Stefania Craxi

Stefania Craxi was born in Milan on 25 October 1960.^[1] She is the daughter of former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and the sister of politician Bobo Craxi.^[2]

In 1985, Craxi started working as a TV show producer, before founding her own production company the following year. She left her career as a producer in 2000, after the death of her father, and founded the Craxi Foundation.^[3] The foundation has the goal of celebrating the political life of Bettino Craxi, who was found guilty of political corruption and illicit financing.^[4][5]

Craxi entered politics in 2006, when she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with Forza Italia. She was re-elected in 2008, among the ranks of The People of Freedom. Between 2008 and 2011, she served as undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Fourth Berlusconi government. In 2011, she left The People of Freedom and founded the Italian Reformists.^[6][4]

At the 2018 general election, Craxi was a candidate for the Senate in the single-member constituency of Monza-Seregno (supported by the centre-right coalition), and was elected with 46.79% of the votes.^[7]

At the 2022 general election, Craxi was elected to the Senate in the single-member constituency of Gela, supported by Forza Italia (part of the centre-right coalition).^[8] She was then elected president of the Senate committee on foreign affairs and defence.^[9] In 2026, she was elected parliamentary leader of Forza Italia at the Senate. She replaced Maurizio Gasparri, who resigned in the aftermath of the defeat of the centre-right-backed proposal to reform the judicial system at the 2026 constitutional referendum.^[10]

Craxi was married to entrepreneur Renato Neri, with whom she had a son, Federico, in 1987. She later married manager Marco Bassetti, with whom she had two daughters, Benedetta and Anita, in 1991.^[3]