# Giovanna Melandri

Giovanna Melandri (born 28 January 1962) is an Italian-American politician. As a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for 18 years (1994–2012), she served as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities (1998–2001) and Minister of Youth Policies and Sport (2006–2008). She was the president of MAXXI, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts of Rome, from 2012 to 2022. She is also the chairwoman of an organization called Human Foundation.

## Early life and education

Melandri was born in New York City in 1962. She graduated with a degree in political economy at the Sapienza University of Rome.

## Career

From 1983 to 1987, Melandri was a coordinator for the working group on industrial and technological policies at Montedison. An environmental activist since 1982, Melandri was in charge of international relations for Legambiente, an Italian environmentalist association. In that capacity, she attended the Bergen Conference on Sustainable Development in 1990 and was a member of the Italian delegation to the UN Rio Summit in 1992. In 1991, she became a member of the national secretariat for the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), which in 1998 became known as the Democrats of the Left (DS). Between 1998 and 2001, Melandri was Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities in the Centre-left coalition governments of Massimo D'Alema and Giuliano Amato. On 17 May 2006, she was named Minister for Youth Policies and Sport in the second Prodi government. In 2007, she joined the legal successor of the DS, the Democratic Party (PD). Having been first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1994 with the PDS and DS, she was re-elected as a member of the PD in 2008 and 2013.

## Institutional activities

From 1992 to 2013, Melandri held leadership roles within the PDS/DS/PD. During the Legislature XII of Italy (1994–1996), she served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and chaired the Committee for Human Rights. Additionally, she was involved in the Childhood Special Committee and contributed to legislative efforts addressing sexual violence. Melandri played a role in forming the parliamentary intergroup on bioethics, which she coordinated for two years, focusing on topics such as artificial reproduction,cloning, and living wills.
In the Legislature XIII of Italy (1996–1998), before being appointed the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities, she was a member of the Culture Committee. She proposed several bills on adoptions, bioethics, assisted reproduction, and the prohibition of extradition to countries that practice the death penalty. Melandri also proposed bills on publishing, telecommunications, and public broadcasting. She represented Italy on the parliamentary delegation to the first World Forum on Television, which was organized by the United Nations in November 1997. From 1998 to 2001, she was appointed the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities. During her tenure, Italian cultural policies received a large share of public funding (more than €3 billion), and the first tax incentives for cultural investment were introduced. During those years, many cultural restoration sites were finalized and policies for contemporary art and architecture were initiated. A national bill establishing MAXXI was passed. In 1999, jointly with the then World Bank president James Wolfensohn and First Lady Hillary Clinton, she promoted in Florence the international forum "Culture Counts: Financing Resources and the Economics of Culture and Sustainable Development". In 2000, she was invited by then United States president Bill Clinton as the European representative to the "White House Conference on Culture and Diplomacy".
In the Legislature XIX of Italy (2001–2006), Melandri was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Italian Parliamentary Delegation at the Council of Europe and at the Western European Union, and the Parliamentary Supervisory Board on RAI, the national broadcasting TV., She proposed several bills on cinema, the promotion of books and reading, and the protection and promotion of cultural heritage. In the Legislature XV of Italy (2006–2008), she was appointed Minister for Youth Policies and Sport. In this capacity, she launched the program "Young Ideas Change Italy" (Giovani idee cambiano l'Italia) in support of entrepreneurial ideas launched by people under 30; she also launched the agreement with the Associazione Bancaria Italiana for the program "Let's Give Credit" (Diamogli credito); she established two new funds, one for youth policies, and one for "sport for all". In agreement with Giuliano Amato, then Minister of the Interior, she established the first Young Committee for Interreligious Dialogue. In 2005, she participated in the Alliance for Civilization promoted by the then Spanish and Turkish prime ministers José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the Legislature XVI of Italy (2008–2012), she was a member of the VII Committee on Culture, Education, and Science, and reelected as a member of the Supervisory Board of the RAI.

## Other activities

* Kering, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2024)

## Honors and awards

* Honorary Dame Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire (16 October 2000)
* Officer of the Legion of Honour (France; 19 September 2003—returned in December 2020)