Giacomo Acerbo, Baron of

Aterno The Aterno-Pescara (ancient ''Aternus'' from the Greek ''Aternos'', ''Άτερνος'') is a river system in Abruzzo, eastern central Italy. The river is known as the Aterno near its source in the mountains, but takes the name Pescara, actually a ...

(25 July 1888 – 9 January 1969) was an Italian economist and politician who drafted the

Acerbo Law The Acerbo Law was an Italian electoral law proposed by Baron Giacomo Acerbo and passed by the Italian Parliament in November 1923. The purpose of it was to give Mussolini's fascist party a majority of deputies. The law was used only in the 19 ...

Early life

He was born to an old family of the local nobility of Loreto Aprutino. He was educated in Pisa, graduating in agricultural sciences from the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

in 1912. Acerbo's affiliation with the Freemasons led him to become an advocate of

irredentism Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...

and Italy's entry to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When war exploded upon the continent, he volunteered for military service. By the end of the war, he was decorated with three silver medals for military valor and promoted to the rank of captain. Acerbo resumed his work as an assistant professor in the faculty of economics, and planned for a university career. At the same time, he promoted the Association of Servicemen of Teramo and

Chieti Chieti (, ; , nap, label= Abruzzese, Chjïétë, ; gr, Θεάτη, Theátē; lat, Theate, ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Central Italy, east by northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. ...

(''l'Associazione dei combattenti di Teramo e Chieti''), which broke away from the national association after the election of 1919 and became the Provincial Combat Group (''il

Fascio Fascio (; plural ''fasci'') is an Italian word literally meaning "a bundle" or "a sheaf", and figuratively "league", and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different (and sometimes opposing) orientations ...

di combattimento provinciale'').

Fascism

Elected to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

in 1921 with the "national bloc", he acted as a mediator between local

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

forces and the

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...

; on a national level, Acerbo ensured peace in the open conflict between the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

and Fascists, and was elected to a leadership position inside the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. Th ...

(PNF). During the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

, Acerbo presided the Chamber as the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

unfolded, and acted as the link between the PNF and

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Victor Emmanuel III The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. He then accompanied Mussolini as he was designated

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, and became his undersecretary. He made the Acerbo Law pass in November 1923; he was again deputy in 1924, winning his nobiliary title. Acerbo was marginally involved in the inquiry over

Giacomo Matteotti Giacomo Matteotti (; 22 May 1885 – 10 June 1924) was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence ...

's killing, and left his position in the government. In 1924 he instituted the Coppa Acerbo in memory of his brother Tito Acerbo (a war hero). Giacomo Acerbo was elected vice-president of the Chamber in 1926, and was Agriculture and Forestry Minister from 1929, dedicating himself to projects for universally-extended

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

. Together with Gabriele D'Annunzio, he contributed to the creation of Pescara Province in January 1927. Acerbo became head of the Economics and Commerce Faculty at the University of Rome in 1934, and, from 1935 to 1943, president of the International Agricultural Institute. A member of the

Grand Council of Fascism The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy, that held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of th ...

, he was a spokesman for the project that turned the Chamber into a representative of Fasci and '' Corporazioni''. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

began and Italy joined the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

offensive, Acerbo served as member of the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

General Staff during the marginal Italian maneuver in the Battle of France, and the

Greek campaign The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...

. He was also

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from February 1943.

The split with Mussolini and later life

Being a staunch and ardent Mediterraneanist, Acerbo first became outwardly critical of Mussolini when Mussolini began, at least in public, to embrace Nazi Nordicist theories and policies. Acerbo was critical of Nazi Nordicism, as Nazi Nordicism inherently classified Italians and other Mediterranean people as inferior or degenerate to Nordic and Germanic people. With the rise of pro-Nordicist

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, and as Fascist Italy allied closer with Nazi Germany, the Fascist regime gave Italian Nordicists prominent positions in the National Fascist Party (PNF), which aggravated the original Mediterraneanists in the party, like Acerbo. In 1941, the PNF's Mediterraneanists, led by Acerbo, put forward a comprehensive definition of the Italian race as primarily Mediterranean. The Mediterraneanists were derailed by Mussolini's endorsement of Nordicist figures with the appointment of Nordicist Alberto Luchini as head of Italy's Racial Office in May 1941, as well as with Mussolini becoming interested with Evola's spiritual Nordicism in late 1941. Acerbo and the Mediterraneanists in his High Council on Demography and Race sought to return Italian Fascism to Mediterraneanism by denouncing the pro-Nordicist ''Manifesto of the Racial Scientists''. On July 25, 1943, Acerbo sided with

Dino Grandi Dino Grandi (4 June 1895 – 21 May 1988), 1st Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament. Early life Born at Mordano, province of Bologna, Grandi was ...

when the latter attempted to topple Mussolini and take Italy out of the war. He voted in favor of the motion (''Ordine del giorno Grandi'') that stripped

Il Duce ( , ) is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word 'leader', and a cognate of ''duke''. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as ('The Leader') of the movement since the birth of the in 1919. In 192 ...

of his powers, and took refuge in his home region, the Allied-occupied Abruzzo - after Mussolini regained some standing with help from the Nazis, establishing the Italian Social Republic, one that proscribed all opponents (including Acerbo) during the Verona trial. Captured by the Resistance, Acerbo was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

by the High Court of Justice, a verdict lessened to 48 years in prison. This sentence too was overturned, and Acerbo's name was cleared in 1951, enabling him to resume his teaching career. He received numerous distinctions and titles in

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, and was awarded a gold medal (in Education, Culture, and Arts) by

President 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 ...

Antonio Segni Antonio Segni (; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the president of Italy from May 1962 to December 1964 and the prime minister of Italy in two distinct terms between 1955 and 1960. A memb ...

. In the elections of 1953 and 1958, Acerbo was an unsuccessful candidate of the

Monarchist National Party The Monarchist National Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Monarchico, PNM) was a political party in Italy founded in 1946, uniting conservatives, liberal conservatives and nationalists. It was a right-wing competitor to Christian Democracy and was esp ...

to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...

. Acerbo died in Rome in 1969. He is also remembered for his passion as a collector of ancient pottery, and created a Gallery dedicated to ceramics of the Abruzzo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acerbo, Giacomo 1888 births 1969 deaths People from the Province of Pescara Barons of Italy Members of the Grand Council of Fascism Monarchist National Party politicians Agriculture ministers of Italy Mussolini Cabinet Finance ministers of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVII of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVIII of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXIX of the Kingdom of Italy Members of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations Italian economists Italian Freemasons University of Pisa alumni Italian military personnel of World War I Italian military personnel of World War II Italian people of World War II Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II