Bruno Villabruna (12 August 1884 – 16 October 1971) was an Italian lawyer and liberal politician. Born in

Santa Giustina Santa Giustina is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about southwest of Belluno. Santa Giustina borders the following municipalities: Cesiomaggiore, L ...

, near

Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...

in the

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

, he was first elected to parliament in 1921. After the rise to power of the fascists, he joined, unlike many other liberals, the democratic opposition around old leader

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. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister in Italian history, and the sec ...

and in 1924 refused to candidate himself in the fascist-led national union list. When all political parties were dissolved in early 1925, he retired from political life and kept on being a lawyer. In July 1943, with the Mussolini regime having been overthrown, he was appointed podestà of Turin, but had to resign after 45 days because of the German occupation. In the liberated Northern Italy in 1945, he became a member of the Consulta Nazionale and in 1946 was elected to the Assemblea Costituente. He failed being elected to the first parliament of the Italian Republic in 1948, but a few months later he was appointed Secretary General of the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), that went through a deep crisis caused by his extreme right-wing predecessor Roberto Lucifero. Villabruna tried to convince the left-wing dissident group Movimento Liberale Indipendente (MLI) led by Count Nicolò Carandini to return into the ranks of PLI, which they had left in early 1948, but only in late 1951 did this operation come to a successful conclusion. In 1954 Villabruna became Minister of Industry and Trade in the Scelba government, and let the leadership of the Liberal Party to

Giovanni Malagodi Giovanni Francesco Malagodi (12 October 1904 – 17 April 1991) was an Italian liberal politician, secretary of the Italian Liberal Party (''Partito Liberale Italiano''; PLI), and president of the Italian Senate. He was the third and sixth Pres ...

, with whom he came into serious quarrels few time later. In 1955 he left the PLI. Together with Carandini and

Leone Cattani Leone Cattani (5 January 1906 – 29 October 1980) was an Italian lawyer, politician and Anti-fascism, anti-Fascist activist. Between December 1944 and December 1945 he served as secretary general of the Italian Liberal Party. Later, in 1955, h ...

he was now among the founders of the Radical Party. From 1958 to 1960 he was Secretary General of this party, retiring definitely to private life after its dissolution in 1962. Villabruna died in 1971 in

Torre Pellice Torre Pellice ( Vivaro-Alpine: ''La Torre de Pèlis'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important bu ...

Pinerolo Pinerolo (; ; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemi ...

Sources

External links

10/11 December 1955 - Italy: Rome - Foundation of the Radical Party

(1) l'organizzazione del partito radicale (1955 1962)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villabruna, Bruno 1884 births 1971 deaths Italian Liberal Party politicians Radical Party (Italy) politicians Government ministers of Italy Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Mayors of Turin Politicians of Veneto