Ettore Sacchi (31 May 1851 – 6 April 1924) was an Italian lawyer and politician. He was one of the founders and main leaders of the

Italian Radical Party The Italian Radical Party (), also known as the Historical Radical Party (''Partito Radicale storico''), was a political party in Italy. Heir of the Historical Far Left and representative of Italy's political left in its beginning, with the ...

Biography

Ettore Sacchi was born in

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

in the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" (; ), was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire from 1815 to 1866. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recogniti ...

on 31 May 1851. He graduated in law at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

. During these years he became a member of the

Historical Far Left The Historical Far Left (), originally known as Far Left (), Radical Extreme (), simply The Extreme (), or Party of Democracy (), was a left-wing parliamentary group and coalition of Radical, Republican and Socialist politicians in Italy during ...

, the classical radical movement active in Italy in the second party of the 19th century. After the 1882 general election Sacchi became a member of 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 ...

. In 1898 after the death of the left-wing leader Felice Cavallotti, Sacchi became the new head of The Extreme and started a process of modernization that ended in 1904, when he officially founded the

. Sacchi abandoned increasingly left-wing ideologies, switching the PR into a more moderate party. Moreover, after the assassination of King

Umberto I Umberto I (; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw Italy's expansion into the Horn of Africa, as well as the creation of the Triple Alliance among Italy, Germany an ...

, Sacchi exalted him and for this was accused of

monarchism Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

, by the

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

. In 1906 he became Minister of Grace and Justice under the premiership of

Sidney Sonnino Sidney Costantino, Baron Sonnino (; 11 March 1847 – 24 November 1922) was an Italian statesman, 19th prime minister of Italy and twice served briefly as one, in 1906 and again from 1909 to 1910. In 1901, he founded a new major newspaper, '' Il ...

and in 1910 he was appointed by

Luigi Luzzatti Luigi Luzzatti (; 11 March 1841 – 29 March 1927) was an Italian financier, political economist, social philosopher, and jurist. He served as the 20th prime minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911. Luzzatti came from a wealthy and cultured Jew ...

, Minister of Public Works. In 1910s Sacchi implemented a politician alliance with the dominant leader of that decade,

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 ...

, who led the centrist Liberal Union. When

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out, Sacchi was one of the main supporters of neutralism. In 1916 Sacchi was appointed again Minister of Justice, in the cabinets of the liberals

Paolo Boselli Paolo Boselli (; 8 June 1838 – 10 March 1932) was an Italian politician who served as the 34th prime minister of Italy during World War I. Biography Boselli was born in Savona, Liguria. Boselli was the first professor of science at the Uni ...

and

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (; 19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952) was an Italian statesman, who served as the prime minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919. Orlando is best known for representing Italy in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference with ...

. In 1919 Sacchi resigned and removed the support to Orlando's government, but in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

of the same year the Radicals lost many votes and in the 1921 election, Sacchi did not succeed in being re-elected in the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

. Sacchi 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 6 April 1924, in poverty.

References

External links