Susanna Ceccardi

Susanna Ceccardi (born 19 March 1987) is an Italian politician. In May 2019, she was elected to the European Parliament. She served as mayor of Cascina from June 2016 to June 2019.

Family and early life Ceccardi was born in Pisa, Tuscany. Her mother is Maria Iacoponi. The family of her father (Roberto) originated from the hamlet of Vaglie in the comune of Ligonchio and she is a distant cousin through her paternal grandfather of the singer Iva Zanicchi. Francesco Ceccardi, brother of her paternal grandfather, died in the hamlet of Busana on the Apennine Mountains, killed by the army of the Italian Social Republic in January 1945 and is locally honored by a way-side cross with a plaque. Her family was left-wing but her parents moved their vote to the Northern League in the 1990s.

She graduated at classical high school and she later enrolled at School of Law at the University of Pisa, where she began her political activity as student representative. She graduated in 2024.

Political career

Cascina She was elected at the municipal council of Cascina in 2011 and she participated as a regular guest in the political talk show Announo on the national channel La7.

She was a candidate for the 2015 Tuscan regional election but did not get a council seat.

During the 2016 Italian local elections she obtained at the Cascina mayoral election 28.4% in the first round and 50.3% in the run-off, while her party got 21.3%. Immigration was a core topic of the campaign. and Cascina became the first large municipality won by Lega Nord Toscana in the region and the second in general after Bagni di Lucca in the 1990s. in a region which is a traditional left stronghold. before Siena, Pisa and Massa followed suit in the June 2018 local elections.

The result was not considered local#tag:ref|Matteo Salvini, who at time was only leader of the Northern League, gave himself news of her victory to the national audience during the television late night show Porta a Porta.

Susanna Ceccardi with Matteo Salvini in May 2019 at an election rally for the following European and municipal elections, in Montecatini Terme.

Growing national role and European Elections In September 2018, she joined the staff of Salvini once he had become the Italian Minister of the Interior. She was elected with preferences. becoming the youngest MEP of her party. Her former deputy Dario Rollo became mayor after she accepted her role of MEP. ). blocked in the Canary Islands with no direct flight to Italy because of the increasing local travel restrictions and reduction of flights and routes. The tourists were visited by Gambaccini before the start of the travel, and equipped with protective masks.

Ceccardi stated she undertook the initiative after not receiving specific reply from the Italian authorities.

2020 Tuscan regional elections Eugenio Giani with Susanna Ceccardi (top candidates for the upcoming regional elections) at the July 2020 electoral debate in the main building of La Nazione in Florence.

After the good performance of the possible allied parties at the 2019 European elections, Ceccardi declared herself as a possible candidate for the president of Tuscany at the incoming regional elections of 2020. However, possible allies criticized the weak performance of the center-right coalition at the runoff votings of the 2019 municipal elections under her strategical leadership and criticisms of her activism emerged also inside her own party. The candidature was formalized for the whole center-right coalition in June 2020, when the date of the election was confirmed after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Political views She has been described as an example of younger Italian politicians supporting a more critical view of the European Union especially compared with the older right-wing officeholders of the previous decades.

In 2016, she gave honorary citizenship to Magdi Cristiano Allam, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and is noted for his criticism of Islamic extremism. Ceccardi consider that "regulating immigration is a moderate position"

Personal life In March 2019, she made public that she was expecting a baby with her partner Andrea Barabotti, a member of the Lega from Massa, due in September 2019. She expressed the possibility to name her future daughter Kinzica after , a medieval heroine who according to the legend it is said to have defended the town of Pisa from the invasion of the Saracens. Kinzika was born in Pisa on 28 September.

She is a friend of Pisan singer Andrea Bocelli.