Stefano Rodotà

Stefano Rodotà (30 May 1933 – 23 June 2017) was an Italian jurist and politician.

Early life Born in 1933 in Cosenza, to a middle-class family of Arbëreshë origin from San Benedetto Ullano, he attended Liceo classico Bernardino Telesio in his hometown and later the Sapienza University of Rome, where he graduated in 1955 under professor Emilio Betti, an Italian jurist, Roman Law scholar, philosopher and theologian, best known for his contributions to hermeneutics.

He was the brother of the engineer Antonio Rodotà and father of journalist Maria Laura Rodotà, a columnist for the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Academic career Rodotà was accepted to Sapienza University of Rome's law school, where he graduated in 1955.

He then became Professor of Civil Law at the Sapienza University of Rome, where he was conferred the title of Emeritus.

As well as giving lectures and seminars at several universities in the United States, Canada, Australia, Latin America, and India, he was a visiting scholar at All Souls College in Oxford and Stanford Law School on a Fulbright grant. He later became a professor at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University Faculty of Law and collaborated with the Collège de France. Subsequently he was granted honorary degree by the Michel de Montaigne University Bordeaux 3 and the University of Macerata.

Rodotà was the Chairman of the Administrative Council of the International University College of Turin and also a committee member of the NEXA Center for Internet and Society

Italian institutions From 1997 to 2005 he was the first President of the Italian Authority for the Protection of Personal data, while from 1998 to 2002 he chaired the Coordination Group of Trustees for the right to privacy of the European Union. He was also Chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (2000-2004) and chairman of the scientific committee of the ' European Agency of Fundamental Rights and various appeals of civil society, also collected from several members of the Democratic Party and Left Ecology Freedom.

University activities Stefano Rodotà taught at the Universities of Macerata, Genoa and Rome, where he was professor of civil law and where he was awarded with the title of professor emeritus. He taught in many universities in Europe, in the United States of America, in Latin America, Canada, Australia and India. He was a visiting professor at the All Souls College in Oxford and Stanford School of Law. He taught at the Faculty of Law of the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and worked with the Collège de France. He received an honorary degree from Michel de Montaigne University of Bordeaux and the University of Macerata. He was chairman of the board of directors of the International University College of Turin. He was part of the Committee of the guarantors of the Democracy Biennial and the Nexa Center for Internet and Society of Politecnico di Torino.

Other offices and collaborations

He was an honorary member of the Association Hall Pass, which is responsible for the decriminalization of euthanasia. He was President of Lisli and Lelio Basso Foundation and in 2008 directed the Festival of Rights in Piacenza. In the publishing field, he directed "The right of agriculture" and the magazines "Politica del Diritto" (Politic of Right) and "Rivista critica del diritto privato" ("Magazine critique of private law"). He worked for several Italian newspapers and magazines, including Il Mondo, Nord e Sud, il Giorno, Panorama, Il Manifesto, L'Unità. He collaborated with the newspaper La Repubblica. In 2007 he was appointed by the Ministry of Justice of the last center-left Government to chair the Commission for the reform of the Italian Civil Code in the domain of public property. The commission, popularly known as Commissione Rodotà, is famous for its definition of the commons.