Laura Mattarella (born 16 February 1967) is an Italian lawyer who is the current First Lady of Italy as the first child and the only daughter of President Sergio Mattarella, who has been in office since 2015.

Early and personal life

Laura Mattarella is the daughter of President Sergio Mattarella and Marisa Chiazzese. A lawyer specialised in Administrative law, she gave up her professional practice during her father’s mandate in order to carry out the ceremonial and protocol duties traditionally associated with the President’s spouse, as President Mattarella has been a widower since the death of his wife Marisa Chiazzese in 2012. She is married and has three children.[citation needed] Her paternal grandfather, Bernardo Mattarella, served several times as a minister, while her uncle Piersanti Mattarella was assassinated by Cosa nostra while serving as President of the Sicilian Region. Her maternal grandfather was the jurist Lauro Chiazzese.

In the history of the Italian Republic, Laura Mattarella is the third woman who was not the President’s spouse to assume the representative role traditionally performed by the President’s consort in ceremonial protocol. Before her, two other Presidents were accompanied by their daughters rather than their wives, as they were widowers: Giuseppe Saragat by Ernestina Saragat and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro by Marianna Scalfaro.

First Lady

President Sergio Mattarella is a widower since 2012, before his election in 2015. When he took office, the First Lady representation functions were then taken on by his daughter, who immediately accompanied her father on state trips and on visits within Italy.

Her first public appearance alongside her father took place during the reception for the 2015 Republic Day celebrations in the Quirinal Gardens.[citation needed] During the 2015 state visit to Vietnam, she also held independent engagements, including a private visit to a school in one of the poorest areas of Ho Chi Minh City.

In 2016, during the visit to Cameroon, she visited a refugee camp and a hospital founded by Italian missionaries. On that occasion, she stated in an interview that the focus should not be limited to assistance to disadvantaged people, but rather on improving living conditions through the reduction of marginalisation and poverty. In May 2017, during the official visit to Argentina, she visited a hospital dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases and the promotion of oral hygiene among disadvantaged children.[citation needed]

During the July 2018 visit to Azerbaijan, she was awarded the Order of Glory by President Ilham Aliyev for her contribution to strengthening humanitarian relations between the two countries.[citation needed]

During her visit to Armenia, she paid tribute at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial, commemorating the Armenian genocide. On 19 January 2019, she attended the inauguration ceremony of Matera as European Capital of Culture. In February 2019, she visited Angola and its capital Luanda, paying tribute at the memorial of Agostinho Neto; she was the first Italian First Lady to do so. Her visit to Jordan in April 2019 provided an opportunity to strengthen peace ties between Italy and Jordan through interreligious dialogue between Christianity and Islam.

In Amman, she visited the Rafedin Atelier, where she met Catholic refugee women from Iraq engaged in the production of clothing and textiles. The visit concluded with the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, sung in Aramaic by the Iraqi women.[citation needed] On 16 May 2019, she inaugurated the “Race for the Cure” village at the Circus Maximus in Rome, dedicated to breast cancer prevention, together with Mayor Virginia Raggi.

On 25 May 2019, she served as sponsor at the launching ceremony of the Italian Navy’s flagship Trieste at the shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia. It was the largest flagship launched by Italy since the end of the Second World War.

During the official visit to the United States, she visited Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Pacific states. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she accompanied her father on a state visit to France in 2021 and attended Paris Fashion Week events by Giorgio Armani. On 7 February 2023, she attended the opening night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2023 together with President Sergio Mattarella to mark the 75th anniversary of the Italian Constitution. This was the first time an Italian President and consort participated in the event. In recognition of her sustained commitment to social and humanitarian causes, she was awarded the Marisa Bellisario Prize.

Laura with her father and President Enrique Peña Nieto during the state visit to Mexico in 2016
Laura Mattarella during the state visit to Azerbaijan in July 2018

Honours

Foreign honours

Unofficial roles
PrecededbyClio Maria BittoniCompanion of the President of Italy 2015–presentCurrent holder