Turco came from a working-class background in Morozzo, Cuneo, and studied in Cuneo and Turin, where she began her political career with the Italian Communist Party, becoming a deputy in 1987. Later, she was director of the Italian Communist Youth Federation, a regional councillor, and responsible for women in the local party federation. Following the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party in 1991, she joined the Democratic Party of the Left and then the Democrats of the Left as a deputy from 1992 to 2001. From May 1996 to June 2001, she was Minister of Social Affairs (Solidarietà Sociale) in the Olive Tree-led governments by Romano Prodi, Massimo D'Alema, and Giuliano Amato.[1]
Turco unsuccessfully ran for president of Piedmont in 2000, and was elected a senator for Piedmont in 2006. She then became Minister of Health in the second Prodi government (2006–2008). Following the fall of Prodi's government, she was elected a deputy in April 2008 as a member of the centre-left Democratic Party, and ended her political career in 2013, not seeking re-election. Her name is attached to the 1998 immigration act known as the Turco-Napolitano Law (L. 40/98), as well as the 2000 parental leave and time regulation in cities act, also known as the Turco Act (Legge 53/2000).[2][3]
^Lombardo, Emanuela; Sangiuliano, Maria (November–December 2009). "'Gender and employment' in the Italian policy debates: The construction of 'non employed' gendered subjects". Women's Studies International Forum. 32 (6): 445–452. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.09.007.
