn (COP23), speaking as a rapporteur on the subject of urban sustainability.

A Catholic, she was a delegate of the Italian Bishops' Conference as the person responsible for environmental issues at the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and, again for the Italian Bishops' Conference, she was a member of the Study Group on the Custody of Creation. Since its foundation in 2021, Proietti has been a member of the organising committee of The Economy of Francis, chaired by Domenico Sorrentino.