[1] His first national premiere was in 1985, when he interviewed the escaped left-wing terrorist Oreste Scalzone at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

'Article 21, free to...'), an Italian association which includes journalists, writers, directors, and lawyers, with the aim of promoting freedom of expression.

[9] In 2009, Sassoli left his journalism career to enter politics, becoming a member of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and running in the 2009 European Parliament election, for the Central Italy district.

[12] On 9 October 2012, Sassoli announced his candidacy in the primaries to become the centre-left's candidate as for the office of Mayor of Rome in the 2013 municipal election.

[17][18] In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

"[26] On 19 December 2019, Sassoli asked for the liberation of Oriol Junqueras, former vice president of Catalonia and recently elected MEP, who was imprisoned after the 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis.

[28] On 10 March, he self-isolated in his Brussels residence after visiting Italy, as the Italian government ordered a national lockdown to deal with the spread of the virus.

[33] In April 2021, Sassoli was included in a list of eight public officials that were banned by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs from entering the country in retaliation for European Union sanctions on Russians.

[35] On 14 December 2021, it was announced that Sassoli informed S&D MEPs of his intention not to seek a second term of office as of January 2022, alleging that "we have done a lot to enlarge the majority of Ursula von der Leyen, […] I don’t want to destroy the European front.

[38] A leftist Catholic influenced by the ideas of Giorgio La Pira and don Lorenzo Milani,[39] he was an active member of Articolo 21, liberi di... (lit.

'Article 21, free to...'), an Italian association founded on 27 February 2001 which includes journalists, writers, directors and lawyers and has the aim of promoting the constitutional principle of freedom of expression.

[41] The illness meant he was unable to carry out his duties for more than two months including missing the EU's State of the Union.

The ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and close friend of Sassoli since adolescence.