Oscar Luigi Scalfaro

Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (; 9 September 1918 – 29 January 2012) was an Italian politician who served as the president of Italy from 1992 to 1999. A member of Christian Democracy (DC), he became an independent politician after the DC's dissolution in 1992, and was close to the centre-left Democratic Party when it was founded in 2007. Before his election to the Presidency, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Turin for 44 years from 1948 to 1992.

Biography Scalfaro was born in Novara, Province of Novara, on 9 September 1918, son of Guglielmo, Barone Scalfaro (born Naples, 21 December 1888) and wife Rosalia Ussino. He was raised in a religious atmosphere. He became a member of the association Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) at the age of 12 and kept its badge on his lapel until his death. after a two-week stalemate of unsuccessful attempts to reach agreement. The killing of anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone prompted his election. His mandate ended in May 1999, and he automatically became a lifetime member of the Senate.

On 7 April 1994, Scalfaro co-officiated at the Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah at the Sala Nervi in Vatican City, along with Pope John Paul II, and Chief Rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff.

In recent times, Scalfaro was the chairman of the committee that advocated the abrogation, in the referendum of 25 and 26 June 2006, on the constitutional reform that had been passed in parliament the previous year by the former centre-right majority. Along with all the centre-left (and a few centre-right personalities, too), Scalfaro considered it to be dangerous for national unity and for other reasons. The opponents of the reform won a landslide victory in the referendum.

Scalfaro was the oldest surviving former Italian president and the second-oldest member of the Senate, after Rita Levi-Montalcini. He consequently took the temporary presidency of the newly elected assembly which followed the 2006 general election, as Levi Montalcini refused the role because of her age. This made him one of the three politicians in Italian history to have presided over the three highest-ranked offices in the Italian Republic: President of the Republic, President of the Senate, and President of the Chamber of Deputies; the others are Sandro Pertini and Enrico De Nicola.

A staunch Catholic, and in the past, a rather conservative and anti-communist politician, Scalfaro nevertheless distrusted many members of the DC who changed support to Forza Italia, and was consistently on bad terms with Silvio Berlusconi. He openly supported the centre-left coalition, which included Democratic Party of the Left, which won the 1996 and 2006 elections. After the 2008 parliamentary election, he was again asked to preside as pro tempore Speaker of the Senate after Rita Levi-Montalcini again refused the post, but this time he also declined to serve.

During the Second World War, in 1944, Scalfaro lost his 20-year-old wife Maria Inzitari, by whom he had a daughter, Marianna. He never married again.

Scalfaro died on 29 January 2012 in Rome.

Honours and awards As President of the Italian Republic, Scalfaro was Head of several Italian Orders from 28 May 1992 to 15 May 1999: the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Military Order of Italy, the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, the Order of Merit for Labour and the Order of Vittorio Veneto. Personally, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit for School, Culture and Art on 31 July 1973.

He also received several foreign honours: Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1950) Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Knight of the Order of the Elephant (19 October 1993) Honorary Companion of Honour with Collar of the National Order of Merit (16 November 1995 ) Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (27 June 1996) Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (1997) Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav (17 December 1997) Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Commander Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the Three Stars Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (19 May 1997) Knight of the Order of the Seraphim (30 April 1998) Knight of the Order of the White Eagle Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1995)

Electoral history ElectionHouseConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1946 Constituent Assembly Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 43,218 1948 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 55,499 1953 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 44,705 Elected 1958 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 36,060 Elected 1963 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 56,987 Elected 1968 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 92,979 Elected 1972 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 114,187 Elected 1976 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 87,459 Elected 1979 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 56,815 Elected 1983 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 44,325 Elected 1987 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 91,722 Elected 1992 Chamber of Deputies Turin–Novara–Vercelli DC 35,630 Elected