Enrico Mizzi
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Enrico Mizzi (20 September 1885 – 20 December 1950) was a
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...
politician, leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party from 1926 and briefly
Prime Minister of Malta The prime minister of Malta () is the head of government, which is the highest official of Malta. The prime minister chairs Cabinet meetings, and selects its ministers to serve in their respective portfolios. The prime minister holds office b ...
in 1950.Michael J. Schiavone, Louis J. Scerri, Maltese Biographies of the Twentieth Century, Page 421, Malta 1997


Life

Born on 20 September 1885 in
Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...
, Enrico Mizzi was the son of Maria Sofia (Marie Sophie) Folliero de Luna, daughter of the vice-consul of
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 ...
, and of Fortunato Mizzi, a pro-Italian Maltese politician, founder of the ''Partit Anti-Riformista''. His mother died in 1903 and his father in 1905, when Enrico was only 17 and 19 respectively. Enrico studied in the Gozo seminary, and read law at the
University of Rome La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...
and at the
University of Urbino The University of Urbino Carlo Bo (, ''UniUrb'') is an Italian university located in Urbino, in the region of Marche, in north-eastern central Italy. The main campus occupies numerous buildings throughout the historic Urbino town center and the ...
. He graduated in literature and science at the Royal University of Malta in 1906, and in Law at Urbino in 1911. In 1926 Enrico Mizzi married Bice Vassallo; they had one son, Fortunat Mizzi (1927–2017), who became a priest in 1952 and founded the Moviment Azzjoni Socjali (MAS) in 1955.


Politics

Despite completing his legal studies in Rome, Mizzi had little chance to practice law. He was drawn instead to politics and journalism. In 1915 Enrico Mizzi was elected member of the ''Comitato Patriottico Maltese'' and founded the newspaper ''L'Eco di Malta'', organ of the Committee itself. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for Gozo in 1915, and was elected. He worked to develop a Constitution that was independent of English rule at the time. In 1916 he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for proclaiming himself a representative of the Italian nationality of Malta – his sentence was reduced to a reprimand by the Governor of the time due to suspected interference. In May 1917 he was arrested and court-martialled for sedition during wartime, found guilty of all charges and imprisoned for a year. Although this sentence was again reduced, he lost his right to practice law in the country.


Leader of the Partit Nazzjonalista

In his youth, Enrico Mizzi decided to follow in the footsteps of his father Fortunato Mizzi, who was a member of the Pro-Italian Maltese community, whose political activity showed strong support towards
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
's
Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
and the official use of the
Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...
in Malta. After the end of the First World War, Mizzi was part of the large and moderate coalition called the Maltese Political Union (''Unjoni Politika Maltija'', UPM), led by Ugo Pasquale Mifsud. It splintered from it, together with the more extremist and pro-Italian current, to form the Democratic Nationalist Party (''Partit Demokratiku Nazzjonalista'', PDN), led by Mizzi. The two movements participated separately in the
1921 Maltese general election General elections were held in Malta on 18 and 19 October 1921.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1302 The Maltese Political Union emerged as the largest party, winning 14 of the 32 seats in the Leg ...
, but adopted a form of desistance so as not to damage each other; the PDN elected 4 MPs from Gozo. UPM and PDN run once again separately, albeit in coalition, in the 1924 elections. After the elections of 1924, Mizzi's party formed a government in coalition with the Unione Politica Maltese and they elected 15 parliamentary seats. During this legislature, Mizzi was the Minister for Postal Services, Agriculture and Fisheries together with Industry and Commerce. On 23 January 1926 the two parties joined together to form the ''Partit Nazzjonalista'', with Mizzi acting as a co-leader together with Sir Ugo Mifsud till the death of the latter in 1942. However, the new unitary party was defeated by the elections of 1927, in favor of the Compact, the electoral alliance between the Maltese Constitutional Party and Labour. In the years from 1924 to 1933 Mizzi held numerous ministerial positions and was president of the Dante Alighieri Society and director of the ''Gazzetta maltese'' in his capacity as a promoter of the Italian character of Malta. Mizzi the "knight without stain or fear". remained well known for promoting Maltese patriotism and nationalism at a time when Malta was a colony. He was also associated with the Italianate identity of the Maltese people, the cause for selecting Italian as an official language of the country, and a strong proponent of the Roman Catholic faith in opposition to the Protestant faith of the colonial authorities.


Deportation to Uganda

On 30 May 1940, while Mizzi was at the Malta Printing Press, he was arrested and together with 47 other Maltese was interned for having Italian sympathies. In February 1942, Governor Dobbie took out a warrant to illegally deport 47 Maltese to Uganda, Mizzi amongst them. During his exile, Mizzi did all he could to remain up to date on events in Malta. He remained in close contact with other members of the Partit Nazzjonalista, such as Gorg Borg Olivier and Giuseppe Schembri.


Reform of the Partit Nazzjonalista

The group of exiles were allowed back into the country on 8 March 1945. Mizzi quickly re-entered politics, and attended the Council Sitting on 15 March. Mizzi planned to reorganise the PN from the ground up. The ideology of the Party, and its support of Italian culture and language formed the basalt of this, and was frequently used against him by his political enemies. Between 1939 and 1942, the ''Times of Malta'' and ''Il-Berqa'', two newspapers owned by Gerald Strickland, called him a
quisling ''Quisling'' (, ) is a term used in Scandinavian languages and in English to mean a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force; it may also be used more generally as a synonym for ''traitor'' or ...
and a sympathiser of Italian Fascism.


Prime Minister of Malta

At the 1950 elections the ''Partit Nazzjonalista'' reported a great success and Mizzi was appointed
Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
in a hung parliament. He died in Valletta just three months later, on 20 December 1950, and had a state funeral. To date, he is the only Maltese prime minister to have died in office.


Legacy

Mizzi is remembered by the
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...
as a contributing force in the Maltese national and European identity. The Central Bank of Malta issued a silver proof coin with Enrico Mizzi's head on it as part of its Distinguished Maltese Personalities Series in 2001. A foundation, to promote and better appreciate his life and works and that of his father, Fortunato, was established in 2010.


See also

*
List of prime ministers of Malta The prime minister of Malta () is the Head of Government, head of government, which is the highest official of Malta. The Prime Minister of Malta, Prime Minister chairs Cabinet of Malta, Cabinet meetings, and selects its ministers to serve in th ...
* Italia irredenta * Italian irredentism in Malta


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizzi, Enrico Prime ministers of Malta 1885 births 1950 deaths Nationalist Party (Malta) politicians People from Valletta 20th-century Maltese politicians Leaders of the opposition (Malta) People interned during World War II Prisoners and detainees of Malta Foreign nationals imprisoned in the United Kingdom