Francesco Pionati (born 15 July 1958 in Avellino), is an Italian politician and journalist.

Son of Giovanni Pionati, former mayor of Avellino, he went into the RAI television on direct reporting by Ciriaco De Mita[1] and he started working on TG1.

In 1987 he worked as parliamentary journalist and in the 2000s, under the direction of Clemente Mimun, He became vice-director of TG1.

[2] In the 2006 Italian general election he was candidate for the Senate with the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, taking over the outgoing Salvatore Cuffaro.

In the 2008 Italian general election he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, but on 28 November 2008, in disagreement with the departure of Casini from the centre-right, he left the UDC and founded a new party, Alliance of the Centre, that entered in the majority of the government led by Silvio Berlusconi.