Aldo Tortorella (10 July 1926 – 5 February 2025) was an Italian journalist, politician and partisan. He was a historical member of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

(''Partito Comunista Italiano'', or PCI).

Life and career

Tortorella was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, but spent his youth in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. When he was a university student, he became a member of the Milanese resistance movement against

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

. He was imprisoned, but he was later able to escape to Genoa. After the liberation of Northern Italy, Tortorella became journalist (and eventually vice-director) for the Genoese edition of PCI's newspaper, ''

L'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...

''. In 1958–1962 he was vice-director of the Milanese edition and director of the national edition from 1970 to 1975. Tortorella was elected to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform ...

for the first time in 1972, a position he held until 1994. A follower of national secretary

Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician and statesman. Considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), he led the PCI as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a te ...

, he was the party's responsible for culture. In the late 1970s he was against Berlinguer's move towards the so-called Historic Compromise (''Compromesso storico''), which aimed for a government alliance between PCI and the other Italian main party of the period, ''

Democrazia Cristiana Christian Democracy (, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the nominal successor of the Italian People's Party (1919), Italian ...

''. In 1989, Tortorella was one of the main opponents of the ''Svolta della Bolognina'', the change of PCI's name supported by new secretary

Achille Occhetto Achille Leone Occhetto (; born 3 March 1936) is an Italian political figure. He served as the last secretary-general of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) between 1988 and 1991, and was the first leader of the Democratic Party of the Left (PD ...

. However, when PCI became the

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left (, PDS) was a democratic-socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, the party was the largest in the A ...

(PDS), he remained in the party as member of the left-current led by

Giovanni Berlinguer Giovanni Berlinguer (; ; 9 July 1924 – 6 April 2015) was an Italian politician, humanist, and professor of social medicine. Life and career Giovanni Berlinguer was born in Sassari, Sardinia, the son of Mario Berlinguer. A physician and profes ...

. In 1999, at the outbreak of the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, Tortorella abandoned the party in polemics with the then-prime minister and party leader,

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...

, who had Italy take an active part in the conflict. In 2000s, he contributed to a leftist magazine, '' Critica marxista'', and organized cultural activities dealing with Enrico Berlinguer's figure and politics. Tortorella died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 5 February 2025, at the age of 98.È morto Aldo Tortorella, addio al partigiano Alessio

Electoral history

References

Sources

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tortorella, Aldo 1926 births 2025 deaths Politicians from Naples Italian Communist Party politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Journalists from Naples Italian male journalists Italian resistance movement members L'Unità editors University of Milan alumni