Valerio Zanone

{{short description|Italian politician (1936–2016)}} {{use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Valerio Zanone | image = Valerio Riccardo Zanone datisenato 2006.jpg | office = Mayor of Turin | term_start = 30 July 1990 | term_end = 1 January 1992 | predecessor = Maria Magnani Noya | successor = Baldassarre Furnari {{Collapsed infobox section begin | cont = yes | Ministerial offices | titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey; }} {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office2 = Minister of Defence | term_start2 = 28 July 1987 | term_end2 = 22 July 1989 | prime_minister2 = Giovanni Goria Ciriaco De Mita | predecessor2 = Remo Gaspari | successor2 = Mino Martinazzoli | office3 = Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Craftmanship | term_start3 = 1 August 1986 | term_end3 = 3 March 1987 | prime_minister3 = Bettino Craxi | predecessor3 = Renato Altissimo | successor3 = Franco Piga | office4 = Minister of Ecology | term_start4 = 30 July 1984 | term_end4 = 1 August 1986 | prime_minister4 = Bettino Craxi | predecessor4 = Alfredo Biondi | successor4 = Francesco De Lorenzo {{Collapsed infobox section end}} }} {{Collapsed infobox section begin | cont = yes | Parliamentary offices | titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey; }} {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office5 = Member of the Senate of the Republic | term_start5 = 27 April 2006 | term_end5 = 28 April 2008 | constituency5 = Lombardy | office6 = Member of the Chamber of Deputies | term_start6 = 23 April 1992 | term_end6 = 14 April 1994 | constituency6 = Turin–Novara–Vercelli | term_start7 = 5 July 1976 | term_end7 = 8 November 1990 | constituency7 = Turin–Novara–Vercelli {{Collapsed infobox section end}} }} | birth_date = {{birth date|1936|1|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Turin, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|1|7|1936|1|22|df=y}} | death_place = Rome, Italy | party = PLI (1955–1993) ULD (1993–1995) FdL (1995-2004) DL (2004–2007) PD (2007–2010) ApI (2010–2016) | occupation = Journalist, politician }} '''Valerio Zanone''' (22 January 1936 – 7 January 2016) was an Italian politician who served as a minister in various Italian governments, including these led by Bettino Craxi, Giovanni Goria, and Ciriaco De Mita during the 1980s. He was mayor of Turin from 1990 to 1992. Within the Italian Parliament, he served as deputy from 1970 to 1992, and was also a senator from 2006 to 2008.

Zanone began his career in the Italian Liberal Party ({{lang|it|Partito Liberale Italiano}}, PLI) during the 1950s. In the early 1970s, he was involved in the regional politics of Piedmont. In 1976, he was appointed secretary of the PLI, a position he held until 1985, and was the party president from 1991 to 1993. After resigning from the PLI, Zanone founded his own liberal-democratic movement close to the centre-left, before joining other liberal and centrist parties within the Italian centre-left.

== Early life and career == Zanone was born on 22 January 1936 in Turin.<ref name="Camera dei deputati – Portale storico 2016">{{cite web |date=2016 |title=Valerio Zanone |url=https://storia.camera.it/deputato/valerio-zanone-19360122 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240919041152/https://storia.camera.it/deputato/valerio-zanone-19360122 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Camera dei deputati – Portale storico |language=it}}</ref><ref name="Openpolis 2019">{{cite web |date=2019 |title=Gli incarichi e le dichiarazioni di Valerio Zanone |trans-title=Valerio Zanone's roles and statements |url=https://politici.openpolis.it/politico/1766 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201205102/https://politici.openpolis.it/politico/1766 |archive-date=1 December 2024 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Openpolis |language=it}}</ref><ref name="Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali 2024">{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Zanone Valerio |url=https://amministratori.interno.gov.it/index.php?page=InfoAnagrafica&IdAnagrafica=583615 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201221624/https://amministratori.interno.gov.it/index.php?page=InfoAnagrafica&IdAnagrafica=583615 |archive-date=1 December 2024 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali |language=it}}</ref> After attending the Liceo Classico Massimo d'Azeglio,<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023">{{cite web |date=2023 |title=Valerio Zanone (1974–1993) |url=https://archivio.camera.it/inventari/profilo/archivio-valerio-zanone-1974-1993 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240613155112/https://archivio.camera.it/inventari/profilo/archivio-valerio-zanone-1974-1993 |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati}}</ref> he graduated in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Turin, defending with his supervisor Luigi Pareysona a thesis on the aesthetics of Giordano Bruno.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020">{{cite web |date=2020 |title=Valerio Zanone 1966–1994 |url=https://patrimonio.archivio.senato.it/inventario/fondazione-einaudi/valerio-zanone |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250215165111/https://patrimonio.archivio.senato.it/inventario/fondazione-einaudi/valerio-zanone |archive-date=15 February 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica |language=it}}</ref> During the 1950s, Zanone worked as an editor at the Einaudi publishing house.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> In 1964, he co-founded the Luigi Einaudi Research and Documentation Centre ({{lang|it|Centro di Ricerca e Documentazione Luigi Einaudi}}) in Turin.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> Also in 1964, he became a member of the editorial board of the magazine ''Biblioteca della libertà''.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/>

In 1966, Zanone became a member of the Italian Order of Journalists ({{lang|it|Ordine dei giornalisti}}) and the Subalpine Press Association ({{lang|it|Associazione Stampa Subalpina}}).<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> In 1969, he started working as a contract contributor to ''Il Sole 24 Ore''.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> During his long political career, Zanone was a journalist by trade,<ref name="Openpolis 2019"/><ref name="Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali 2024"/> and devoted himself to journalism and culture, and to studies on liberalism in the mid-1990s.<ref name="Immoderati 2016">{{cite web |date=11 January 2016 |title=Valerio Zanone, un liberale controcorrente |trans-title=Valerio Zanone, a counter-current liberal |url=https://immoderati.it/valerio-zanone-semplicemente-un-liberale/ |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=Immoderati |language=it}}</ref> He also collaborated on a history of Italian liberals from the unification of Italy to the present day.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> Among his publications were {{lang|it|L'età liberale. Democrazie e capitalismo nella società aperta}} (1997).<ref name="Sapere.it 2021">{{cite web |date=2021 |title=Zanóne, Valèrio |url=https://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/Zan%C3%B3ne,+Val%C3%A8rio.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202131010/https://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/Zan%C3%B3ne,+Val%C3%A8rio.html |archive-date=2 December 2024 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Sapere.it |language=it}}</ref>

== Italian Liberal Party == thumb|left|Zanone as a member of the Chamber of Deputies After entering the PLI in 1955, Zanone was a regional councillor in Piedmont from 1970 to 1976, serving as secretary of the Special Commission for the Statute and president of the Legislative Commission for Environmental Protection.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> During these years, he gained experience in the implementation of regional law, editing the study {{lang|it|Potere statale e riforma regionale. Ricerca sullo stato di attuazione dell'ordinamento regionale}}, which was published by the Bologna-based publishing house Il Mulino.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> Zanone was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1976 to 1990, the year he was elected by the city council as mayor of Turin, and from 1992 to 1994,<ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> both times in the constituency of Turin–Novara–Vercelli.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> First elected in the 7th legislature of Italy (5 July 1976 – 2 April 1979), he was re-elected for the 8th (20 June 1979 – 4 May 1983), the 9th (12 July 1983 – 28 April 1987), the 10th (2 July 1987 – 2 February 1992; he resigned on 8 November 1990), and the 11th legislatures (23 April 1992 – 16 January 1994), assuming various parliamentary roles from time to time.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/>

From 1976 to 1985, Zanone was national secretary of the PLI, succeeding Giovanni Malagodi,<ref name="TGcom24 2016">{{cite web |date=7 January 2016 |title=Roma, morto Valerio Zanone: storico segretario del Pli, fu sindaco di Torino |trans-title=Rome, Valerio Zanone dies: historic secretary of the PLI, former mayor of Turin |url=https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/politica/roma-morto-valerio-zanone-storico-segretario-del-pli-fu-sindaco-di-torino_2152859-201602a.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903164412/https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/politica/roma-morto-valerio-zanone-storico-segretario-del-pli-fu-sindaco-di-torino_2152859-201602a.shtml |archive-date=3 September 2022 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=TGcom24 |language=it}}</ref><ref name="La Repubblica 2016">{{cite news |date=7 January 2016 |title=Morto Valerio Zanone, dal Pli all'Ulivo: fu ministro e sindaco di Torino |trans-title=Valerio Zanone has died, from the PLI to The Olive Tree: former minister and mayor of Turin |url=https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2016/01/07/news/morto_valerio_zanone_dal_pli_all_ulivo_fu_ministro_e_sindaco_di_torino-130760918/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805020542/https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2016/01/07/news/morto_valerio_zanone_dal_pli_all_ulivo_fu_ministro_e_sindaco_di_torino-130760918/ |archive-date=5 August 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 |work=La Repubblica |language=it}}</ref> a conservative liberal who he often criticised during the 1960s,<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016">{{cite web |date=7 January 2016 |title=È morto Valerio Zanone, un maestro che ci ha insegnato ad essere liberi e liberali |trans-title=Valerio Zanone has died, a master who taught us to be free and liberal |url=https://www.alessandriaoggi.info/sito/2016/01/07/e-morto-valerio-zanone-un-maestro-che-ci-ha-insegnato-ad-essere-liberi-e-liberali/ |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=Alessandria Oggi |language=it}}</ref> and later served as president of the PLI.<ref name="Camera dei deputati – Portale storico 2016"/><ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> He had been a national councillor of the PLI since 1969 and a member of the central management ({{lang|it|direzione centrale}}) since 1971.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/><ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> First appointed secretary general of the PLI on 1 February 1976, he was confirmed in this position at the next four party congresses, including the 15th in Naples (1976), the 16th in Rome (1979), the 17th in Florence (1981), and the 18th in Turin (1984), until 19 July 1985.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> His secretariat was marked by the Years of Lead and the alliance with the Italian Socialist Party ({{lang|it|Partito Socialista Italiano}}, PSI) under Bettino Craxi, for example during the 1985 Italian wage referendum,<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> which was a difficult transition of Italian politics as it confirmed the end of the sliding wage scale ({{lang|it|scala mobile}}) and instead decoupled wage dynamics from inflation trends.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/>

In 1985, Zanone was appointed Minister of Ecology (without portfolio) in the first Craxi government (1983–1986),<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> being among the signatories of the law for the creation of a Ministry of the Environment,<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> among the first in Europe.<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> He was Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Craftmanship during the second Craxi government (1986–1987), implementing together with others the National Energy Conference,<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> which was presided over by the former Bank of Italy governor Paolo Baffi,<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> and Minister of Defence in the Goria and De Mita governments (1987–1989),<ref name="Openpolis 2019"/><ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/><ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> taking responsibility for the mission of Italian sailors in the Persian Gulf,<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> and also preparing, among other things, a programme of modernisation of the Italian Armed Forces.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> From 1989 to 1990, he was also president of the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies;<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> previously, he had been a member of the Fourth Permanent Commission (Defence) of the Chamber of Deputies under the chairmanship of Lelio Lagorio, before he then assumed its presidency during the 10th legislature from 18 October 1989 to 15 January 1990.<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/> In 1991, Zanone was elected president of the PLI.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/>

In November 1992, Zanone admitted his membership in the Turin lodge Augusta Taurinorum of the Grand Orient of Italy,<ref>{{cite news |date=15 November 1992 |title=L'ex ministro Zanone: anch'io ho indossato grembiuli e cappucci |trans-title=Former minister Zanone: I too wore aprons and hoods |url=https://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/slider.html#!Zanone/15-11-1992/15-11-1992/NobwRAdghgtgpmAXGAJlALlMAaMAzAJwHsYkwBGAVgHpzzaBOBgJhzHSLKtvvKdYC+2cNHhkA1nACeAdyIEUbdHAAe6MgC0oEIhAQCAukA |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=Corriere della Sera |page=11 |language=it}}</ref> and that he had a speaking role at the Grand Orient of Italy conferences,<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/> later emphasising that the notorious Propaganda Due was to Freemasonry what fascism was to the ideal of the fatherland.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> This coincided with a progressive distancing from frontline politics within the PLI, which was marked by the involvement of his dolphin Renato Altissimo in the Emimont scandal,<ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016">{{cite news |date=8 January 2016 |title=Addio Valerio Zanone, giornalista e leader liberale |trans-title=Goodbye Valerio Zanone, journalist and liberal leader |url=https://www.giornalistitalia.it/addio-valerio-zanone-giornalista-e-leader-liberale/ |access-date=27 December 2025 |work=Giornalistitalia |language=it}}</ref> which was part of the {{lang|it|Mani pulite}} inquiries that revolutionised Italy and gave rise to the Second Italian Republic.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> His distance from politics continued until June 1993 when he resigned from the position of party president.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> From 1992 to 1994, he was president of the Cortese Foundation in Naples.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> Since 1990, he also began to hold a series of prestigious positions at foundations (the Luigi Einaudi Foundation in Turin and Rome, and the Filippo Burzio Foundation in Turin), banks (Cassa di Risparmio di Torino and Unicredit), and institutions (Lingotto in Turin and the Association of Italian Cultural Institutions,<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> of which he served as vice president).<ref name="L'Archivio storico della Camera dei deputati 2023"/>

== Mayor of Turin == Elected by the Turin City Council on 30 July 1990 at the head of the {{lang|it|Pentapartito}} coalition, Zanone was mayor of Turin for a year and a half (1990–1992) during the turbulent years of the early 1990s until 1 January 1992,<ref name="Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali 2024"/> after his resignation on 31 December 1991, with Baldassarre Furnari of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party ({{lang|it|Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano}}, PSDI) heading the local caretaker government until the election of the Italian Republican Party ({{lang|it|Partito Repubblicano Italiano}}, PRI) member Giovanna Cattaneo Incisa.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=20 June 2016 |title=Sindaci, podestà, commissari: tutta la serie |trans-title=Mayors, podestàs, commissioners: the whole series |url=https://torinostoria.com/sindaci-podesta-commissari-tutta-la-serie/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714102825/https://torinostoria.com/sindaci-podesta-commissari-tutta-la-serie/ |archive-date=14 July 2024 |access-date=20 December 2025 |magazine=Torino Storia |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Farina |first=Gabriele |date=19 June 2024 |title=Tutti i sindaci di Torino, dai decurioni ai sindaci eletti dai cittadini |trans-title=All the mayors of Turin, from the decurions to the mayors elected by the citizens |url=https://www.quotidianopiemontese.it/2024/06/19/tutti-i-sindaci-di-torino-dai-decurioni-ai-sindaci-eletti-dai-cittadini/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620013617/https://www.quotidianopiemontese.it/2024/06/19/tutti-i-sindaci-di-torino-dai-decurioni-ai-sindaci-eletti-dai-cittadini/ |archive-date=20 June 2024 |access-date=20 December 2025 |work=Quotidiano Piemontese |language=it}}</ref> During his time as mayor, the city's general municipal master plan ({{lang|it|piano regolatore generale comunale}}) was approved by the City Council of Turin.<ref name="Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica 2020"/> On 14 December 1992, he ended his role as councillor, from which he had been serving since 25 June 1990.<ref name="Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali 2024"/> His resignations stemmed from his decision to run for the Chamber of Deputies in 1992.<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/><ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/>

== Liberal Democratic Union and Federation of Liberals == After the {{lang|it|Tangentopoli}} scandal and his resignation from the PLI in 1993, Zanone formed a centre-left party called the Liberal Democratic Union ({{lang|it|Unione Liberaldemocratica}}, ULD).<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> This minor party, mainly present in Piedmont,<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> aligned itself with Mario Segni and his National Rebirth Pact ({{lang|it|Patto di Rinascita Nazionale}}, PdRN),<ref>{{cite web |last=Sce |first=Iacopo |date=22 December 1993 |title=Mario Segni presenta il Comitato di Programma del Patto di Rinascita Nazionale e le prime adesione giunte dal mondo della cultura e dell'Università |trans-title=Mario Segni presents the National Renaissance Pact's Programme Committee and the first members from the world of culture and University |url=https://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/67884/mario-segni-presenta-il-comitato-di-programma-del-patto-di-rinascita-nazionale-e-le |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=Radio Radicale |language=it}}</ref> best known as the Segni Pact ({{lang|it|Patto Segni}}, PS), in the run-up to the 1994 Italian general election under the new mixed electoral system system.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Novelli |first=Edoardo |url=https://books.google.comt/books?id=TXNQDwAAQBAJ |title=Le campagne elettorali in Italia. Protagonisti, strumenti, teorie |publisher=Editori Laterza |year=2018 |isbn=978-88-581-3216-6 |page=[https://books.google.comt/books?id=TXNQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1994-IA1&dq=Unione+Liberaldemocratica+Patto+Segni 1994] |language=it |trans-title=Election Campaigns in Italy: Protagonists, Tools, Theories |access-date=27 December 2025 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Zanone was critical of the pro-Silvio Berlusconi attitude of some former PLI members and liberals,<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/><ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/> and spoke of "an illiberal government".<ref>{{cite news |date=24 July 1994 |title=Pli a congresso 'Non c'è solo Forza Italia...' |trans-title=PLI at the congress "There's not just Forza Italia..." |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1994/07/24/pli-congresso-non-solo.html |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=La Repubblica |language=it}}</ref>

In the first-past-the-post system, Zanone's party fielded its own candidates in the centrist coalition of the Pact for Italy ({{lang|it|Patto per l'Italia}}, PpI); in the proportional representation system, it ran on the lists of the PS, which also featured ''Liberal Democrats'' ({{lang|it|Liberaldemocratici}}) on its symbol.<ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Maestri |first=Gabriele |date=31 December 2021 |title=Dal Patto al gonfalone: Giuliano Bianucci tra comunicazione e simboli |trans-title=From the Pact to the gonfalon: Giuliano Bianucci between communication and symbols |url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2020/08/dal-patto-al-gonfalone-giuliano.html |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=I Simboli della Discordia |language=it}}</ref> During the second party congress of the Federation of Liberals ({{lang|it|Federazione dei Liberali}}, FdL) in February 1995, Zanone merged the Liberal Democratic Union with the FdL,<ref name="Treccani 2011">{{cite web |date=2011 |title=Zanóne, Valerio |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valerio-zanone/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211161126/https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/valerio-zanone |archive-date=11 February 2023 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Treccani |language=it |postscript=. Updated through the years.}}</ref> of which he was appointed president;<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/><ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/> the FdL had been founded on 6 February 1994 as the legal successor of the PLI and was led by Raffaello Morelli.<ref>{{cite web |last=Maestri |first=Gabriele |date=20 March 2014 |title=La 'Scelta europea' di Tabacci e Boldrin che spiazza (e fa infuriare i montiani) |trans-title=Tabacci and Boldrin's "European Choice" surprises (and infuriates Monti supporters) |url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2014/03/la-scelta-europea-di-tabacci-e-boldrin.html |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=I Simboli della Discordia |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Maestri |first=Gabriele |date=11 September 2015 |title=Il Partito della Libertà... che non era di Berlusconi |trans-title=The People of the Freedom... that wasn't Berlusconi's |url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2015/09/il-partito-della-liberta-che-non-era-di.html |access-date=27 December 2025 |website=I Simboli della Discordia |language=it}}</ref>

== The Olive Tree and centre-left coalition == In June 1995, Zanone and the FdL secretary participated in the founding of The Olive Tree ({{lang|it|L'Ulivo}}) coalition led by Romano Prodi.<ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> About the role of the FdL, Zanone said: "In the Babel of transformism where everyone calls themselves liberal, we remain so, faithful to the liberal-democratic tradition that has never swung to the right. Ours is an autonomous liberal position that finds its natural interlocutors in the centre and in Romano Prodi's candidacy for prime minister. His candidacy is an expression of social and cultural circles that can make a successful contribution to the liberal-democratic alternative against right-wing populism."<ref>{{cite news |date=6 February 1995 |title='I liberali stanno con Romano' |trans-title="The Liberals are with Romano" |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1995/02/06/liberali-stanno-con-romano.html |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=La Repubblica |language=it}}</ref>

Amid divisions within the FdL, Zanone and Morelli reiterated the support to The Olive Tree, particularly the Democratic Union ({{lang|it|Unione Democratica}}, UD).<ref name="La Repubblica 1996">{{cite news |date=3 March 1996 |title=I liberali si dividono ancora |trans-title=The liberals divided again |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1996/03/03/liberali-si-dividono-ancora.html |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=La Repubblica |language=it}}</ref> Ahead of the 1996 Italian general election, Zanone said: "The majoritarian principle requires reaching agreements with others, not masking ourselves. As liberals, we stand with the Democratic Union and the Olive Tree coalition, because, as always, we stand with liberal democracy, which is completely different from the new right."<ref name="La Repubblica 1996"/> According to Zanone, the true leader of the centre-right coalition ({{lang|it|coalizione di centro-destra}}) was Gianfranco Fini, a post-fascist, stating: "Even if he's thrown his black shirt in the washing machine, that right isn't for us."<ref name="La Repubblica 1996"/> Ahead of the 1999 European Parliament election in Italy, the FdL formed an electoral alliance with the PRI of Ugo La Malfa.<ref>{{cite news |date=21 April 1999 |title=La Malfa e Zanone in coppia alla consultazione del 13 giugno |trans-title=La Malfa and Zanone together at the 13 June election |url=https://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/slider.html#!La-Malfa-e-Zanone-in-coppia-alla-consultazione-del-13-giugno/NobwRAdghgtgpmAXGA1nAngdwPYCcAmYANGAC5wAepSYAMlAAQCyUANgGaNwMBaUE2CNwCWEBgGNsABynDGbVo0kQAzgFdWpKAC9hg7vjisGARgDMDAObC1lgWAC+AXSA |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=Corriere della Sera |page=11 |language=it}}</ref>

Within the centre-left coalition ({{lang|it|coalizione di centro-sinistra}}), Zanone left the FdL in 2004 to join the centrist Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ({{lang|it|Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita}}, DL),<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/><ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> which was led by Francesco Rutelli.<ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> Starting in 2001, while remaining president of the FdL, he was a member of the Federal Assembly of the DL.<ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/> In November 2004, he founded the Association for Liberal Democracy ({{lang|it|Associazione per la Liberaldemocrazia}}, AplL), a political association aiming to organise liberals scattered across the various centre-left parties to contribute "with genuinely liberal initiatives to the reformist alternative project",<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/><ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/><ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/> breaking away from the FdL and joining the DL.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/><ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/><ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/>

In the 2006 Italian general election, Zanone was elected to the Senate of the Republic, having run on the DL's party list in the Lombardy constituency,<ref>{{cite news |date=19 February 2006 |title=Zanone a Rutelli: lo Stato non è etico, deve essere laico |trans-title=Zanone to Rutelli: the state is not ethical, it must be secular |url=https://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/slider.html#!Zanone-Rutelli-Stato-etico/NobwRAdghgtgpmAXGA1nAngdwPYCcAmYANGAC5wAepSYAWlBNhHAAQBKAruQDbcCWLAMqkopbCzik+AY2xgAvgF0gA |access-date=28 December 2025 |work=Corriere della Sera |page=13 |language=it}}</ref> after twelve years outside of parliamentary politics but not politics as a whole.<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> In 2007, he joined the centre-left Democratic Party ({{lang|it|Partito Democratico}}, PD),<ref name="TGcom24 2016" /><ref name="La Repubblica 2016" /> the result of a merge between the Democrats of the Left ({{lang|it|Democratici di Sinistra}}, DS) and the DL, which critics described as having treated him as "little more than a coat of arms to be flaunted".<ref name="Immoderati 2016" /> From 2006 to 2008, Zanone was a member of the Senate,<ref name="Treccani 2011"/> serving in several parliamentary delegations and commissions, including being a member and vice-president of the 4th Standing Committee (Defense), member of the Commission of Inquiry into Depleted Uranium, member of the Italian Parliamentary Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and member of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the Waste Cycle and Related Illicit Activities.<ref>{{cite web |date=2007 |title=Scheda di attività di Valerio Zanone |trans-title=Valerio Zanone's activity sheet |url=https://www.senato.it/leg/15/BGT/Schede/Attsen/00002548.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251004012722/https://www.senato.it/leg/15/BGT/Schede/Attsen/00002548.htm |archive-date=4 October 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Senato.it |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Scheda di attività di Valerio Zanone |trans-title=Valerio Zanone's activity sheet |url=https://www.senato.it/legislature/15/composizione/senatori/elenco-alfabetico/scheda-attivita?did=00002548 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250815095907/https://www.senato.it/legislature/15/composizione/senatori/elenco-alfabetico/scheda-attivita?did=00002548 |archive-date=15 August 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Senato.it |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2025 |title=Scheda di attività di Valerio Zanone |trans-title=Valerio Zanone's activity sheet |url=https://www.senato.it/legislature/15/composizione/senatori/elenco-alfabetico/scheda-attivita?did=2548 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250824044352/https://www.senato.it/legislature/15/composizione/senatori/elenco-alfabetico/scheda-attivita?did=2548 |archive-date=24 August 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Senato.it |language=it}}</ref>

== Later years and death == In 2010, while still adhering to the moderate centre-left, Zanone left the PD for the centrist Alliance for Italy ({{lang|it|Alleanza per l'Italia}}, ApI).<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> In May 2010, he announced his membership (including among others the fellow Turinese Gianni Vernetti) of Rutelli's ApI through the promotion and establishment of the Liberal Committee of the Alliance for Italy ({{lang|it|Comitato Liberale per l'Alleanza per l'Italia}}, CLpApI).<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/><ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/><ref name="Giornalistitalia 2016"/> Ahead of the 2014 European Parliament election in Italy, he expressed interest for European Choice ({{lang|it|Scelta Europea}}, SE), a pro-European and pro-federal Europe alliance in support of Guy Verhofstadt.<ref>{{cite web |last=Petti |first=Edoardo |date=4 March 2014 |title=Ecco la lista arcobaleno degli ultra liberal-europeisti che (con Prodi e montiani doc) sfidano Popolari e Socialisti |trans-title=Here is the rainbow list of ultra liberal-Europeanists who (with Prodi and Montini DOC supporters) challenge the Populars and the Socialists |url=https://formiche.net/2014/03/verhofstadt-liberali-alde-prodi-monti/ |access-date=28 December 2025 |website=Formiche |language=it}}</ref>

Zanone was the honorary president of a prestigious institution like the private foundation named after PLI leader and second Italian president Luigi Einaudi. In addition to being president of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation ({{lang|it|Fondazione Luigi Einaudi}}, FLE) in Rome for economic and political studies,<ref name="Sapere.it 2021"/> he was a member of the board of directors of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation in Turin from 1990 to 2007.<ref>{{cite web |date=2016 |title=I presidenti dal 1962 della Fondazione Luigi Einaudi |trans-title=The presidents of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation since 1962 |url=http://www.fondazioneluigieinaudi.it/ipresidenti/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230181305/http://www.fondazioneluigieinaudi.it/ipresidenti/ |archive-date=30 December 2018 |access-date=24 December 2025 |website=Fondazione Luigi Einaudi |language=it}}</ref> Among the last political battles Zanone fought a few months before his death was that with Roberto Einaudi in relation to the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, which was at risk of liquidation, wanting to prevent the foundation from falling under the control of Berlusconi and Forza Italia,<ref name="Treccani 2011"/> underlining his motto "Never with the Right" ({{lang|it|mai con la destra}}).<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> After a long illness dating back to at least one year, he died on 7 January 2016, aged 79, in Rome.<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/><ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> He was survived by his wife Maria Pina and his three daughters Silvia, Laura, and Giulia.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/>

== Legacy == As his fifty years of politics spanned Italian history during the First and Second Republics,<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> Zanone proved to be among the most significant liberal figures in Italy as a longstanding PLI member,<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> and was one of the most prominent figures in the history of the First Italian Republic.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Throughout the various ministries entrusted to him, he demonstrated dynamism.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> A liberal-democratic intellectual in the Piedmontese tradition, Zanone described himself as "democratic, secular, pro-European, social",<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> and criticised the former PLI leader (Malagodi) and the elitist conception of liberalism,<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> so much so that some wondered why the PLI did not merge with the Italian Social Movement ({{lang|it|Movimento Sociale Italiano}}, MSI) as both were right-wing parties.<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/> Malagodi reportedly said it would never happen as the MSI was not a liberal party, underlining the same ideals shared by Zanone, with the difference being in the means rather than the ends.<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/> Zanone was the leader of the left wing of the PLI, which was previously led by Marco Pannella.<ref name="Alessandria Oggi 2016"/> He asked to be remembered on the tombstone at the Monumental Cemetery of Turin simply as "liberal".<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/> He was also known for his opposition to Berlusconi and his centre-right coalition,<ref name="TGcom24 2016"/><ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> owing to a sense of statehood that was matched by an enmity toward any form of conflict of interest that led him to be one of Berlusconi's staunchest opponents and to political conflicts with most of his former party members who had joined Forza Italia.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/>

Described as a dissident and counter-current liberal "in blood and soul, as only a hard and pure Turin native like him could be, he was never afraid to go against the grain, both within the P.L.I. establishment and among the supporters of this great tradition",<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> Zanone gave the party a more left-liberal (in the style of modern American liberalism) and popular imprint towards progressivism, which was initially unpopular with the party base and the electorate.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> Zanone ultimately succeeded in reintroducing the PLI into the governing majority after the conservative and free-market opposition of Malagodi, struck a Lib–Lab coalition-style agreement with Craxi's PSI that successfully established a dialogue between the two former rival parties, and was one of the protagonists of the five-party coalition ({{lang|it|Pentapartito}}), a synthesis between centrism and the organic centre-left, and the spearheads of its secular component, along with Craxi and Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> With Spadolini, Zanone shared a profound honesty (both of them were left unscathed during the {{lang|it|Tangentopoli}} scandal), a strong sense of the state, and a fervent Europeanism.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/> Like Spadolini, he devoted himself to the history of the {{lang|it|Risorgimento|italic=no}}, collaborating on the drafting of a history of the liberal world from the unification of Italy to the present.<ref name="Immoderati 2016"/>

Zanone's death was commemorated by prominent Italian figures and politicians.<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> In his honour, President Sergio Mattarella issued a statement and praised him for his "high sense of state".<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Recalling "the deep friendship, both human and political, that bound me to the Honourable Zanone, an intelligent and modern guardian of the great Italian liberal tradition",<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Mattarella emphasised how "in all the numerous roles he held—party secretary, parliamentarian, mayor, and minister—he always brought his high sense of state, his integrity, his foresight, and his distinctive personal character, marked by kindness and humanity."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Luigi Zanda, the then president of the PD's senators, said: "A true liberal, a friend, a good person. I was fortunate to know Valerio Zanone. He was a great friend. He was a staunch democrat and a true liberal of great intellectual depth. A good person who honoured Italian politics and institutions with great respect and a supreme sense of state."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> The then PD senator Vannino Chiti commented: "A true pro-European. I was fortunate to know Valerio Zanone personally; he was a liberal democrat, a true intellectual close to pro-European culture. His passing is a loss for our society."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Paolo Gentiloni, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote on Twitter: "A liberal who chose the centre-left. I remember Valerio Zanone, mayor and minister, a cultured and witty Piedmontese, who, as a liberal, chose the centre-left."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/>

In his memory, Rutelli remembered Zanone as a "rare example of liberal and democratic consistency, an irreplaceable person and figure, also for his irony and self-deprecation. A witness to a minority culture in Italy, he brought it to its highest civil and intellectual heights and embodied the liberals' revenge against the totalitarianism of the mass parties of the 20th century."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/> Rutelli expressed his "delight" that Zanone "associated his final parliamentary experience with that of the Daisy party" and recalled that he was "distressed in his final years by the possibility that the Einaudi Foundation would be distorted from its original identity and cultural mission", which Rutelli likened to Benito Mussolini's closure of fellow Piedmontese and Turinese Piero Gobetti's political magazine {{lang|it|La Rivoluzione Liberale}}, stating that this was an issue "far from remote, given the resurgent repression, even in Europe, of freedom of expression and political pluralism, and the arrogant and violent attempt by fundamentalist forces to subordinate the rule of law and democratic freedoms to religious belief."<ref name="La Repubblica 2016"/>

== Electoral history == {|class=wikitable style="width:65%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid" |- ! width=12%|Election ! width=25%|House ! width=25%|Constituency ! width=5% colspan="2"|Party ! width=12%|Votes ! width=12%|Result |- ! 1970 | Regional Council of Piedmont | Turin | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 6,254 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1975 | Regional Council of Piedmont | Turin | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 5,511 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1976 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 14,665 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1979 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 19,821 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1983 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 27,844 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1987 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 14,005 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 1992 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Liberal Party}}" | | PLI | 18,419 | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- ! 2006 | Senate of the Republic | Lombardy | bgcolor="{{party color|The Daisy}}" | | DL | –{{efn|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system}} | {{tick|15}} '''Elected''' |- |} {{notelist}}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://www.radioradicale.it/soggetti/103/valerio-zanone 1099 interventi di Valerio Zanone] at Radio Radicale {{in lang|it}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110522063706/http://www.comitatoliberale.it/torino150.htm Comitato liberale di Alleanza per l'Italia] at Alleanza per l'Italia (in Italian) * [https://ora.uniurb.it/retrieve/9576267b-843b-49d6-af37-ebfed16386ee/Tesi%20Tommaso%20Rossi_def.pdf L’idea di un’altra Italia – Repubblicani e Liberali negli anni Ottanta] at IRIS (in Italian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanone, Valerio}} Category:1936 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Alliance for Italy politicians Category:Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Category:Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Category:Government ministers of Italy Category:Italian Liberal Party politicians Category:Mayors of Turin Category:Ministers of defence of Italy Category:Ministers of the environment of Italy Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Category:Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy) Category:Politicians from Turin Category:University of Turin alumni