At an early age Alemanno joined the
neo-fascist/post-fascist
Italian Social Movement, and although arrested three times, he was never convicted. The first arrest took place in Rome on 20 November 1981, when he was accused (along with four others) of intimidating a 23-year-old student, Dario D'Andrea, who was hit on the head by Sergio Mariani, then secretary of the
Fronte della Gioventù (the youth organization of the Italian Social Movement). Mariani was sentenced, while Alemanno was acquitted. The second time was in 1982, when Alemanno was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the
Soviet Union embassy. According to other sources, his arrest followed a brawl that broke out during a protest against the USSR. Despite being sentenced to eight months in
Rebibbia Prison, he was subsequently acquitted. Alemanno became the national secretary of the youth organization of the party in 1988. After being elected regional deputy of
Lazio in 1990, he was elected for the first time to the
Chamber of Deputies in the
1994 general election. In 1995, he joined the newly formed
National Alliance party, which succeeded the Italian Social Movement following its repudiation of
extremism at the
Congress of Fiuggi in 1994. Together with
Francesco Storace, he founded
Social Right, a
national- and
social-conservative faction within National Alliance. Between 2001 and 2006, Alemanno was
Minister of Agriculture under
Silvio Berlusconi (in Berlusconi's
2nd and
3rd cabinets).
Mayor of Rome After having been heavily defeated by
Walter Veltroni in the 2006 mayoral election of
Rome, in April 2008, he defeated
Francesco Rutelli and became Mayor of the city. Alemanno rejected a formal alliance with the far-right party, but his critics emphasized that his victory was greeted by crowds of supporters, among them
far right skinheads, who chanted "
Duce! Duce!" and raised their arms in a
fascist salute; then Alemanno said: "People calling me
Duce make me laugh. I’m not at all fascist and I think that today the word belongs to the history books. I’ve grown to hate all forms of totalitarianism, whether of the left or of the right". In August 2008, Alemanno ignited controversy over immigration and the status of
Romani people in Italy, when a group of Romani men attacked a Dutch couple that had been camping outside Rome. The couple were beaten and robbed and the woman was raped. Alemanno stated that the couple had been "very careless" by camping in an area "forgotten by God and man" where camping was illegal. Alemanno said that the attack was an isolated case, and repeated that he wanted to crack down on crime, regaining total control of the territory. In November 2008, Alemanno decided to build a museum dedicated to the memory of the
Holocaust in a Roman park. The leader of Rome's
Jewish community, Riccardo Pacifici, praised the mayor for this project. Alemanno is the son-in-law of
Pino Rauti, a former leader of the
Italian Social Movement. He always wears a
necklace with a
Celtic cross. He stated he wears it only as a religious symbol and because of a personal meaning for him, being a jewel worn by his friend
Paolo di Nella, a far-right militant who had been killed during the 1970s
Anni di Piombo. The approval of the Romans of the mayor Alemanno rose to 60% in January 2009. In February 2009 Alemanno conferred
honorary citizenship to
Dalai Lama, leader of the
Tibetan government-in-exile. In July 2009, Alemanno conferred honorary citizenship to captive Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit. Other important measures of the Alemanno Administration were: an ordinance against prostitution in the streets, an attempt to recapitalize the municipal company AMA redefining its role, the census and the dismantling of six camps for nomads (including the Casilino 900) setting up garrisons, thus ensuring immunizations and education for
Romani children, and to expel illegal immigrants. In August 2012 was approved the "family quotient", introduced by Alemanno to balance the
waste charge according to economic situation, number of components, and any health burdens, of Roman families. Among the projects of Alemanno as a mayor was the construction of a tourist
amusement park dedicated to
ancient Rome. In 2004 to encourage and patronage the Italian Mountaineering Expedition and Delegates bound for K2 he arrived
Pakistan for participation in celebration of
K2 Golden Jubilee ceremony at
Concordia base camp. The Alpine Club of Pakistan marked a friendship expedition headed by
Hayatullah Khan Durrani as chief of the Pakistan National mountaineering team to represent Pakistan in the Golden Jubilee ceremony of K2 mountain. with Lino Lacedelli and Gianni Alemanno at
Concordia base camp 2004 ==Corruption allegations==