Francesco Alberoni (born 31 December 1929, in Borgonovo Val Tidone, Piacenza) is an Italian journalist and a professor of sociology. He was a board member and senior board member (chairman) of RAI, the Italian state television network, from 2002 to 2005.

Alberoni was among the few regular front page writers of Corriere della Sera, Italy's most popular newspaper, which published his articles from 1973 to 2011. He wrote a four-column editorial titled "Public & Private" (begun in 1982) for the Monday edition. He is the widower of Rosa Giannetta.

Although Alberoni claims he was a model student and real perfectionist at school, he admits he did not like the military-like discipline imposed on schoolchildren by the Fascist regime. According to his autobiography he was a born leader, who always invented games and adventures for the group of boys who usually gathered around him. Because there weren't any books in his house, he discovered the pleasures of reading only after the end of Second World War in 1945. Reading took most of his afternoons at the City Library, his favoured subjects being history and philosophy.

Alberoni studied at the Liceo Scientifico, and then moved to Pavia to study medicine where he graduated. Here he also met the friar Agostino Gemelli, who was intrigued by Alberoni's thinking and bright intelligence, and pushed him to pursue studies in the field of social behavior. During his studies in Pavia met Vincenza Pugliese (1929–1992) whom he married in 1958.

From his marriage to Vincenza Pugliese he has three children: Margherita (born in 1959), Francesca (born in 1961) and Paolo Giovanni Agostino (born in 1968) named after friar Agostino Gemelli. Later he lived with Laura Bonin, from whom had a fourth son: Giulio (named after the famous ancestor). In 1998 married Rosa Giannetta, the former mistress of the Italian architect Roberto Guiducci.

His academic career includes the following positions: Adjunct professor of Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan in 1960; Adjunct professor of Sociology in 1961, and then full professor of Sociology (again at the University of Milan) in 1964; Member of the Bi-national Committee Olivetti Foundation-Ford Foundation Social Science Research Council; Dean of the University of Trento (Italy) from 1968 to 1970; Professor at the University of Lausanne, the University of Catania, and then again back at the University of Milan (1978); Former Teacher of IULM University. He was Dean of the School until 2001; board member of Cinecittà Cinema Holding of Rome (2002–2005); Dean of the Experimental Center for Cinematography (2003–current).

Alberoni has carried out numerous studies on Sociology of Movements and Individuals, and especially on the nature of Love and relationships among individuals and groups.

The building block of Alberoni though is found in Movement and Institution, which is among the first books on the sociological analysis of movements, their start, development and end. This book has been considered a milestone in the analysis of social movements. The concept developed here is the so-called Statu Nascenti, the "nascent state", the moment in which leadership, ideas, and communication, come together and fuel the birth of movements. ...

Source: Article "Francesco Alberoni" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.