Matteo Lepore

Matteo Lepore (born 10 October 1980) is an Italian politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD) and he is serving as mayor of Bologna since 11 October 2021.

Early life
Lepore was born in Bologna in 1980 and grew up in the Savena district. He attended the classical lyceum Luigi Galvani and graduated in political science from the University of Bologna. In 2007, he obtained a master's degree in international relations, after having carried out an internship in Brussels at the Liaison Office with the European Institutions of the Emilia-Romagna Region. In 2008 he obtained another master's degree in building and urban planning and in 2009 one in cooperation economics, both at the University of Bologna.

From 2008 to 2011, Lepore was responsible for the territorial development, innovation and internationalization area of Legacoop Bologna. In 2010, he was part of the organizing technical committee for the city of Bologna at the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

Political career
Lepore became a member of the Democrats of the Left (DS) in 1999, and in 2007, he was among the founders of the Democratic Party (PD). Following the 2011 municipal election with the victory of Virginio Merola, Lepore was appointed municipal councilor for Institutional Affairs, Demographic Services, International Relations, Communication, Urban Marketing, Innovation and Work. Elected town councilor also in the 2016 election, he was then appointed councilor for Culture, Tourism, Heritage, Sport and Civic Imagination, becoming one of the closest advisor of Merola and widely considered his most probable successor as mayor.

Mayor of Bologna
In 2021, Lepore announced his intention to run as mayor of Bologna in the upcoming election. In June 2021, Lepore took part in the primary election of the center-left coalition to choose the candidate for mayor of Bologna, and defeated Isabella Conti, mayor of San Lazzaro di Savena, with 59.6% of votes against 40.6%. In the October 2021 municipal election, Lepore was elected mayor in the first round with 61.9% of votes, defeating the centre-right candidate Fabio Battistini with 29.6%, and becoming the most voted mayor of Bologna since the introduction of the direct elections in 1995.