Sylvia Salis, born in 1985 in Genoa, the coastal city in northern Italy and the oldest city in Europe, is a former Olympic hammer thrower and vice president of the Italian Olympic Committee.

This year, she made her first political foray and did not hesitate to lead a demonstration in support of Gaza, describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as a “genocide.”

She grew up watching her father, a gardener at the Villa Gentile athletics stadium and an active member of the Italian Communist Party, supporting her early steps in sports. After being elected mayor of Genoa, she dedicated her first words to him: “A win for my father, he will be happy and proud.” Her mother worked as a municipal employee.

Sylvia graduated from Link Campus University in Rome with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2018. She married writer, director, and producer Fausto Brizzi in 2020.

Long Jump and Hammer Throw

She began athletics training in 1993 at age eight, initially focusing on long jump before switching to throwing events under coach Walter Superina, a former hammer thrower.

Her first national success came in 2001 when she won youth titles and represented Italy at the World Youth Championships in Hungary.

Over the following years, she won numerous Italian titles in the junior and under-23 categories and competed in major international events including the European and World Junior Championships and the European Under-23 Championships.

She made her senior debut with the Italian national team at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, though she did not reach the final.

Sylvia won 10 Italian national titles, a gold and a bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games, and participated twice in the Olympic Games in London and Beijing.

In 2016, she retired from competition due to injury and soon took on leadership roles, becoming a sports official in the Fiamme Azzurre, a sports group affiliated with the police which she had represented.

Later that year, she was elected to the federal council of the Italian Athletics Federation and in 2017 joined the national council of the Italian National Olympic Committee.

In 2021, she was elected vice president of the council and was a strong candidate for the presidency had she not run in the recent municipal elections.

Entering Politics

Earlier this year, she entered politics strongly when the center-left coalition nominated her for mayor of Genoa in the local elections.

Despite her distance from politics and party life, she was the center-left’s trump card, and the coalition rallied around her as a popular figure.

Her candidacy was supported by the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, the Greens and Left Alliance, and several civic lists, including one bearing her name, “Sylvia Salis Sindaca.”

She had never held administrative or political positions before but was known as an ambitious and strong presence.

She told the press she decided to run because she felt she had to “win to take Genoa back from the right wing,” adding, “Genoa deserves the best, and winning will be its liberation.”

She defeated the center-right candidate and won the mayoralty of Genoa in May 2024. The day after her victory, she wrote on Facebook: “A mayor among the people. A woman who chose political work after other life experiences, to serve you, not to give orders: serving all Genoa’s residents, those who believed in this project, those who supported another project, and those who have left politics. No one should be neglected.”

Potential Left Leader

The former Olympic athlete has not only achieved success in sports and administration but also attracted national TV talk show attention, which she often hosts.

She has fueled political rumors and hidden stories in Italy’s press and websites, promoted as a potential leader of the center-left current in an attempt to revive a centrist third pole that might prevail in upcoming elections and unseat current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Leading Pro-Gaza Demonstrations

Her participation in a march of more than 40,000 people supporting the Global Resilience Fleet aiming to break the Gaza blockade was a media event on social platforms, as she led the crowd chanting to lift the siege and stop the war, draped in the Italian flag.

From the port of Genoa, she called on several boats loaded with humanitarian aid to join the fleet that departed from Barcelona’s ports in Spain.

On the social platform X, the mayor tweeted: “I am proud to be mayor of Genoa, and today I feel prouder than ever. I participated in the candlelight march at the old port, where the Resilience Fleet will set sail for the Gaza Strip. Thanks to everyone making this possible. The whole city stands with you.”

She said, “Let us chant the slogans ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop the genocide.’ We are not afraid to use these words. We must call things by their names,” urging everyone to demonstrate peacefully for Palestine. She concluded, “We must stand with reason. No to violence. We must not justify those who attack demonstrations.”

Sylvia Salis enjoys strong support from all sectors in Genoa, especially dockworkers who coordinate with port workers across Europe to completely prevent ships carrying military cargo from leaving for the occupying state. Recently, an Israeli cargo ship was forced to leave Genoa port without loading weapons and explosives containers.

Salise, a daughter of the left and a retired athlete, is preparing for a role bigger than the mayoralty and may become a significant and influential figure in Italy’s upcoming legislative elections.