She is the daughter of director Paolo Pivetti and actress Grazia Gabrielli, sister of the actress, presenter and director Veronica Pivetti, and granddaughter of the linguist Aldo Gabrielli. She graduated with honors in literature at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan; after the degree she worked as an editorial consultant. Between 1987 and 1990 he edited volumes on the Italian language for Motta Editore, Selezione, Mondadori, Club degli Editori, De Agostini. She was married two times: before with Paolo Taranta and then with Alberto Brambilla, from which she had two children and from whom she subsequently divorced. From 1990 to 1994 she was in charge of the Catholic Council of the Lombard League, which later became Northern League. In 1992 she was elected MP, and she was reconfirmed in 1994. On 15 April 1994, at the fourth ballot, she was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies: at 31 she was the youngest president of the Chamber of Italian History. In the 1996 election she was re-elected MP, but on 12 September 1996 she was expelled from the Northern League for her opposition to the line of the Padanian secessionism; thus on 22 October 1996 she founded the Federal Italy movement, which merged into the Italian Renewal in 1998. In 1999 Irene Pivetti joined the UDEur, of which she was president from 23 May 1999 until 2002. In 2009 she was appointed councilor for work and vocational training in the municipality of Berceto, while in August 2010 she was appointed image commissioner in the municipality of Reggio Calabria. In the 2013 regional elections of Lazio she ran among the ranks of the Christian Populars, without being elected; in 2016 she was a candidate in the municipal elections of Rome among the ranks of Us with Salvini, also in this case without being elected. In the 2019 European election she has been a candidate to the European Parliament on the Forza Italia list. On April 2020 the Prosecutor Offices of Rome, Savona, Siracusa and Imperia started an investigation on her due to trafficking of non-compliant masks from China. On June 2020 the Prosecutor Office of Milan started another investigation on her due to money laundry. These investigations are related to her activities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
