 He is a member of the Alliance for Italy political party, formerly being a member of The People of Freedom.He was born on 16 December 1944 in Reggio Calabria, where he grew up with his younger siblings Gianni and Donatella, along with their father, Antonio, and dressmaker mother, Francesca.An older sister, Tina, died at the age of twelve from an improperly treated tetanus infection.