Minister of Defence (Italy)

The minister of defence (Italian: ministro della difesa) is a senior member of the Italian Cabinet who leads the Ministry of Defence. The minister is responsible for military and civil defence matters and managing the Italian Armed Forces.

Minister of Defence
Ministro della Difesa
Incumbent Guido Crosetto since 22 October 2022
Ministry of Defence
Member of	Council of Ministers High Council of Defence
Reports to	The prime minister
Seat	Rome
Appointer	The president
Term length	No fixed term
Precursor	Minister of War Minister of the Navy Minister of the Air Force
Formation	4 February 1947; 78 years ago (1947-02-04)
First holder	Luigi Gasparotto
Website	www.difesa.it

The first minister of war was Manfredo Fanti, a general of the Royal Italian Army, while the first minister of defence was Luigi Gasparotto, member of the Labour Democratic Party; the current office holder is Guido Crosetto, of the Brothers of Italy party, who has been acting as defence minister since 22 October 2022.^[1]

List of ministers of defence

Parties

• 1947–1994:
  •   Labour Democratic Party
  •   Christian Democracy
  •   Italian Republican Party
  •   Italian Democratic Socialist Party
  •   Italian Socialist Party
  •   Italian Liberal Party
  •   Independent
• 1994–present:
  •   Forza Italia / The People of Freedom
  •   Italian People's Party
  •   Democratic Union for the Republic
  •   The Daisy / Democratic Party
  •   Civic Choice / Populars for Italy
  •   Five Star Movement
  •   Brothers of Italy
  •   Independent

Governments:

• 1947–1994:
  •   Centrist coalition
  •   Organic Centre-left
  •   Pentapartito / Quadripartito
  •   Mixed coalition
• 1994–present:
  •   Centre-right coalition
  •   Centre-left coalition
  •   Mixed coalition

Portrait	Name (Born–Died)	Term of office			Party		Government	Ref.
		Took office	Left office	Time in office
	Luigi Gasparotto (1873–1954)	4 February 1947	31 May 1947	116 days		Labour Democratic Party	De Gasperi III	[2]
	Mario Cingolani (1883–1971)	31 May 1947	15 December 1947	198 days		Christian Democracy	De Gasperi IV	[3]
	Cipriano Facchinetti (1889–1952)	15 December 1947	23 May 1948	160 days		Italian Republican Party		[3]
	Randolfo Pacciardi (1899–1991)	23 May 1948	16 July 1953	5 years, 54 days		Italian Republican Party	De Gasperi V·VI·VII	[4] [5] [6]
	Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli (1913–1999)	16 July 1953	17 August 1953	32 days		Christian Democracy	De Gasperi VIII	[7]
	Paolo Emilio Taviani (1912–2001)	17 August 1953	1 July 1958	4 years, 318 days		Christian Democracy	Pella Fanfani I Scelba Segni I Zoli	[8] [9] [10][11] [12]
	Antonio Segni (1891–1972)	1 July 1958	15 February 1959	229 days		Christian Democracy	Fanfani II	[13]
	Giulio Andreotti (1919–2013)	15 February 1959	23 February 1966	7 years, 8 days		Christian Democracy	Segni II Tambroni Fanfani III·IV Leone I	[14][15] [16][17] [18][19] [20]
							Moro I·II
	Roberto Tremelloni (1900–1987)	23 February 1966	24 June 1968	2 years, 122 days		Italian Democratic Socialist Party	Moro III	[21]
	Luigi Gui (1914–2010)	24 June 1968	27 March 1970	1 year, 276 days		Christian Democracy	Leone II	[22][23] [24]
							Rumor I
							Rumor II
	Mario Tanassi (1918–2007)	27 March 1970	17 February 1972	1 year, 327 days		Italian Democratic Socialist Party	Rumor III Colombo	[25][26]
	Franco Restivo (1911–1976)	17 February 1972	26 June 1972	130 days		Christian Democracy	Andreotti I	[27]
	Mario Tanassi (1918–2007)	26 June 1972	14 March 1974	1 year, 261 days		Italian Democratic Socialist Party	Andreotti II	[28][29]
							Rumor IV
	Giulio Andreotti (1919–2013)	14 March 1974	23 November 1974	254 days		Christian Democracy	Rumor V	[30]
	Arnaldo Forlani (1925–2023)	23 November 1974	29 July 1976	1 year, 249 days		Christian Democracy	Moro IV·V	[31][32]
	Vittorio Lattanzio (1926–2010)	29 July 1976	18 September 1977	1 year, 51 days		Christian Democracy	Andreotti III	[33]
	Attilio Ruffini (1925–2011)	18 September 1977	14 January 1980	2 years, 118 days		Christian Democracy	Andreotti III·IV·V Cossiga I	[33][34] [35][36]
	Adolfo Sarti (1928–1992)	14 January 1980	4 April 1980	81 days		Christian Democracy	Cossiga II	[37]
	Lelio Lagorio (1925–2017)	4 April 1980	4 August 1983	3 years, 122 days		Italian Socialist Party	Cossiga II Forlani	[37][38] [39][40] [41]
							Spadolini I·II Fanfani V
	Giovanni Spadolini (1925–1994)	4 August 1983	18 April 1987	3 years, 257 days		Italian Republican Party	Craxi I·II	[42][43]
	Remo Gaspari (1921–2011)	18 April 1987	29 July 1987	101 days		Christian Democracy	Fanfani IV	[17]
	Valerio Zanone (1936–2016)	29 July 1987	22 July 1989	1 year, 358 days		Italian Liberal Party	Goria De Mita	[44][45]
	Mino Martinazzoli (1931–2011)	22 July 1989	27 July 1990	1 year, 5 days		Christian Democracy	Andreotti VI	[46]
	Virginio Rognoni (1924–2022)	27 July 1990	28 June 1992	1 year, 337 days		Christian Democracy	Andreotti VI·VII	[46][47]
	Salvo Andò (born 1945)	28 June 1992	28 April 1993	304 days		Italian Socialist Party	Amato I	[48]
	Fabio Fabbri (1933–2024)	28 April 1993	10 May 1994	1 year, 12 days		Italian Socialist Party	Ciampi	[49]
	Cesare Previti (born 1934)	10 May 1994	17 January 1995	252 days		Forza Italia	Berlusconi I	[50]
	Domenico Corcione (1929–2020)	17 January 1995	17 May 1996	1 year, 121 days		Independent	Dini	[51]
	Beniamino Andreatta (1928–2007)	17 May 1996	21 October 1998	2 years, 157 days		Italian People's Party	Prodi I	[52]
	Carlo Scognamiglio (born 1944)	21 October 1998	22 December 1999	1 year, 62 days		Democratic Union for the Republic	D'Alema I	[53]
	Sergio Mattarella (born 1941)	22 December 1999	11 June 2001	1 year, 171 days		Italian People's Party	D'Alema II Amato II	[54][55]
	Antonio Martino (1942–2022)	11 June 2001	17 May 2006	4 years, 340 days		Forza Italia	Berlusconi II·III	[56][57]
	Arturo Parisi (born 1940)	17 May 2006	8 May 2008	1 year, 357 days		The Daisy / Democratic Party	Prodi II	[58]
	Ignazio La Russa (born 1947)	8 May 2008	16 November 2011	3 years, 192 days		The People of Freedom	Berlusconi IV	[59]
	Giampaolo Di Paola (born 1944)	16 November 2011	28 April 2013	1 year, 163 days		Independent	Monti	[60]
	Mario Mauro (born 1961)	28 April 2013	22 February 2014	300 days		Civic Choice / Populars for Italy	Letta	[61]
	Roberta Pinotti (born 1961)	22 February 2014	1 June 2018	4 years, 99 days		Democratic Party	Renzi Gentiloni	[62][63]
	Elisabetta Trenta (born 1967)	1 June 2018	5 September 2019	1 year, 96 days		Five Star Movement	Conte I	[64]
	Lorenzo Guerini (born 1966)	5 September 2019	22 October 2022	3 years, 47 days		Democratic Party	Conte II Draghi	[65][66]
	Guido Crosetto (born 1963)	22 October 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 294 days		Brothers of Italy	Meloni	[1]

Timeline

See also

• Ministry of Defence (Italy)
• Minister of War (Italy)
• Minister of the Navy (Italy)
• Minister of the Air Force (Italy)