Matteo Renzi was born in Florence in January 1975. At a very early age, he joined the Scout Movement and made his own the Scout aim of “leaving this world a little better than you found it” (in Baden Powell’s words). During his university years he became interested in politics, campaigning in support of Romano Prodi, later to become Italy’s Prime Minister and Head of the European Commission. He combined studying with work in his family business, dealing with marketing.
In 1999 he obtained a degree in law from Florence University and in the same year he got married to Agnese. In 2004 Matteo Renzi was elected President of Florence Provincial Council. In 2008 he refused a second mandate as President at the Provincial Council and announced he was standing in the primary elections to select the Democratic Party (PD) mayoral candidate for the city of Florence.
In June 2009 he was elected Mayor of Florence. For the first time, Florence halved the number of city councillors while ensuring an equal number of male and female councillors.
From 2010 to 2012 his interest in national politics steadily increased. In September 2012 Matteo Renzi announced the intention to put forward his name in the primary elections for the leader of his party. In the meantime, he was still very active in Florence. On 2 December 2012 he lost the primary elections to Pier Luigi Bersani.
In 2013 Renzi run again for the leadership of the Democratic Party and on 8 December won it with the 67.5% of preferences. On 22 February 2014, after the resignation of Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi was appointed as the new President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic. He is the youngest Italian Prime Minister since Italian unification. Matteo Renzi is also the author of several books and other publications.