Cateno De Luca

Cateno De Luca
Mayor of Taormina
Assumed office
29 May 2023
Preceded byMario Bolognari
Mayor of Messina
In office
26 June 2018 – 14 February 2022
Preceded byRenato Accorinti
Succeeded byFederico Basile
Metropolitan Mayor of Messina
In office
26 June 2018 – 14 February 2022
Preceded byRenato Accorinti
Succeeded byFederico Basile
Personal details
Born (1972-03-18) 18 March 1972 (age 51)
Fiumedinisi, Italy
Political partySouth calls North
Alma materUniversity of Messina
OccupationPolitician

Cateno Roberto De Luca (born 18 March 1972) is an Italian politician who has been mayor of Messina from 2018 to 2022 and the mayor of Taormina since 2023. Due to his overbearing personality he is often nicknamed "Scateno" (English: Unleash).[1]

Career

Mayor of Fiumedinisi and Santa Teresa di Riva

De Luca was born in Fiumedinisi, Sicily. At the age of 18, he began his political career by being elected to the city council of his city, and at the age of 22 was appointed councilor to the municipality. After losing the 1998 municipal election for the nomination of the new mayor of Fiumedinisi, he reapplied in 2003, succeeding this time to win. He was re-elected in 2008. In 2011, De Luca resigned as mayor of his city, the following year ran for the office of mayor of Santa Teresa di Riva, winning the first round and remaining in office until 2017.

Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly

At the 2006 Sicilian regional election, De Luca was elected deputy to the Sicilian Regional Assembly (ARS) with the Movement for the Autonomies, among whose ranks he was re-elected also to the 2008 Sicilian regional election. At the 2012 Sicilian regional election, he was a candidate for president of Sicily and was supported by the Sicilian Revolution list but obtaining 1.23% of the votes and was not re-elected to the ARS .

In 2017, De Luca founded the Sicilia Vera movement, which made an agreement with the Union of the Centre (UDC) for the 2017 Sicilian regional election, in which he is re-elected as amember of the ARS among the ranks of the UDC. On 8 November, three days after the elections, he was arrested on charges of tax evasion. Under house arrest, this conviction was subsequently revoked and replaced by an interdictive measure of the prohibition to hold top positions in the bodies involved in the investigation.

Mayor of Messina

In 2018, De Luca was a candidate for mayor of Messina with the support of six centrist civic lists. He was elected to the ballot on 24 June with 65.28% of the votes, beating the centre-right coalition candidate Placido Bramanti.[2]

Mayor of Taormina

In the 2022 Sicilian regional election De Luca came second, with 23.95% of the vote, behind the centre-right candidate Renato Schifani, and he is re-elected as a member of the ARS.

On 29 May 2023, De Luca was elected mayor of Taormina.[3]

References

  1. ^ Arresti e rinascite, la guerra di 'Scateno' De Luca. AGI
  2. ^ Curridori, Francesco (25 June 2018). "Cateno De Luca, ecco chi è il nuovo sindaco di Messina". Il Giornale (in Italian). Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Elezioni Sicilia, a Taormina il trionfo di Cateno De Luca". La Sicilia (in Italian). 29 May 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.