Vittorio Sgarbi

Vittorio Umberto Antonio Maria Sgarbi (born 8 May 1952 in Ferrara) is an Italian art critic, art historian, politician, cultural commentator and television personality. 
He was appointed curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale. Several times a member of the Italian Parliament, he served also in Milan's municipal government. In 2012, he was removed as Mayor of Salemi by the Ministry of Interior because of Mafia interferences in the village.
Biography.
Vittorio Sgarbi attended the Classical Lyceum "Ludovico Ariosto" of Ferrara and then graduated in Philosophy "cum laude" at the University of Bologna, where he also obtained the specialization in History of Art.
His "Sgarbi Quotidiani" (Daily Rudenesses) TV show during the 1990s was a 15-minute daily discussion of current events. During some of those shows he furiously attacked some Italian judges during the Tangentopoli corruption scandal. This scandal led to great turmoil in Italian politics, with the fall of many traditional parties and the subsequent rise of Silvio Berlusconi, subsequently himself convicted of tax fraud. Sgarbi attacked the use of preventive detention in prison; he declared that many people had been arrested without a proper warrant and that some innocent people had been unjustly accused.
Although he has strongly defended the role of Catholicism as a foundation of Italian culture, he defines himself as an atheist. On ethical issues — for example, that of euthanasia or in the case of Eluana Englaro, whose life was artificially prolonged by 17 years in a vegetative coma, he sided with the Catholic Church. He has also declared his opposition not just to gay marriage but to marriage in general. He has a younger sister, Elisabetta Sgarbi, an Italian film producer and writer.
While he was mayor of the Sicilian city of Salemi, he was removed from his role and the administration of the city got commissioned. Indeed, according to the Minister of Interior Anna Maria Cancellieri, Sgarbi had responsibilities in the infiltrarion of Mafia in the management of the city, for example through the creation of fake protocols and making the administrative process slower.
On November 2017, Sgarbi was chosen by President-elect of Sicily Nello Musumeci as new Regional Assessor of Cultural Heritage.
He was re-elected as MP for Forza Italia for the 2018 general election, and was successively elected as Mayor of Sutri later in June of the same year.
Currently, he also works as columnist for il Giornale and as art critic for Panorama newsmagazine.