Name
Mr Santino Spinelli
Country of residence
Italy
Ethnicity
Rom
Occupation
Musician and University Teacher
BIO
Spinelli is the founder and president of the cultural association Thèm Romano (Romani World). In 2001 he was elected sole representative for Italy at the parliament of the International Romani Union (IRU), a nongovernmental organization based in Prague and active in the field of Roma people’s rights. The IRU has been granted special consultative status for several authorities inside the United Nations. In 2002 Spinelli worked as a teacher of the Romani language and culture at the University of Trieste, and later at the Polytechnic University of Turin.
Professor of the Romani Language and Culture – Languages and Intercultural Processes – at the University of Chieti since 2008, Santino Spinelli also held a seminar course at the University of Teramo during the 2013/14 academic year. In 2003 the IRU Parliament appointed him Ambassador of Romani Culture and Art throughout the world, and in 2007 he was appointed Vice President of the IRU. He is the national president of the federation FederArteRom.