Francesco Cossiga (born July 26, 1928) is an Italian politician and former President of Italy.

Born in Sassari, Sardinia, in 1928, Cossiga is a professor of law at Sassari university. Cossiga started his political career during WWII in groups of Catholic reference.

He has been several times a minister for Democrazia Cristiana (DC); notably during his stay at Viminale (Ministry for internal affairs) he re-structured Italian police, civil protection and secret services organisations. He was in charge during the kidnapping and murdering of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades and resigned when Moro was found dead in 1978.

In 1985 Cossiga was elected President of the Republic (Head of State).

After his resignation from Quirinale (the Roman hill in which is the office of the Head of State), he is a lifetime senator from 1992.

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Sandro Pertini | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |President of Italy
1985–1992 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro