High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian political theorist and a European federalist. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto, his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European integration and, later, his role in re-launching the integration process in the 1980s. By the time of his death, he had been a Member of the European Commission for six years, a Member of the European Parliament for ten years right up until his death. The main building of the European Parliament in Brussels is named after him.