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Chiara Appendino

Movimento 5 Stelle politician, born in Moncalieri in 1984: mayor of Turin from 2016 to 2021, the first woman directly elected to the office, later a member of parliament.

Chiara Appendino (Moncalieri, 1984) is an Italian politician of the Movimento 5 Stelle. From 2016 to 2021 she was mayor of Turin, the first to be directly elected by the city's residents, and since 2022 she has sat in the Chamber of Deputies[1][2]. Her term coincided with some of the most discussed events in the city's recent history, from the night in piazza San Carlo to the dispute over the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Education and first steps

Born in Moncalieri, she graduated in international economics and management and specialized in corporate planning and management control[1]. Before entering politics she worked for more than two years in financial planning at Juventus, then in management control at her family's company[1]. In 2010 she became close to the Movimento 5 Stelle and the following year joined Turin's City Council, where she became vice-president of the Budget committee[1].

In the 2016 campaign she was described as an “anomalous grillina”, attentive to local issues and little involved in the movement's national dynamics; unlike other elected members she had not signed the contract with the M5S staff[3]. Her platform included opposition to the Turin-Lyon railway on environmental and economic grounds and the closure of the identification and deportation centre on corso Brunelleschi[3].

The 2016 election

In the first round in June 2016 the outgoing mayor Piero Fassino was ahead with 41.83% against Appendino's 30.92%. In the runoff on 19 June the result was overturned: Appendino won with 54.56%, with turnout at 54.41%[4]. In the line of mayors of Turin she had been preceded by two women, Maria Magnani Noya (1987-1990) and Giovanna Cattaneo Incisa (1992), who had however been chosen by the City Council: Appendino was the first mayor directly elected by citizens to lead the City[2].

Her term

Just a few weeks after taking office, in July 2016, she had to deal with the crisis of the Turin Book Fair: following several arrests linked to the management of the event, the entire board of the Fondazione per il Libro resigned at a meeting attended by the mayor. Together with the president of the Piedmont Region she assured that the fair would not be moved to Milan for 2017[5].

On 3 June 2017, during the big-screen broadcast of the Champions League final Juventus-Real Madrid, the panic that broke out in piazza San Carlo caused hundreds of injuries (the piazza San Carlo tragedy). In an open letter the mayor wrote: “What has been hurt is an entire city that for the first time experienced on itself the effects of a climate of global instability”[6].

In October 2017 La Stampa published a harsh editorial by Luigi La Spina on the city's decline, which blamed the administration for the breakdown of its understanding with the regional president Sergio Chiamparino, the announced 80-million cut to the budget, and the difficulties of museums and theatres[7]. In April 2018 Appendino registered three newborns at the registry office as children of same-sex couples, the last two on 23 April: according to Il Post it was the first time an Italian mayor had done so directly, without going through the courts[8].

On the front of major events, in the summer of 2018 CONI approved a joint Olympic bid by Milan, Turin and Cortina for 2026; Appendino had asked for a leading role for the city, warning that Turin would not be the “crutch of other cities”, drawing on the experience of the 2006 Olympics[9]. In April 2019 Turin instead won the tennis ATP Finals from 2021 to 2025, beating Singapore, Tokyo, Manchester and London; the mayor announced it with the message “Torino is in”[10].

On 15 July 2019, after removing deputy mayor Guido Montanari, who had criticized the transfer of the Motor Show to Milan, Appendino tied the continuation of her term to the approval of measures on line 2 of the metro, infrastructure, jobs and the environment[11]:

«I am not willing, in any way, to go on with the handbrake pulled.»

Chiara Appendino, speech to the City Council, 15 July 2019

In October 2020 she announced that she would not run again, calling the decision a “choice of consistency” after her first-instance conviction in the Ream case[12]. In the October 2021 elections the M5S candidate stopped at 9% in the first round, and she was succeeded by Stefano Lo Russo, elected in the runoff with over 59%[13].

The judicial cases

The Ream case

In the Ream trial, concerning a 5-million-euro deposit not recorded in the 2016 municipal budget, Appendino was convicted at first instance in September 2020 to six months for forgery of an official document[12]; she was then acquitted on appeal and, on 16 June 2023, definitively by the Court of Cassation, “because the act does not constitute a crime”.[14][15]

Piazza San Carlo

For the security failings on the evening of 3 June 2017 (the piazza San Carlo tragedy), in which Erika Pioletti and Marisa Amato later died, Appendino was convicted at first instance in January 2021[16]; in January 2026 the Court of Cassation made final the conviction for manslaughter, negligent disaster and negligent injury, to one year, five months and twenty-three days.[18][19]

In Parliament

Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2022 with the Movimento 5 Stelle, she had been its vice-president from the following year[1]. On 18 October 2025, at the party's national council, she resigned from the post, after criticizing what she considered the movement's overly accommodating attitude towards the Partito Democratico following disappointing results in the regional elections in Marche, Calabria and Tuscany[20].

Pages linking here

Related articles: ATP Finals, Mayors of Turin, Moncalieri, Piazza San Carlo, Piazza San Carlo tragedy, Ream Trial

Chronology

  • — At the No Tav march from Sant'Ambrogio to Avigliana against the new Avigliana-Orbassano section, the former mayor of Turin Chiara Appendino calls the Turin-Lyon railway “a bottomless pit”, reiterating the Movimento 5 Stelle's opposition to the project. La Stampa CronacaQui Torino

Sources

  1. Treccani
  2. MuseoTorino
  3. Il Post — 20 June 2016
  4. Il Post — 19 June 2016
  5. Il Post — 15 July 2016
  6. Il Post — 10 June 2017
  7. Il Post — 6 October 2017
  8. Il Post — 23 April 2018
  9. Il Post — 2 August 2018
  10. Prima Comunicazione — 24 April 2019
  11. Il Post — 15 July 2019
  12. Il Post — 13 October 2020
  13. Il Post — 18 October 2021
  14. Il Post — 17 May 2022
  15. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 16 June 2023
  16. Il Post — 27 January 2021
  17. Il Post — 17 June 2024
  18. Il Post — 20 January 2025
  19. Il Sole 24 Ore — 20 January 2026
  20. Il Post — 18 October 2025

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