Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi evaded Wehrmacht capture in 1943 and fought with the Italian resistance, then climbed the ranks of the Bank of Italy until becoming its governor in 1979. He devalued the lira in conflict with Prime Minister Bettino Craxi in the mid-1980s, and Italy pulled out of the European Monetary System in 1992. When the Tangentopoli scandal brought down the First Republic in 1993, President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro tapped the politically independent Ciampi as Prime Minister to address the corruption; he served briefly before Silvio Berlusconi's 1994 win launched the Second Republic. As Treasury Minister from 1996 to 1999, Ciampi shepherded Italy into the eurozone and chose Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man for the one euro coin. Elected president in 1999, he held the office for seven years with broad rhetoric and ceremonial restraint, though he publicly opposed Berlusconi over the Iraq War in 2003 and clashed on ministerial resignations. He left in 2006 with high approval, served as Senator until his death in 2016 at 95, and remained the oldest former head of state in Europe.