Dante’s father was a member of the Carabinieri and his mother was a housewife. Both parents were from the region of Puglia. In order to give their children a better future, they moved to Turin shortly after his birth.
Dante lost his father at the age of nine. Thanks to the sacrifice of his mother, he was able to further his studies and eventually became clerk of the court at a very young age.
Undertaking his legal career at the Court of Turin, he distinguished himself by way of his personal drive and through his abilities, eventually becoming Director of the Presidency of the Court and later as the Attorney General.
The commitment to his work coexisted with an intense political passion, a genuine desire to contribute to the good governance. In the ranks of the Christian Democrats as a university student, he aimed to serve the others, as he did as councilman of the City of Turin (from 1970 to 1980) and city councilor for welfare (from 1970 to 1973).
During Italy’s infamous “Years of Lead” period, as party secretary, he was the victim of an attack by the Red Brigades. Thanks to his survival instincts, he was able to escape.
In 1982 he resigned from his position as Senior Director at the Attorney General’s Office of Turin to fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer.
In 1986 he founded, together with his daughter Marina, the firm of Studio Notaristefano at the corner of Via Sacchi and Corso Stati Uniti.
As a working professional he continues to serve his community by donating “pro bono” legal assistance to the underprivileged.
He never gave up his political commitment, and – starting from 2008 and until his death in 2015 – he chaired the Italian Association of Victims of Terrorism and of the Subversion Against the Constitutional Order of the State, an association of which he had been among the founders in 1985.
As President of the Association, he fostered international relations with similar associations in other European countries, the European Commission, OSC, and the UN. In September 2011, representing Italian victims, he was part of a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that established a 29-country Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF) in New York under the presidency of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Crucial and central to its mission, to which he dedicated his efforts, was to preserve, especially among young people, the history of terrorism and the memory of its victims (he created, among other things, a travelling exhibition for schools called “Lest We Forget” “So We Do Not Forget”).