Rosa Russo Iervolino

Rosa Russo Iervolino (born Rosa Jervolino, 17 September 1936) is an Italian politician.

Biography

Iervolino was born to Angelo Raffaele Jervolino (1890–1985) and Maria De Unterrichter (1902–1975), a native of Trentino, on 17 September 1936. Her parents were both Christian Democracy parliamentarians. Her uncle was Südtiroler Volkspartei senator Guido De Unterrichter (1903–1979). She would go on to get a degree in law and begin practising as a lawyer. The philosopher and politician Domenico Jervolino (1946–2018) was her cousin.

She married Vincenzo Russo on 26 October 1964. Aldo Moro was her witness. They had three children (Michele, Maria Cristina and Francesca). Her husband died before her fiftieth birthday. Her surname was later rendered as Iervolino (with an I instead of a J) and put beside her husband's surname.

Iervolino was leader of the Christian Democratic Women group from 1968 to 1978. She served as a member of the Italian Senate as a Christian Democrat (Democrazia Cristiana; DC), starting in 1979 as part of legislature VIII to 1994 in legislature XI when she resigned. She was elected for her first Senate term representing Lazio, but would represent Abruzzo for the remainder of her term as a Senator.

Following the dissolution of the DC, Iervolino joined the Italian People's Party (PPI) in 1994, and together with her fellow party members was a member of the Olive Tree coalition. She ran as a candidate for Mayor of Naples in the 2001 municipal election for the centre-left coalition, and she won with 53% of the votes. She would become the first female mayor of the city. On 29 May 2006, she was confirmed with over 57% of the votes. She would subsequently go on to join the Democratic Party (PD).

Legal Issues

In February 2013, Iervolino was charged by the Court of Audits, alongside other former mayors such as Antonio Bassolino. Each former mayor was charged 560,893 € due to wasting money on 'useless recruits.'

Electoral history

ElectionHouseConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1979 Senate of the Republic Rome VIII DC 44,811 1983 Senate of the Republic Lanciano–Vasto DC 49,659 Elected 1987 Senate of the Republic Lanciano–Vasto DC 50,673 Elected 1992 Senate of the Republic Lanciano–Vasto DC 51,422 Elected 1994 Chamber of Deputies Campania 1 PPI – Elected 1996 Chamber of Deputies Naples Fuorigrotta PPI 38,581 Elected

First-past-the-post elections