Renzo Piano appointed senator for life
Architect Renzo Piano named life senator by Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.
The architect of Malta's controversial Valletta City Gate project, Renzo Piano has been appointed life senator by the Italian president.
The 75-year-old Italian architect became a household name in Malta after being commissioned to design the new Valletta City Gate project, which includes a new parliament and the renovation of the Royal Opera House, which was inaugurated earlier this month.
However, Renzo Piano's reputation as one of the best architects alive dates back to 1971 when together with British architect Richard Rogers he designed the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Piano's other works include Europe's tallest skyscraper, The Shard, in London, the Auditorium in Rome, the Nemo Science Centre in Amsterdam and the Living Roof of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
In 2006, Piano was selected by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Today, Italian president Giorgio Napolitano named Renzo Piano, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Carlo Rubbia, conductor Claudio Abbado and stem-cell pioneer Elenea Cattaneo life Senators.
They join ex-Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and former premier Mario Monti in the honorary office in the upper house.
Napolitano said he was filling the gaps left by the deaths of seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, former Prime Minister Emilio Colombo and car designer Sergio Pininfarina over the last 12 months.