heir, the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). In 1991 he was elected National Secretary of Left Youth (Sinistra Giovanile), the youth wing of the PDS. In the following year he was elected to the Rome City Council. During these years, he became a strong advocate of sustainable development and environmental protection; he also promoted many events against the Mafia and organized both the first "Antimafia Youth Camp" in San Vito Lo Capo and numerous initiatives in memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the two anti-mafia magistrates who were assassinated in 1992. From 1995 to 1997, he was President of the International Union of Socialist Youth and Vice President of the Socialist International. In these years, he was committed in rebuilding links with the social democratic parties and other democratic and progressive youth organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1996, he spoke to the UN General Assembly for the World Youth Year, as a Representative on the UN Committee. In 1998, at thirty-three years old Zingaretti joined the Commission to draw up the socialist political platform for the new century, "Global Progress", chaired by Felipe González and composed, among others, by Martine Aubry, Shimon Peres and Ricardo Lagos. He was also committed in promoting the peace process between Israel and Palestine, organizing many initiatives to support dialogue between young wings of the Israeli Labor Party and Fatah. From 1998 to 2000, he served as international relations spokesman for the Democrats of the Left (DS), the heirs of the PDS, and in 1998 he organized the Congress of European Socialists, in Milan. In 1999 he took part in the Democrats of the Left delegation, along with Secretary Walter Veltroni, which visited Burma in support of the National League for Democracy and met the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi. In the same year, he organized the journey of the Dalai Lama in Rome. In 2000, Zingaretti was elected Provincial Secretary of Democrats of the Left for Rome. In the following year he was one of the main promoters of Walter Veltroni's candidacy for Mayor of Rome, contributing to his victory. Zingaretti was among the protagonists of a season of important results for the centre-left and for the Democrats of the Left: in 2003, after eight years, the DS became again the largest party in the capital city, defeating the centre-right