Mentana
—  Comune  —
Comune di Mentana
Mentana Location of Mentana in Italy
Coordinates: 42°01′N 12°39′E / 42.017°N 12.65°E / 42.017; 12.65
Country	Italy
Region	Latium
Province	Rome
Frazioni	Casali, Castelchiodato, Mezzaluna
Government
• Mayor	Altiero Lodi (PD)
Area
• Total	24 km2 (9 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Population (28 February 2010)
• Total	21,286
• Density	890/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Demonym	Mentanesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	00013
Dialing code	06
Patron saint	St. Nicholas of Bari
Saint day	December 6
Website	Official website

Mentana is a town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy.

History[link]

Mentana's name in ancient times was Nomentum, to which the Via Nomentana led from Rome. According to Livy, the town was part of the Latin League, which went to war with Rome during the reign of Rome's king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Nomentum was one of a number of towns captured by Tarquinius.^[1]

It was a Latin town, but was considered by some to be Sabine, and, like Fidenae and Ficulea, was excluded from the first region by Augustus, who made the Anio river its northern boundary. The city was part of the League defeated by Rome in the Battle of Lake Regillus, and was captured definitively in 338 BCE.

Subsequently Nomentum received the civitas sine suffragio; in its municipal constitution the chief magistrate even in imperial times bore the title of dictator. Pliny and Martial often praise the fertility of its neighbourhood.

In 408 CE it is mentioned as an episcopal see, and in 593 it annexed the diocese of Cures. In 741 it was briefly occupied by the Lombards and the inhabitants moved to a new centre on the Via Nomentana which was more easily defendable. On November 23, 799, it was the site of the meeting of Pope Leo III and Charlemagne.

The Castle of Nomentum was a possession of the Roman family of the Crescenzi in the 10th and 11th century. In 1058 it was destroyed by the Normans and the population was drastically reduced. The castle was acquired by the Capocci family and, later, the Holy See entrusted it to the Benedictine monks of San Paolo fuori le Mura.

In the 15th century it was under control of the Orsini family. In 1484 it was damaged by an earthquake. In 1594 it became a fief of the Perett family, first under Michele Perett of Venafro, and then in 1655 it came under the control of Marcantonio Borghese and the House of Borghese.

Inner square of the castle in Mentana.

On November 3, 1867 the city was the site of the battle between the Garibaldine and French troops (see Battle of Mentana).

Main sights[link]

• The Castle (c. 1000), housing the Archaeological Museum and is a site of art exhibitions.
• Palazzo Crescenzio
• Funerary Monument of the Appulei, a 2nd century BC travertine frieze
• Museum of the Risorgimento
• Science Museum.

The Nature Preserve of Nomentum includes the Trentani Park and the Macchia (Maquis shrubland) of Gattacieca, the remains of the ancient city as well as a necropolis of the 8th century BCE.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mentana

Matteo Renzi
Mayor of Florence
Incumbent
Assumed office June 22, 2009
Preceded by	Leonardo Domenici
President of Province of Florence
In office June 14, 2004 – June 9, 2009
Personal details
Born	(1975-01-11) January 11, 1975 (age 37) Florence, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Democratic Party

Matteo Renzi (born Florence, 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician. He was elected as Mayor of Florence on June 22, 2009 with 59.96% of the vote.^[1][2] In February 2011 he publicly called on all the Italian politicians of the Berlusconi era to retire, citing the fact that Berlusconi is only six years younger than Renzi's grandmother.^[3]

Biography[link]

Renzi was born in Florence in 1975. He studied in Florence, and then he graduated in law in Florence University. He joined the Italian People's Party in 1996, and became Provincial Secretary in 1999. He was President of the Province of Florence from 2004 to 2009, winning 58.8% of the ballots in the elections of 12 June 2004, representing a centre-left coalition.

On 9 June 2009 in the elections for the Mayor of Florence, Renzi (as a member of the Democratic Party) obtained 47.57% of the ballots, against 32% for Giovanni Galli, the candidate of the centre-right coalition headed by The People of Freedom party.^[4]

In 2010, while his popularity was increasing, he organised a meeting in Florence in Leopolda Station to discuss about Italian politic, after stating that a complete change was necessary also in his party. That is the reason why media gave him the name "scrapper".

In 2011 he organised again a meeting in Florence, where he met common people and tried to write down one hundred points to discuss.

He was strongly criticised by the members of his own party because of his idea that Italian politicians who have been in charge for more than 20 years should retire.

He is married to a teacher and has three sons.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Matteo Renzi election video

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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2009)

Pino Arlacchi MEP
Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy
In office 1994–1996
Member of the Italian Senate
In office 1996–2001
Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
Personal details
Born	(1951-02-21) February 21, 1951 (age 61) Gioia Tauro, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Democratic Party / S&D
Occupation	sociologist
Website	http://www.pinoarlacchi.it

Giuseppe Arlacchi, also known as Pino, (February 21, 1951) is an Italian sociologist and is well known worldwide for his studies and essays about the Mafia. Actually he represents the Italian Democratic Party and is a member of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) parliamentary group from 2010.

On September 1, 1997 he was appointed Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP),^[1] with the rank of Under-Secretary-General. Currently, he is a full professor of sociology at the University of Sassari.

Biography[link]

He was born in Gioia Tauro, Calabria (Italy). In the early 1990s he was involved in the foundation of the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA), a law-enforcement agency specially entrusted with fighting organized crime.^[1]

Later on he became president of IASOC (Internation Organization of studies on organized crime). Finally, he was appointed honorary president of the Giovanni Falcone foundation, named after noted magistrate Giovanni Falcone, who was also a close friend of him.

Academic career[link]

He has been associate professor of applied sociology at the University of Calabria and at the University of Florence. Moreover he was visiting professor at the Columbia University of New York, USA. Later on he got the full professor position at the University of University of Sassari, where he is currently professor of sociology at the political science faculty.

Political career[link]

Between 1994-1996 he was a member of the lower chamber of the Italian parliament and, between 1996–1997, of the Senate. During this period, he was appointed vice-president of the Antimafia Commission, a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament for which he had already collaborated as consultant between 1984 and 1986.

From 2009 he is a Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy: initially with the Italy of Values (ALDE), then^[2] with the Democratic Party (S&D).

United Nations activities[link]

As soon as he was appointed director of UNDCP he started a worldwide campaign against drugs, the so-called "A Drug Free World".

The key point of such proposal was the elimination of all opium and cocaine plantations by end of 2008, by means of the development of alternative plantations. Such a proposal had been proposed by Arlacchi immediately after his installation at the UN office and it had been unanimously approved by the general UN assembly in June 1998.

Since that time, the production of narcotic sensibly decreased, in particular in Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]} Unfortunately, the new war conducted by US against the Taliban regime has interrupted the program started by Arlacchi some year before. After the beginning of the war, the production of opium restarted.

A review of the Arlacchi plan has been carried out in March 2009 by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The Political Declaration approved at the end of the review process acknowledged significant progresses and reconfirmed the whole strategy for another 10 years, until 2019.

The most important result achieved by Arlacchi during his activity at the UN was the promotion of UN convention against all the forms of organized criminality, that has been held in Palermo in 2000. The document of this convention came into effect since 2003.

Bibliography[link]

Arlacchi is the author of several books and publications on the Mafia and transnational organized crime, which have been translated into many languages. He has received a number of national and international awards and decorations, in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards a better understanding of the Mafia. His publications include Mafia Business: The Mafia Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Mafia, Peasants and Great Estates: Society in Traditional Calabria.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pino Arlacchi Official Site
• MEP profile