Chiara Appendino
Chiara Appendino (Moncalieri, 12 June 1984) is an Italian politician and sports manager, mayor of Turin and the Turin metropolitan city from 30 June 2016 to 27 October 2021 and vice president of the Italian Tennis Federation from 2 October 2020 She is a member of the Five Star Movement. In 2021 she was found guilty and handed a 18 month jail sentence relating to the 2017 Turin stampede. Biography. Appendino was born in Moncalieri on 12 June 1984. She attended the Vincenzo Gioberti in Turin and graduated from Bocconi University in Milan with a degree in International  Economics and Management, majoring in economics and finance. From September 2007 to January 2010 she worked as a controller for the Juventus soccer team; starting on 1 January 2010 she has been financial administrator in her husband's business. Political career. Appendino's first political involvement was in the Left Ecology Freedom party. In 2012 she joined the nascent Five Star Movement. At the 2011 Turin local elections Appendino was elected municipal councilor for the Five Star Movement, collecting 623 preferences. On 8 November 2015 Appendino officially announced her candidacy for mayor of Turin in the 2016 local elections. In  the first round she received 30.92% of the vote at the ballot. On 19 June 2016 she was officially elected Mayor of Turin, picking up 54.56% of the vote in the second round, defeating incumbent mayor Piero Fassino (who received 45.44% of votes). She did not run for the municipal elections of 3–4 October 2021 and was replaced as mayor by Stefano Lo Russo of the Democratic Party. Legal proceedings. In October 2017 the Prosecutor's Office of Turin started an investigation on Appendino on charges of falsity in a public document in connection with the city's 2016 budget . In November 2017 another investigation started, into lack of safety during incidents at Piazza San Carlo where, on 3 June 2017, one person died and more than 1,500 were injured in a stampede during the Champions League final match between Juventus and Real Madrid. One of the injured people became tetraplegic and eventually died on 25 January 2019. In June 2019, a third investigation was started based on peculation. Her position was later archived. She was found guilty in the first instance for forging on September 21, 2020, and handed a six-month suspended sentence. Despite this, she did not  resign as prescribed by the code of ethics of the Five Star Movement but she self-suspended from her party. On January 27, 2021, she has been sentenced in first instance to 18 months jail for her responsibilities during the stampede in Piazza San Carlo. In February 2021 another investigation started against her, Piero Fassino, Sergio Chiamparino, Alberto Cirio and others. They must respond for not having taken sufficient measures to combat smog pollution which from 2015 to today has led the Turin air to be repeatedly the worst in Italy. Personal life. Appendino has been married since 2010 to  the Turinese entrepreneur Marco Lavatelli, with whom she has one daughter, Sara, born on 19 January 2016 at the Mauritian Hospital of Turin, and one son, Andrea, born on 29 October 2021 at the Sant'Anna Hospital in Turin.