Paolo Del Debbio

Paolo Del Debbio was born in Lucca in 1958.[2] He obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and a degree in philosophy from the Pontifical Urban University.[3]

In 1988 Del Debbio began working for Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest group, first as coordinator of the research department and then as assistant to CEO Fedele Confalonieri. At Fininvest, Del Debbio met Gina Nieri, with whom he married and had two daughters: Maddalena and Sara.[4]

Working at Fininvest until 1993, he was among the founders of Forza Italia, the liberal-conservative party launched by Berlusconi. Del Debbio wrote the party's political program[5][6] and was the director of the party's national studies office from 1994 to 1997.[7]

In the 1995 Tuscan regional election he was the candidate for president for the centre-right Pole for Freedoms, but was defeated.[8] Later, from 1998 to 2001, he was municipal minister for the suburbs and security in the city government of Milan, under mayor Gabriele Albertini (Forza Italia).[9]

Since 2001 he has been a freelance journalist, enrolled in the Order of Journalists of Lombardy.[10]

Since 2004 he has presented several talk shows on Mediaset networks, like Secondo voi (2004–2010), Mattino Cinque (2010–2013), Quinta colonna (2012–2018), Dalla vostra parte (2015–2016) and Dritto e rovescio (since 2019).[11]