Tremonti was born in Sondrio, Northern Lombardy, in a family of Venetian and Campanian ancestry (his father was from Lorenzago di Cadore, in the Province of Belluno, and his mother from Benevento).

Elected for the first time in 1994 for the Pact for Italy, he switched his allegiance to center-right Forza Italia soon after the Parliament held session, and obtained the finances position in the first Berlusconi cabinet.

On 5 September 2012 Tremonti announced that he was setting up his own political movement ahead of elections to be held by next spring, potentially syphoning support from Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.

From 2008 until 2009, Tremonti was a member of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, co-chaired by Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick.

He expressed how high taxes are a drag on growth and how fiscal federalism can create territorial taxation competition between regions that can reduce the burden on families and workers.