page_title: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
section_title: Presidency and afterward
hierarchical_section_title: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi / Presidency and afterward
caption_attribution_description: English: George W. Bush meeting Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
context_page_description: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was an Italian politician and banker. He was the 49th Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and was the tenth President of Italy from 1999 to 2006.
context_section_description: Ciampi was elected with a broad majority, and was the second president ever to be elected at the first ballot (when there is a requirement of a two-thirds majority) in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies, the Italian Senate and representatives of the Regions.
  He usually refrained from intervening directly into the political debate while serving as President. However, he often addressed general issues, without mentioning their connection to the current political debate, in order to state his opinion without being too intrusive. His interventions have frequently stressed the need for all parties to respect the constitution and observe the proprieties of political debate. He was generally held in high regard by all political forces represented in the parliament. The possibility of persuading Ciampi to stand for a second term as President by the election 2006 – the so-called Ciampi-bis – was widely discussed, despite his advancing age, but it was officially dismissed by Ciampi himself on 3 May 2006: "None of the past nine presidents of the Republic has been re-elected. I think this has become a meaningful rule. It is better not to infringe it". Ciampi, whose mandate was due to expired on the 18th, resigned on the 15th. His successor, Giorgio Napolitano took the oath on the same day.
  As head of state of the host country, he officially declared the 2006 Winter Olympics open, on the 10th of February 2006.
  As President, Ciampi was not considered to be close to the positions of the Vatican and the Catholic Church, in a sort of alternance after the devout Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. He often praised patriotism, not always a common feeling in Italy because of its abuse by the fascist regime.
  He died in Rome on 16 September 2016 at the age of 95.
caption: Ciampi meets U.S. President George W. Bush at the Quirinale Palace, 7 April 2005
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