The President of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana, was born in Verona on 10 April 1980. He is married and has one daughter.
He holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Padua, a degree in History from the European University of Rome and a degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum. After obtaining a three-year degree in Philosophy at the Angelicum University in Rome, he is currently studying there for a Licentiate in the same subject. He is also a registered free-lance journalist.
He began his political career as a Municipal Councillor in Verona. In the League Party, he held the position of Federal Deputy Secretary for several years and he was in charge of the League’s foreign affairs department.
In 2009 he was elected to the European Parliament, serving as the youngest Head of Delegation and Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Culture and Education. During his two terms at the European Parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home A airs. He was also a member of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq.
From July 2017 to June 2018, he served as Deputy Mayor of his home city, Verona. In February 2018, he published the book: 'The empty cradle of civilisation. The origins of the crisis', co-authored with Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, economist and former President of the Institute for the Works of Religion.
In March 2018, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Veneto 2 constituency and then elected Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies.
In June 2018, he was sworn in as Minister of the Republic with portfolios in: family policies, disabilities, childhood and adolescence, as well as anti-drug policies. One year after, he was appointed Minister for European Affairs.
In September 2022, he was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Veneto 2 constituency. The 14th of October 2022, he was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies of the 19th Parliament.