Rocca Francesco

Francesco Rocca was born in Rome on September 1, 1965. After earning a degree in Law, he worked as a criminal lawyer on the front lines of the fight against organized crime, spending six years under police protection due to his work.

In 2003–2004 he specialized at the Scuola Superiore della Pubblica Amministrazione as a general manager of hospitals. He was appointed Extraordinary Commissioner of Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome in 2003 and served as its general director until 2007.

In 2007, he became head of emergency operations at the Italian Red Cross. After a brief period leading the Health and Social Activities Department of the Municipality of Rome in 2008, he accepted the role of Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Red Cross during a phase of reform. He was also appointed Extraordinary Commissioner of ASL Napoli 2 in 2010. In January 2013, he was elected National President of the Italian Red Cross.

At the same year’s IFRC General Assembly in Sydney, he was elected Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In 2015, he became Director General of the IDI Dermatological Institute in Rome.

In 2016, volunteers elected him for a second term as National President of the Italian Red Cross after completing a major reform of the organization. In November 2017, he was elected President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies — the first Italian in history to hold that position — and was reconfirmed in 2022, serving until December 2023.

Under his leadership, both the Italian and international Red Cross responded to major emergencies such as earthquakes in L’Aquila, Amatrice and Central Italy, the COVID‑19 pandemic, the delivery of aid to Ukraine, and humanitarian crises in Venezuela. He represented the 192 National Societies at the United Nations General Assembly.

In December 2022 he resigned as President of the Italian Red Cross to run for President of the Lazio Region with support from the centre‑right coalition. He won the election on February 13, 2023, and was officially proclaimed President of the Lazio Region in March 2023