Napolitano was born in Naples, in 1925. His father Giovanni was a liberal lawyer and poet, while his mother was Carolina Bobbio, a descendant of a noble Piedmontese family. From 1938 to 1941, he studied at the

From the 1960s to 1980s
Between 1963 and 1966, Napolitano was party chairman in the city of Naples and later, between 1966 and 1969, he was appointed as chairman of

First term (2006–2013)
Election
The 2006 Italian general election saw a victory of the centre-left candidate Romano Prodi against the incumbent conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. After the election, the Presidents of

From post-war years to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
In 1944, along with the group of Neapolitan Communists, as Mario Palermo and Maurizio Valenzi, Napolitano prepared the arrival in Naples of Palmiro Togliatti,

After the dissolution of the PCI in February 1991, Napolitano followed most of its membership into the Democratic Party of the Left, a democratic socialist and social democratic party,

As an Emeritus President of Italy, Napolitano became Senator for life after the end of his presidency on 14 January 2015. On 19 January 2015

National Honours
• Italy: Head of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (15 May 2006 – 14 January 2015)
• Italy: Head of the Military Order of Italy (15