Niccolò Rinaldi graduated in political science. He was responsible for UN information in Afghanistan, living between Peshawar, Kabul and the rest of the country. In 1991, Rinaldi left the United Nations to start working in the European Parliament as a political advisor, working mainly on Africa and Central Asia. Nine years later he became Deputy Secretary-General at the ALDE Group in Parliament
In 2009, Niccolò Rinaldi was elected memberof the European Parliament with Italia dei Valori as independent and remained an MEP until 2014. During that period he was member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the Cariforum — EU Parliamentary Committee, member of the Committee on International Trade, member of the Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia, member of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia, member of the Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, and member of the Delegation to the Cariforum — EU Parliamentary Committee.