Giuliano Pisapia is the son of lawyer Gian Domenico Pisapia, who has contributed to the definition of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure of 1989. In the 1970s he joined Proletarian Democracy, a far-leftist party. He attended the Liceo classico "Giovanni Berchet" in Milan. After being a volunteer in the Red Cross and a student in Medicine, a worker in a chemical factory, a teacher in the Beccariayouth detention center, and an employee in a bank, he finally turned to political and law studies, getting a double degree in Political Sciences and Law, and joining his father's firm. Pisapia's actitivity as a lawyer was strictly related to his political commitment, as he took part in a number of trials with explicit political implications. For example, he represented Arnaldo Forlani in the Tangentopoli scandal era, activist Ovidio Bompressi in the trial for the murder of Luigi Calabresi, the family of anti-global activist Carlo Giuliani, as well as the daughter of Davide Cesare, killed by a neonazist in 2003. He also participated in international trials, most notably in defense of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdish militant organization PKK. In 1995 Gian Domenico Pisapia died, and Giuliano refused to candidate for regional administrative elections to focus on his father's law firm. Nevertheless, in 1996 he joined the Communist Refoundation Party led by Fausto Bertinotti and was elected to the Parliament. As a member of the Parliament, in 1998 he voted for the motion of confidence to Romano Prodi's center-leftist government, despite the decision of the Bertinotti to vote against it. After the failure of Prodi's government, Pisapia volunteered for a while in a refugee campon the border of Albania. In 2001 he was re-elected to the Parliament, again for Communist Refoundation. In 2011, with the support of Left Ecology Freedom and the Democratic Party, he became the left-wing candidate to the seat of Mayor of Milan and defeated incumbent Mayor Letizia Moratti on May 30.
Mayor of Milan
In June 2010, Pisapia was the first to submit his own nomination as the Mayor of Milan, for the elections that would take place the following year. A number of intellectuals and notable people from the cultural and political elite of Milan immediately expressed their support of Pisapia. On 14 November he ran for the primary elections of the center-leftist coalition led by the Democratic Party, with the support of Nichi Vendola's Left Ecology Freedom, and unexpectedly won despite not being an actual member of the PD. At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent Letizia Moratti was considered the favourite. Milan is traditionally a right-wing stronghold, the homeland of Silvio Berlusconi's party, as well as a symbol of the alliance between Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord, a party that promotes a greater independence of Northern Italy. Both Bossi and Berlusconi repeatedly declared that the left wing had no chance to win the elections in Milan, and Berlusconi himself actively contributed in the campaign, possibly to reaffirm his appeal to the Italian people leveraging on the results of what was supposed to be an easy match. As Berlusconi had recently been involved in a number of controversial matters, including the so-called Ruby Gate, many observers described the elections in Milan as a poll that would assess the popular support of Berlusconi's politics. This attracted much attention to this particular election. In the first round of elections, on 15–16 May 2011, Pisapia got 48% of the votes and Moratti 41%. As none of them exceeded 50%, a second face-to-face round was scheduled for 29–30 May. This first success of Pisapia was one of a number of successes of the left wing in several other cities and provinces. With the campaign reaching ever harsher tones than before, Pisapia finally won on 30 May, with 55% of the votes. Internet and social networks played a relevant role in the election of Pisapia. On 1 January 2015, Pisapia became the first mayor of the newborn Metropolitan City of Milan.
On 14 February 2017 Pisapia founded Progressive Camp, a democratic socialistpolitical party. His aim is creating a new centre-left coalition including, if possible, the Democratic Party.
Member of the European Parliament
In the 2019 European election Pisapia stood for election as independent candidate for the Democratic Party, being elected with more than 267,000 preference votes.
