Francesco Lollobrigida (born 21 March 1972) is an Italian politician who has been the minister of Agriculture since 22 October 2022. A leading member of the national-conservative Brothers of Italy, Lollobrigida is widely considered one of the closest allies of Giorgia Meloni.[1]
His domestic partner is Arianna Meloni who is the sister of incumbent Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.[4] They have two daughters.[5]
Career
During the 1990s, Lollobrigida started his involvement in politics within the Youth Front (FdG), the youth-wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). Until 1995, Lollobrigida served as provincial secretary of FdG for Rome. From 1997 to 1999, he served as leader of Student Action, a far-right student movement connected to National Alliance (AN), the MSI's heir. During this period, he also held various political positions at the provincial level, including municipal councilor in Subiaco (1996–2000), provincial councilor in Rome (1998–2003) and councilor for sport, culture and tourism in the municipality of Ardea (2005–2006).[3]
He run in the 2005 Lazio regional election, in support of incumbent President Francesco Storace, but he was not elected. On 5 July 2006, he was elected regional councilor in Lazio, taking over from Andrea Augello, elected to the Senate of the Republic in the 2006 general election. In 2008, he became provincial president of National Alliance for Rome and from 2010 to 2012 he held the same position in The People of Freedom (PdL).[6] On 17 April 2010, he was appointed councilor for mobility and transport in the Lazio regional government of Renata Polverini, a position he held until 12 March 2013.[7]
On 19 April 2023 Lollobrigida attracted criticism for his remarks to a trade union conference suggesting that "Italians are having fewer children, so we're replacing them with someone else. [We say] yes to helping births, no to ethnic replacement. That’s not the way forward."[9] Responding to his statement opposition politicians cited references to Italian fascist rhetoric of the 1930s. News reports set his remarks in the wider context of the racist Great Replacement theory.[10]
In November 2023, the Italian government banned lab-grown meat during his term as Agriculture minister. Critics fear that the ban might hurt animal welfare and the global climate.[11]
In the same month Lollobrigida was granted an "extraordinary stop" at Ciampino, on a high-speed-train that was 110-minutes-late, to inaugurate an urban park in Caviano.[12][13] In response, he faced calls from the opposition to resign, Lollobrigida rejected the demands stating, "I asked for something like any other citizen. And I’m not resigning."[14]
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