Biography

Bodrato was born in Monteu Roero

Monteu Roero

Monteu Roero is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo....

, in Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

, and graduated in jurisprudence. He entered Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, or DC) and was elected in the Italian Chamber of Deputies

Italian Chamber of Deputies

The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...

 for that party from 1968 to 1994. He was also municipal councillor in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

. Together with Carlo Donat-Cattin

Carlo Donat-Cattin

Carlo Donat-Cattin was an Italian politician and trade unionist. A member of Christian Democracy, he was several times minister of the Italian Republic.-Biography:...

, he was a leader of DC's Forze Nuove internal wing, and later, as a collaborator of Benigno Zaccagnini

Benigno Zaccagnini

Benigno Zaccagnini was an Italian politician and physician.-Political career:Zaccagnini was among the founders of the Democrazia Cristiana , and was elected at the Constituent Assembly and the Chamber of Deputies of the new-born Italian Republic...

, a founder of the so-called Area Zac with Mino Martinazzoli and others.

Bodrato was Minister of Education from 1980 and 1982 (Forlani and Spadolini I/II cabinets), then, in 1982-1983, Minister of Economic Balance in the Fanfani V cabinet. After a period as DC's vice-secretary under Ciriaco De Mita

Ciriaco de Mita

Ciriaco Luigi de Mita is an Italian politician. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Italy from 1988 to 1989 and is currently Member of the European Parliament.-Biography:De Mita was born in Nusco, in the Avellinese hinterland....

 and then Arnaldo Forlani

Arnaldo Forlani

This article is about the Italian legislator. For the similar name used as an alias by terrorist Ramzi Yousef for Philippine Airlines Flight 434, see Ramzi Yousef....

, he was again minister, this time of Industry and Commerce, in 1991-1992 (Andreotti VII Cabinet

Giulio Andreotti

Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...

).

During the Mani Pulite

Mani pulite

Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were...

 scandal that wiped out DC and other Italian traditional government parties, he supported the renovation of new secretary Mino Martinazzoli, and the foundation of the new Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano, PPI). From 1996 to 1999 he was director of the party's newspaper Il Popolo. Bodrato was elected in the PPI's lists at the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 in 1999-2004.

External links

• Biography at Piedmontese PPI website
• http://archiviofoto.unita.it/index.php?f2=recordid&cod=1788&codset=BIO&pagina=827Photo archive at L'Unità
  L'Unità
  l'Unità is an Italian left-wing newspaper, originally founded as official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party.-History:L'Unità was founded by Antonio Gramsci on 12 February 1924, as the newspaper of workers and peasants, the official newspaper of Italian Communist Party : it was printed in...
  
  website]