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🇮🇹 Italy /Culture & Society

Who Is Giuliana Cirio Really? A Difficult Childhood, Success, Power and a Dream of Becoming Alba’s Mayor

From Corriere della Sera · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Giuliana Cirio, the sister of Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio, describes how childhood family tensions shaped her strong sense of responsibility.
  • She has built a career in banking and industry, serving since 2015 as director general of Confindustria Cuneo, the first woman to hold the post.
  • Cirio also leads a foundation that creates jobs for vulnerable people, including migrants, people with disabilities, women who have experienced violence and prisoners.

Giuliana Cirio says she was born with a mission that no child should have to carry: to save her parents’ marriage. “I was born to save my parents’ marriage,” she tells Corriere della Sera, describing an upbringing marked by fear, insecurity and a deep sense of responsibility.

Her mother married young, choosing a man 15 years older because of his intelligence, beauty and charm. But, Cirio says, her father proved immature as a husband and parent. His passion was gambling, from billiards and roulette to card games and the traditional ball game known as pallapugno. “For him, the attraction was the bet itself,” she recalls.

I was born to save my parents’ marriage.

· Giuliana CirioCirio explains the family circumstances she believes created her lifelong sense of responsibility.

The marriage did not end, and two more children followed, Michela and Alberto, the latter an unexpected pregnancy. Cirio remembers her mother bringing flowers to a shrine to the Madonna, hoping not to become pregnant again. She says she never fully escaped the feeling that her birth had been intended to rescue the family. At 81, her mother still receives daily care from her. Cirio calls her an emotional tyrant, even as she says they adore each other.

For him, the attraction was the bet itself.

· Giuliana CirioShe describes her father’s passion for gambling.

That early role as a protector shaped both her private life and her career. Cirio describes her father as intelligent and handsome, but also selfish and deeply unreliable. She says she felt tenderness toward him in the final years of his life, but managed to forgive him only after his death.

Professionally, Cirio has had a successful banking career and, since 2015, has led Confindustria Cuneo. She was the first woman in the history of the local industrial association to hold the director-general position. Among her projects was the bid that won Alba the title of Italy’s 2021 Capital of Business Culture. She also chairs the Industriali per il lavoro buono Foundation, backed by 30 companies in the Cuneo area and Piedmont banking foundations, which helps vulnerable people find work. The article presents her alongside her better-known brother, while focusing on a personal story shaped by family duty, professional authority and an ambition to become mayor of Alba.

I adore her, she adores me, but she is my emotional tyrant.

· Giuliana CirioCirio describes her close but demanding relationship with her mother.
About this summary

Originally published by Corriere della Sera in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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