Pierluigi Romita, a well-known Italian politician, died on 22 March in Milan. Born in Turin, during World War II he participated in the resistance against the German occupation. Romita was subsequently elected to the Italian parliament in 1958 as member of the Social Democratic Party. In 1972, he was appointed minister for science. In this capacity, Romita visited ICTP the following year, meeting Abdus Salam. Holding several government posts over the next two decades, he helped to strengthen the ties between ICTP and the Italian scientific community. In 1989 he was elected to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, where he served until 1994.