Michela Vittoria Brambilla (born October 26, 1967) is an Italian politician and businesswoman. She was nominated undersecretary for Tourism in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet on May 12, 2008, and appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism on May 8, 2009, serving until 2011. On August 21, 2007, she established The People of Freedom party to merge Berlusconi's right-wing allies.
Brambilla comes from a family of steel manufacturers and holds a philosophy degree from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Before politics, she was a television journalist for Mediaset and is the general executive manager of Trafilerie Brambilla spa, as well as president of Sal Group spa and Sotra Coast International with her father. She founded the Freedom Circles organisation in 2006, which has over 6,000 clubs across Italy, and launched the satellite channel Freedom TV in June 2007 to support her campaign against tax evasion. Some observers have named her a possible successor to Silvio Berlusconi as leader of the centre-right, a claim she has denied.
Italy
