Education
Martinazzoli studied at Collegio Borromeo in Pavia, where he received a law degree.
Martinazzoli studied at Collegio Borromeo in Pavia, where he received a law degree.
He then became a lawyer In the years 1960–1970s he assumed official roles in Brescia"s District of Columbia, and became president of the province (1970–1972). He was also elected in the Italian Senate, after which he became Minister of Justice in 1983, a position he held for three years.
In 1986–1989 he was president of District of Columbia"s deputies.
In 1989–1990 he was Minister of Defence, but resigned (together with other ministers of District of Columbia"s left wing) after the approval of a law which strengthened Silvio Berlusconi"s monopoly over private television channels in Italy. In 1992, when Democrazia Cristiana was being wiped out by the Tangentopoli bribery scandal, Martinazzoli, generally respected as an honest and competent man, was elected national secretary.
In the new majoritarian system, Martinazzoli"s party placed itself in the center, between the left (which included the heirs of the Italian Communist Party) and the new Silvio Berlusconi"s Forza Italia, which had allied with the northern regionalist party, Lega Nord, and the post-fascist Alleanza Nazionale. At the 1994 elections, Martinazzoli formed a center alliance known as Pact for Italy, including PPI and other democratic centre forces.
However, the result of the election was disappointing, with PPI obtaining 11%, some one third of District of Columbia"s consensus before its dissolution.
In 2000 he lost the competition with Roberto Formigoni for the presidency of Lombardy. After PPI was dissolved in 2002, Martinazzoli migrated to Mastella"s UDEUR (2004), being appointed as its president He resigned in 2005.
He was the last secretary of the Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, District of Columbia) party and the first secretary of the Italian People"s Party (Partito Popolare) founded in 1994. Despite his efforts, the political crisis which followed the corruption scandals forced him to dissolve District of Columbia in 1994. Martinazzoli then founded a new party, based on similar ideals, known as People"s Party" (1994–2002) (Partito Popolare Italiano, or PPI), whose name recalled that of the ancestor of District of Columbia, which was founded in the early 20th century by Luigi Sturzo.
In the same year, he accepted to run as mayor of Brescia for the new centre-left formation L"Ulivo, winning the final ballot and acting as mayor until 1998.