- He was born in Rome on 20 April 1949.
- Married to Linda Giuva, with two children: Giulia and Francesco.
- His classical lyceum studies led to the study of Philosophy at the University of Pisa.
- A registered professional journalist, he has been a contributor to "Città futura", "Rinascita" and "l'Unità", this latter a national daily newspaper for which he was Editor in Chief from 1988 to 1990.
- His political life began in 1963, when he enrolled in the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI), for which he was national Secretary from 1975 to 1980.
- Received his first Italian Communist Party (PCI) membership card in 1968.
- He became a member of the party's central committee at the 15th party congress in 1979, of its administration at the subsequent one in 1983 and of its secretariat in 1986.
- He was among the young leaders, along with Achille Occhetto, of the changeover when the PCI was transformed into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) in 1989.
- When the new party was born in 1990, he became its political coordinator.
- He was elected PDS National Secretary on July 1st 1994.
- He was elected to the Lower House for the first time in 1987, in the jurisdiction of Lecce.
- Once re-elected, he assumed leadership of the PDS parliamentary group.
- A candidate in 1994, through the new uninominal electoral system, in constituency no. 11 in the region of Appuglia, in which he was re-elected on 21 April 1996.
- On 5 February 1997 he was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Institutional Reforms, which, on 4 November of the same year, submitted a bill for revision of the second part of the Constitution to the Presidents of both Houses of Parliament.
- He was Prime Minister from 21 October 1998 to April 2000.
- President of the Fondazione di cultura politica Italianieuropei
- In December 2000 he was elected President of the Democrats of the Left (DS).
- He was elected Vice-President of the Socialist International at its XXII Congress held in Sao Paolo Brazil in October 2003.
- He was elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 and became President of the Permanent Delegation for relations between the EU and Mercosur.
- On 9 April 2006 he was elected to the Lower House on the Olive Branch Party (Ulivo) ticket in the jurisdiction of the region of Puglia.
- He was appointed Deputy Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the second Prodi government on 17 May 2006.
Massimo D'Alema
