Macron appoints Claudia Ferrazzi as culture advisor at Élysée

Claudia Ferrazzi, a 40-year-old Italian cultural manager from Bergamo, has been appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron to his staff as a close collaborator on cultural affairs. She will work alongside Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen. Ferrazzi's career includes a degree in Public Relations from IULM, a master's in European policy in Brussels, and entry to the École Nationale d'Administration. She had just been named head of Territorial Marketing for Milan under Mayor Beppe Sala on March 3, 2017, but left after less than three months for the Paris role. Previously, she worked in consulting at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Boston Consulting Group, then in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance from 2006. From 2011 to 2013, she served as deputy general administrator at the Louvre. She later returned to Italy as secretary general of the French Academy in Rome, followed by roles at UNESCO and on the board of the Uffizi Gallery from 2015. Ferrazzi has known Macron since 2007–2011 when she worked at the Inspectorate General of Finance and he was active in Hollande's circle. She has criticized Italy's lack of a merit-based selection system for young professionals, contrasting it with France's elite schools.