Ignazio Benito La Russa is the new president of the Senate.

In the inauguration session of the XIX legislature at Palazzo Madama he reached the quorum of 104 votes, necessary for the proclamation. For him 116 preferences (with also consensus arrived outside the center-right).

Born in 1947 in Paternò (Catania) , son of an exponent of the Fascist Party and then of the Social Movement , he himself entered the MSI at a very young age, becoming leader of the Youth Front , the youth wing of Giorgio Almirante's party.

He moved to Milan , where his brother Romano also lives (regional councilor for security in the Lombardy Region) and where his other brother Vincenzo (DC exponent, who died in 2021) also lived, he graduated in Law in Pavia , practicing the profession of lawyer , even in trials which, in the years of the protest, involved right-wing militants.

Then the decision to devote himself to politics full time, following all the evolutions of the MSI: National Alliance first, then the Brothers of Italy.

Married to Laura De Cicco , he has three children: Geronimo, Loenzo Cochis and Leonardo Apache.

Navigated, frank and direct, he is one of the best-known politicians on the Italian institutional scene ( his imitation played by Fiorello is famous) and has often been at the center of controversy.

Like when, during the coronavirus epidemic, he proposed replacing the handshake with a "more hygienic Roman greeting" or when he suggested celebrating April 25 as "the day of remembrance for the victims of all wars, including those of Covid ".

With Silvio Berlusconi in the government he was Minister of Defense , while in the last legislature he held the position of vice president of the Senate .