Giuseppe Saracco (6 October 1821 – 19 January 1907) was an Italian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, financier, and Knight of the Annunziata.

Background and earlier career

Saracco was born at Bistagno, the

province of Alessandria The Province of Alessandria ( it, Provincia di Alessandria; pms, Provincia ëd Lissandria; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''Provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part o ...

. After qualifying as an advocate, he entered the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese parliament in 1849. He was a supporter of Cavour. After Cavour died in 1861, Saracco joined the party of Rattazzi and became under-secretary of state for public works in the Rattazzi cabinet of 1862. In 1864 Sella appointed Saracco as secretary-general of finance, and after being created senator in 1865, he acquired considerable fame as a financial authority. In 1879, Saracco succeeded in postponing the total abolition of the grist tax, and was throughout a fierce opponent of Magliani's loose financial administration. Selected as minister of public works by Depretis in 1887, and by Crispi in 1893, he worked to mitigate the worst consequences of Depretis's corruptly extravagant policy, and introduced a sounder system of government participation in public works. In November 1898, he was elected president of the senate.

Prime Minister of Italy

In June 1900, Saracco succeeded in forming a Cabinet of pacification after the Obstructionist crisis which had caused the downfall of General Pelloux. His term of office was clouded by the assassination of King Umberto (29 July 1900), and his administration was brought to an end in February 1901 by a vote of the chamber condemning his weak attitude towards a general dock strike at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Later life

After February 1901, Saracco resumed his functions as president of the senate, but on the advent of the third

Giolitti Giolitti is a well-known café and pastry shop, and reportedly the oldest ice cream parlor in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1890 by Giuseppe and Bernardina Giolitti and opened their first creamery in Salita del Grillo. Soon after, they became t ...

cabinet, he was not reappointed to that position. He received the supreme honour of the knighthood of the Annunziata from King Umberto in 1898.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saracco, Giuseppe 1821 births 1907 deaths People from the Province of Alessandria Prime Ministers of Italy Italian Ministers of the Interior Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy) Deputies of Legislature VIII of the Kingdom of Italy Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy Politicians of Piedmont 19th-century Italian politicians 20th-century Italian politicians