Mayor of Venice

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Mayor of Venice
Sindaco di Venezia
Incumbent Luigi Brugnaro since 15 June 2015
Seat	Ca' Farsetti
Appointer	Electorate of Venice
Term length	5 years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Daniele Renier
Formation	1806
Deputy	Andrea Tomaello
Salary	€85,000 annually
Website	Comune di Venezia

The mayor of Venice (Italian: sindaco di Venezia) is an elected politician who, along with the Venice City Council of 36 members, is accountable for the strategic government of the municipality of Venice, Veneto, Italy.

The current office holder is Luigi Brugnaro, a centre-right wing independent businessman who has been in charge since 2015. The last election took place in 2020.

Overview[]

Ca' Loredan, Venice City Hall

According to the Italian Constitution, the Mayor of Venice is member of the Venice's City Council. Although the title Mayor is not held by the heads of the six boroughs of Venice, because they do not actually preside over self-governmental municipalities.

The Mayor is elected by the population of Venice. Citizens elect also the members of the City Council, which also controls Mayor's policy guidelines and is able to enforce his resignation by a motion of no confidence. The Mayor is entitled to appoint and release the members of his government.

Since 1993 the Mayor is elected directly by Venice's electorate: in all mayoral elections in Italy in cities with a population higher than 15,000 the voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition. If no candidate receives at least 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.

The seat of the City Council is the city hall Ca' Loredan on the Canal Grande.

List of mayors of Venice[]

Podestà (1806–1866)[]

Podestà of Venice were appointed since 1806 to 1866 by the rulers of the city during the early- to mid-19th century: Napoleon and the Habsburgs.

• 1806–1811 – Daniele Renier
• 1811–1816 – Bartolomeo Gerolamo Gradenigo
• 1817–1818 – Marco Molin
• 1818–1827 – Francesco Calbo Crotta
• 1827–1834 – Domenico Morosini
• 1834–1837 – Giuseppe Boldù
• 1838–1857 – Giovanni Correr
• 1857–1859 – Alessandro Marcello
• 1860–1866 – Pierluigi Bembo

Kingdom of Italy (1866–1946)[]

In 1860, the nascent Kingdom of Italy created the office of the Mayor of Venice (Sindaco di Venezia), chosen by the City council:

	Mayor		Term start	Term end	Party
1			1866	1868	Right
2			1868	1870	Right
3			1870	1875	Right
(1)			1875	1878	Right
4			1878	1888	Right
5			1888	1890	Right
6			1890	1895	Left
7			1895	1919	Right
8		Davide Giordano	1919	1924	ANI
Fascist Podestà (1926–1945)
1			1924	1929	PNF
2			1929	1930	PNF
3			1930	1938	PNF
4			1938	1943	PNF
5			1943	1945	PFR
Liberation (1945–1946)
9			1945	1946	DC

Republic of Italy (since 1946)[]

City Council election (1946–1993)[]

From 1946 to 1993, the Mayor of Venice was chosen by the City Council:

	Mayor		Term start	Term end	Party	Coalition	Election
1			25 June 1946	21 January 1951	PCI	PCI  • PSI	1946
2			21 January 1951	13 January 1955	DC	DC	1951
3			13 January 1955	28 May 1960	DC	DC  • PSDI	1956
4			28 May 1960	12 May 1970	DC		1960
						DC  • PSI  • PSDI	1964
5			12 May 1970	21 December 1975	DC		1970
6			21 December 1975	18 January 1985	PSI	PCI  • PSI	1975 1980
7		Nereo Laroni	18 January 1985	11 March 1987	PSI	PCI  • PSI  • PRI	1985
8			11 March 1987	25 January 1988	PRI	PCI  • PSI  • PRI  • FdV
9		Costante Degan	25 January 1988	12 February 1988	DC	?
(8)			12 February 1988	11 May 1990	PRI	PCI  • PSI  • PSDI  • PRI  • FdV
10			11 May 1990	1 June 1993	DC	DC  • PSI  • PSDI	1990
-		Giovanni Troiani	1 June 1993	9 December 1993	-	Special prefectural commissioner[a]

Notes

Direct election (since 1993)[]

Since 1993, under provisions of new local administration law, the Mayor of Venice is chosen by direct election, originally every four, and later every five years:

	Mayor of Venice			Took office	Left office	Party	Coalition		Election
11			Massimo Cacciari (b. 1944)	9 December 1993	25 January 2000[1]	Ind.		PDS  • PRC  • FdV and other left-wing independents 9 December 1993 – 17 November 1997	1993
								The Olive Tree 17 November 1997 – 25 January 2000	1997
Corrado Scivoletto, Special Prefectural Commissioner tenure (25 January 2000 – 30 April 2000)
12			Paolo Costa (b. 1943)	30 April 2000	18 April 2005	Dem DL		The Olive Tree 30 April 2000 – 18 April 2005	2000
(11)			Massimo Cacciari (b. 1944)	18 April 2005	8 April 2010	DL PD		DL  • UDEUR 18 April 2005 – 8 April 2010	2005
13			Giorgio Orsoni (b. 1946)	8 April 2010	13 June 2014[2]	PD		PD  • FdS  • FdV 8 April 2010 – 13 June 2014	2010
Vittorio Zappalorto, Special Prefectural Commissioner tenure (13 June 2014 – 15 June 2015)
14			Luigi Brugnaro (b. 1961)	15 June 2015	incumbent	CI		FI  • UDC and other right-wing independents 15 June 2015 – 23 September 2020	2015
								LN  • FdI  • FI and other right-wing independents since 23 September 2020	2020

Timeline[]

Elections[]

City Council elections, 1946–1990[]

Number of votes for each party:

Number of seats in the City Council for each party:

Mayoral and City Council election, 1993[]

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 21 November and the second on 5 December 1993.

For the first time under the new electoral law citizens could vote directly the mayor; before this choice was made by the City Council.

For the first time a center-left coalition, composed by the former communist Democratic Party of the Left and some other progressives party (such as the new-born Federation of the Greens and the Communist Refoundation Party), presented its candidate: Massimo Cacciari. He was an independent venetian philosopher, who had been a member of the Italian Communist Party. The main opposition to Cacciari's coalition was represented by . Mariconda was a businessman and member of the regionalist Lega Nord-Liga Veneta, which combined Venetian nationalism and a strong support for fiscal federalism. Liga Veneta, as regional faction of the national Lega Nord party, had a liberal, centrist and economically libertarian outfit due to the political upbringing of its early leaders and a more conservative electoral base.

Despite the strong performance of Mariconda on the first round, Cacciari managed to win the election on the second round gaining the support of the moderate and centrist voters of the agonizing Christian Democracy party. On 5 December 1993 Cacciari won the election and became the first directly-elected mayor of Venice.

Summary of the 1993 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra)	PDS	33,997	20.59%	16
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	10,738	6.50%	5
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	9,901	6.00%	4
		Socialist Progress (Progresso Socialista)	PS	5,824	3.53%	2
		Alliance Venice-Mestre (Alleanza Venezia-Mestre)	AVM	2,244	1.36%	1
		The Network (La Rete)	LR	1,996	1.21%	0
Cacciari coalition (Left-wing)				64,700	39.18%	28
	Liga Veneta−Lega Nord		LV–LN	49,350	29.88%	10
		Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana)	DC	20,384	12.34%	5
		Lega Autonomia Veneta	LAV	8,387	5.08%	1
		Venice-Mestre Pact (Patto Venezia-Mestre)	PVM	4,891	2.96%	1
		Others		2,949	1.79%	0
Castellani coalition (Centre)				36,611	22.17%	7
	Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano)		MSI-DN	5,580	3.38%	1
	Others			8,909	5.39%	0
Total				165,150	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				224,180	82.94%
Registered voters				270,305
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Mayoral and City Council election, 1997[]

The election took place on 16 November 1997.

Summary of the 1997 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra) PDS 30,052 23.22% 12 Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano) PPI 12,287 9.49% 5 Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista) PRC 11,135 8.60% 4 Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi) FdV 10,506 8.12% 4 Others 13,193 10.20% 5 Cacciari coalition (Centre-left) 77,173 59.63% 30 Forza Italia FI 14,608 11.29% 6 National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale) AN 11,039 8.53% 4 Christian Democratic Centre (Centro Cristiano Democratico) CCD 4,501 3.48% 1 Pizzigati coalition (Centre-right) 30,148 23.29% 11 Liga Veneta–Lega Nord LV–LN 14,224 10.99% 5 Others 878 0.68% 0 Fabris coalition 15,102 11.67% 5 Others 7,003 5.41% 0 Total 129,426 100% 46 Votes cast / turnout 189,592 72.02% Registered voters 263,237 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Massimo Cacciari Ind The Olive Tree 116,751 64.58 Mauro Pizzigati FI Pole for Freedoms 37,436 20.71 Giovanni Fabris LV LV–LN 18,488 10.23 Others 8,110 4.49 Eligible voters 263,237 100.00 Voted 189,592 72.02 Blank or invalid ballots 8,807 Total valid votes 180,785

Mayoral and City Council election, 2000[]

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 16 April and the second on 30 April 2000.

The snap election was held in April 2000 after the incumbent mayor Massimo Cacciari resigned in January to run as the main center-left candidate for the regional elections. While on the first round about 72% of the venetian voters went to the polls, thanks to the fact that the election took place the same day of the regional elections, on the second round the turnout was extremely low, probably because the election occurred on the first Sunday after Easter, immediately before the International Workers' Day, and most of voters were outside Venice.

The main candidates were Paolo Costa, a member of the center-left Italian People's Party and former Minister of Public Works (1996–1998), and Renato Brunetta, a center-right venetian MEP. Gianfranco Bettin, a notorious environmental activist, run as the main candidate of a leftist coalition. For the first time the regionalist Lega Nord party decided to not present its own mayoral candidate and to be a part of the center-right alliance.

In the first round of the election, Brunetta got 39% of the votes and Costa 38%. Then on the second round Bettin, who got 16% of the votes on the first round, decided to officially sustain Costa and signed a pre-electoral alliance with him just a week before the run-off. On 30 April Costa easily defeated Brunetta and, since on the first round no coalition obtained more than the 50% of the votes, the majority bonus granted by the electoral law was given to the center-left coalition and its fresh leftist allies despite the center-right had received more votes.

Summary of the 2000 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Forza Italia	FI	34,261	25.30%	13
		National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale)	AN	9,489	7.01%	3
		Lega Nord	LN	5,212	3.85%	1
		United Christian Democrats (Cristiani Democratici Uniti)	CDU	2,807	2.07%	1
		Christian Democratic Centre (Centro Cristiano Democratico)	CCD	2,428	1.79%	0
		Sgarbi Liberal List (Liberal Sgarbi)	LS	1,139	0.84%	0
Brunetta coalition (Centre-right)				55,336	40.86%	18
		Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra)	DS	28,984	21.40%	13
		Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano)	PPI	10,630	7.85%	4
		Italian Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici Italiani)	SDI	7,058	5.21%	3
		Party of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani)	PdCI	2,604	1.92%	1
		Others		976	0.72%	0
Costa coalition (Center-left)				50,252	37.09%	[3] 21
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	10,440	7.71%	5
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	4,724	3.49%	1
		Others		4,192	3.10%	1
Bettin coalition (Left-wing)				19,356	14.30%	[4] 7
	Others			10,499	7.75%	0
Total				135,433	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				177,510	71.88%
Registered voters				246,962
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Mayoral and City Council election, 2005[]

The election took place on two rounds: the first on 3–4 April, the second on 17–18 April 2005.

The candidates were in total eleven, some supported by independent lists. The main candidates were: the philosopher and former mayor Massimo Cacciari, who were supported by the center-left moderate party The Daisy; the magistrate Felice Casson, who was supported by a broad center-left coalition; and the businessman Cesare Campa, who was supported by a center-right alliance between Forza Italia and Union of Christian and Centre Democrats. Differently from the precedent election, both the main coalitions were completely divided: the former center-right coalition was now fragmented between three different candidates, while the center-left was broken in two part, one moderate and one radical.

After a hard battle, Massimo Cacciari was able to obtain 23% of the votes, overtaking Campa in order to participate in the run-off election with Casson. Despite the first round result, after a shocking vote counting, Casson was narrowly defeated by Cacciari who probably gained the support of the center-right voters. Two years later, however, when Democrats of the Left and The Daisy merged into the Democratic Party, Cacciari had a majority even greater in the City Council.

Summary of the 2005 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra)	DS	26,531	21.15%	6
		Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	8,509	6.78%	1
		Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi)	FdV	4,882	3.89%	1
		Party of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani)	PdCI	2,661	2.12%	0
		Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori)	IdV	2,544	2.03%	0
		Italian Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici Italiani)	SDI	1,630	1.30%	0
		Others		4,463	3.56%	1
Casson coalition (Left-wing)				51,220	40.84%	10
		Forza Italia	FI	25,726	20.51%	5
		Union of the Centre (Unione di Centro)	UdC	3,966	3.16%	0
Campa coalition (Centre-right)				29,692	23.67%	5
		The Daisy (La Margherita)	DL	16,855	13.44%	26
		Union of Democrats for Europe (Unione Democratica per l'Europa)	UDEUR	1,784	1.42%	2
Cacciari coalition (Centre)				18,639	14.86%	[5] 28
	National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale)		AN	8,490	6.77%	1
	Salvadori List–North-East Project (Progetto NordEst)		PNE	5,141	4.10%	1
	Lega Nord		LN	4,955	3.95%	1
	Others			7,280	5.80%	0
Total				125,417	100%	46
Votes cast / turnout				168,087	72.04%
Registered voters				233,316
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Mayoral and City Council election, 2010[]

The election took place on 28–29 March 2010.

Summary of the 2010 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Democratic Party (Partito Democratico) PD 37,027 28.89% 17 Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori) IdV 8,628 6.73% 4 Federation of the Greens–Bettin List (Federazione dei Verdi) FdV 4,816 3.76% 2 Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano) PSI 4,800 3.75% 2 Federation of the Left (Federazione della Sinistra) FdS 4,244 3.31% 1 Others 6,177 4.82% 2 Orsoni coalition (Centre-left) 65,692 51.26% 28 The People of Freedom (Il Popolo della Libertà) PdL 29,179 22.77% 10 Lega Nord LN 14,297 11.16% 4 Brunetta List (Lista Brunetta) LB 8,499 6.63% 2 Others 2,381 1.86% 0 Brunetta coalition (Centre-right) 54,356 42.41% 17 Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) M5S 4,189 3.27% 1 Others 3,928 3.07% 0 Total 128,165 100% 46 Votes cast / turnout 151,554 68.64% Registered voters 220,791 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Giorgio Orsoni PD PD-IdV-FdV-FdS-PSI 75,403 51.13 Renato Brunetta PdL PdL-LN-PP 62,833 42.61 Marco Gavagnin M5S 4,608 3.12 Others 4,621 3.13 Eligible voters 220,791 100.00 Voted 151,554 68.64 Blank or invalid ballots 4,089 Total valid votes 147,465

Mayoral and City Council election, 2015[]

These elections were held on two rounds: the first on 31 May the second on 14 June 2015.

These elections occurred after a year during which the city were governed by a special commissioner after the incumbent mayor Giorgio Orsoni resigned in June 2014 amid a wider investigation into alleged corruption over new flood barriers MOSE Project.

The official candidate of the center-left coalition was the left-wing magistrate and senator Felice Casson, who failed to win the election in 2005. Cause of his opposition to Matteo Renzi's political line, Casson was generally considered as a representative of the extreme left parties, and based his campaign on the break with the old and corrupted politicians who were investigated the past year. The main opposition to Casson's coalition was the center-right independent Luigi Brugnaro, a businessman and president of the Reyer Venezia Mestre basketball club. Brugnaro was sustained by a coalition between Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the conservative Popular Area alliance.

Although Casson was ahead after the first round, on 14 June Brugnaro won the election and became the first directly-elected conservative mayor of the city. However, the victory of Brugnaro occurred thanks to his great popularity across the city: his own independent list resulted the first party and gained 17 of 36 seats in the City Council, while Forza Italia and Popular Area obtained together no more than 5% of the votes.

After the election, Brugnaro said he considered himself as an independent, totally free from parties' influence, and a supporter of Matteo Renzi's policy.^[6]

Summary of the 2015 Venice City Council election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats
		Casson List (Lista Casson)	LC	19,991	17.10%	4
		Democratic Party (Partito Democratico)	PD	19,667	16.83%	4
		Left Ecology Freedom-Greens (Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà - Verdi)	SEL-FdV	1,845	1.58%	0
		Venice Common Good (Venezia Bene Comune)	VBC	1,562	1.34%	0
		Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano)	PSI	618	0.53%	0
		Democratic Centre (Centro Democratico)	CD	365	0.31%	0
Casson coalition (Centre-left)				44,058	37.69%	8
		Brugnaro List (Lista Brugnaro)	LB	24,352	20.83%	17
		Forza Italia	FI	4,405	3.77%	3
		Popular Area (Area Popolare)	AP	1,870	1.60%	1
		Others		2,818	2.41%	1
Brugnaro coalition (Centre-right)				33,445	28.61%	[7] 22
	Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle)		M5S	15,009	12.84%	3
	Lega Nord		LN	13,997	11.97%	2
	Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia)		FdI	7,847	6.71%	1
	Others			2,530	2.16%	0
Total				116,886	100%	36
Votes cast / turnout				126,631	59.81%
Registered voters				211,720
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Mayoral and City Council election, 2020[]

These elections were scheduled to take place on 31 May 2020 but then were postponed to 20–21 September 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Summary of the 2020 Venice City Council election results Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats Brugnaro List (Lista Brugnaro) LB 37,914 31.67% 14 Lega Nord LN 14,806 12.37% 5 Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) FdI 7,855 6.56% 2 Forza Italia FI 3,255 2.72% 1 Others 1,148 0.96% 0 Brugnaro coalition (Centre-right) 64,968 54.28% 22 Democratic Party (Partito Democratico) PD 22,962 19.18% 8 Green Progressive Venice (Venezia Verde Progressista) VVD 5,907 4.93% 1 Italia Viva IV 4,308 3.60% 1 Italia in Comune–Volt (Italia in Comune–Volt) IC–V 952 0.80% 0 Others 789 0.66% 0 Baretta coalition (Centre-left) 34,918 29.17% 10 Land and Water 2020 (Terra e Acqua 2020) 4,847 4.05% 1 Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) M5S 4,716 4.05% 1 Party of Venetians (Partito dei Veneti) PdV 4,228 3.53% 1 All the City Together! (Tutta la Città Insieme!) 4,104 3.42% 1 Others 1,906 1.59% 0 Total 119,687 100% 36 Votes cast / turnout 62.24% Registered voters Source:

Candidate Party Coalition First round Votes % Luigi Brugnaro Ind FI-LN-FdI 66,750 54.14 Pier Paolo Baretta PD PD-IV-EV-IIC-Volt-PSI 36,092 29.27 Marco Gasparinetti Ind 5,005 4.06 Sara Visman M5S 4,822 3.91 Others 10,631 8.61 Eligible voters 205,720 100.00 Voted 128,025 62.23 Blank or invalid ballots 4,656 Total valid votes 123,300

References[]

External links[]

• "Elenco Podestà/Sindaci del Comune di Venezia". City of Venice. Retrieved 22 June 2021.