Antonio Giolitti (12 February 1915 – 8 February 2010) was an

Italian politician The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was el ...

and cabinet member. He was the grandson of

Giovanni Giolitti Giovanni Giolitti (; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. After Benito Mussolini, he is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history. A p ...

, the well-known liberal statesman of the pre-fascist period who served as

Prime Minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

five times.

Biography

Giolitti was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

(Italian: ''Partito Comunista Italiano'', or PCI) in 1940 and was arrested and tried, but acquitted, for his associations with them. In the spring of 1943 Giolitti resumed his clandestine activities, for the Communist Party, contacting numerous military and political personalities, in order plan the overthrow of the fascist regime. During World War II, Giolitti was seriously wounded in combat. He was sent to France to recover, and was not able to return to Italy until after the end of the conflict. After the war, Giolitti was involved in much political activity: he was junior minister to the Foreign minister for

Ferruccio Parri Ferruccio Parri (; Pinerolo, 19 January 1890 – Rome, 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the w ...

's government, communist deputy to the Constituent Assembly, elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

in the list of PCI in 1948 and 1953. In 1957 he left the Communist Party after the Hungarian uprising and

The Manifesto of 101 The Manifesto of the 101 was a document expressing strong dissent from the Soviets, following the Soviet invasion of Hungary in October 1956, signed by 101 prominent Italian communists. History After the Budapest uprising and its ruthless repre ...

. He then joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 189 ...

. Antonio Giolitti was a minister in several Italian governments. He was Minister for the Budget from 1963 to 1964, from 1969 to 1972 and from 1973 to 1974 in the governments led, respectively by

Aldo Moro Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy (DC). He served as prime minister of Italy from December 1963 to June 1968 and then from November 1974 to July 1 ...

Mariano Rumor Mariano Rumor (; 16 June 1915 – 22 January 1990) was an Italian politician and statesman. A member of the Christian Democracy (DC), he served as the 39th Prime Minister of Italy from December 1968 to August 1970 and again from July 1973 to No ...

and

Emilio Colombo Emilio Colombo (11 April 1920 – 24 June 2013) was an Italian politician, member of the Christian Democracy, who served as Prime Minister of Italy from August 1970 to February 1972. During his long political career, Colombo held many offices ...

. In this capacity he inspirer the Italian economic planning. From 1977 to 1985, he was a member of the Executive Commission of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, and responsible for Regional Policy. In 1987, Giolitti left the Italian Socialist Party for disagreements with its leader

Bettino Craxi Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( , , ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th prime minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first PSI membe ...

. He then returned to the

(PCI) as an independent candidate and he was elected to the Italian Senate. At the end of the Parliamentary term, he withdrew himself from active politics. Antonio Giolitti has written political texts and, in 1992, he published a book with his memoirs. He also participated actively to the Italian cultural activity. In his youth, he was an advisor to the publisher Giulio Einaudi. He collaborated with several cultural magazines, including ''Lettera Internazionale''. In 2006, he was awarded the

Cavaliere di Gran Croce The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking h ...

, the highest honour bestowed by the

President of the Italian Republic President most commonly refers to: * President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

. He died in Rome on 8 February 2010.

References

1915 births 2010 deaths Politicians from Rome Italian Communist Party politicians Italian Socialist Party politicians Government ministers of Italy Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Deputies of Legislature II of Italy Deputies of Legislature III of Italy Deputies of Legislature IV of Italy Deputies of Legislature V of Italy Deputies of Legislature VI of Italy Deputies of Legislature VII of Italy Senators of Legislature X of Italy Italian European Commissioners Italian resistance movement members European Commissioners 1977–1981 European Commissioners 1981–1985 {{EU-org-bio-stub