Antonio Martino (22 December 1942 – 5 March 2022) was an Italian politician, who was the

minister of foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

in 1994 and minister of defense from 2001 to 2006. He was a founding member of

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

Life and career

Born in

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...

, he was the son of Gaetano Martino (1900–1967), the Foreign Minister of Italy from 1954 to 1957 and prominent member of the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

(PLI). Martino earned a J.D. in Jurisprudence from the University of Messina Law School in 1964, then went on to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

for postgraduate studies in Economics from 1966 to 1968, where he was a student of

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

. After graduation he started his career as Visiting Professor at the Rome Center of Loyola University Chicago. After becoming a professor in 1976 Martino worked at the

University of Messina The University of Messina ( it, Università degli Studi di Messina; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the w ...

, University of Bari, University of Naples and Sapienza University of Rome. A member of the Italian Parliament, he was first elected in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996 and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

. He ran for PLI secretary in the mid-1980s but was unsuccessful. From 1992, Martino was a professor of economics in the political science department at the LUISS University of Rome. Since 1978 he was the Adjunct Scholar at

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presi ...

and an editorial board member of the Cato Journal since 1990. He wrote 11 books and over 150 papers and articles in the fields of economic theory and policy. He was a regular contributor to a variety of Italian and foreign periodicals and newspapers as well as Italian and international television and radio programmes. He worked as an editorial writer for a number of Italian newspapers (

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

Il Sole 24 Ore ''Il Sole 24 Ore'' () is an Italian national daily business newspaper owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation. History and profile ''Il Sole 24 Ore'' was first published on 9 November 1965 as a merger between ''Il Sole'' ("the ...

, Mondo economico, L'Opinione, Il Giornale, Quotidiano Nazionale Nazione-Giorno-Carlino), and his bi-line has appeared in international publications such as

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, The American Spectator, Economic Affairs, and others. In 1988–1990, Martino was President of the Mont Pelerin Society. During the 1990's, he wrote a book in Italian language, ''Stato Padrone'', in which he explained his free-market ideas. He was one of the founders of

. He was the minister of Foreign Affairs in the first cabinet of Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

(1994–95) and the minister of Defense when Berlusconi returned to power (2001–2006). Martino was very close to Michael Ledeen. In 2004 he was the main promoter of the advance of the suspension of compulsory military service, formally decided already in 2001, but which was to begin in 2007: military service was thus suspended indefinitely from 1 January 2005 (Martino Law), also exempting all those who had obtained postponements for study or other reasons. In parallel, he promoted an acceleration in the development of the already present army of professional volunteers. He was also the Secretary of the Italy-USA Foundation's Scientific Committee. In 2005, he was awarded the

Medal for Distinguished Public Service The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service is the highest award that is presented by the Secretary of Defense, to a private citizen, politician, non-career federal employee, or foreign national. It is presented for exception ...

by the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

. Martino was married and had two daughters. He died in Rome on 5 March 2022, at the age of 79.

References

External links

Antonio Martino bio at History Commons
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Martino, Antonio 1942 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Foreign ministers of Italy Forza Italia politicians Italian economists Journalists from Sicily Italian male journalists Italian Liberal Party politicians Deputies of Legislature XII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Italian Ministers of Defence Politicians from Messina Propaganda Due The People of Freedom politicians Member of the Mont Pelerin Society

Life and career

References

Further reading

External links