The Governor and the other members of the Governing Board, the Board of Directors and the Board of Auditors, along with past and present staff of the Bank of Italy would like to express their deep sorrow at the death of former President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. We send our deepest sympathy to the Ciampi family. Italy and Europe have today lost one of the leading figures of European unification, a mission to which Ciampi dedicated his entire life.
The Bank of Italy recalls his deep commitment to serving his country, founded on his unshakeable faith in the potential of Italy and its people.
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was born in Livorno on 9 December 1920 and graduated in Literature from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 1941. During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Italian Army and was also a partisan in Abruzzo. In 1946 he graduated in Law from the University of Pisa and later that year he joined the Bank of Italy where he worked his way up to the position of Governor in September 1979.
Immediately after his appointment as Governor, Ciampi faced the most serious banking crisis of the postwar period, involving the Banco Ambrosiano. At a particularly difficult economic and political time for Italy, the focus of his governance was to strengthen the independence of the central bank and combat inflation. In the summer of 1992, during the most complex phase in the construction of the single currency in Europe, he had to deal with a serious foreign-exchange crisis which led to the lira losing more than 20 per cent of its value.
After serving the bank for 47 years, he was appointed to various institutional roles which he fulfilled with integrity, humanity and passion.
In recognition of these qualities, in the spring of 1993 he was invited to serve his country as Prime Minister to help Italy overcome its difficult economic situation. As Treasury Minister and Minister for the Budget and Economic Planning (from May 1996 until May 1999) he oversaw Italy’s entry into the European Monetary Union. He was elected President of the Italian Republic in May 1999, serving the full term until May 2006 when he became a Life Senator.
The ideals of liberty, democracy, civil coexistence and solidarity that inspired his work will be permanent points of reference for political and economic life in Italy. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi became Governor Emeritus of the Bank of Italy in 1993.
