Icilio Bacci, born Icilio Baccich (

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

, 2 July 1879 – disappeared 28 August 1945), was an Italian irredentist and

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

politician, member of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy.

Biography

Born into a large family of Italian nationalist traditions (he had eleven brothers and sisters, and he and all his brothers were given names beginning with "I" for "Italy"), from his youth he was one of the leading members of the Fiuman irredentism, being among the founder of the irredentist association ''La Giovane Fiume'' in 1904. After three years as a member of

's municipal council, in 1910 he was appointed deputy mayor of the city, and in the same year he travelled to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he became one of the founders of the

Italian Nationalist Association The Italian Nationalist Association (''Associazione Nazionalista Italiana'', ANI) was Italy's first nationalist political movement founded in 1910, under the influence of Italian nationalists such as Enrico Corradini and Giovanni Papini. Upon its ...

. In 1911 ''La Giovane Fiume'' was dissolved and he was forced to leave Fiume due to his irredentist activities; in 1913 he returned and founded a pro-Italian newspaper, ''Il Giorno'', which was also shut down by order of the Austro-Hungarian authorities and he was forced to leave the city again. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he volunteered for the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...

along with his younger brothers Ipparco (who was killed in action in 1916) and Iti, and after the end of the war he participated in Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume in 1919-1920 together with Iti, being appointed Minister of the Interior and Justice of the Regency of Carnaro.Senato della Repubblica
/ref> Following the annexation of Fiume by Italy in 1924, he " Italianized" his surname in Bacci and joined the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

. From 1929 to 1935 he served as president of the

province of Fiume The Province of Fiume (or Province of Carnaro) was a province of the Kingdom of Italy from 1924 to 1943, then under control of the Italian Social Republic and German Wehrmacht from 1943 to 1945. Its capital was the city of Fiume. It took the oth ...

, and on 23 January 1934 he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy. He remained in Fiume during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, without participating in the political life (unlike fellow Fiuman senator and irredentist Riccardo Gigante, he did not join the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

), and refused to leave the city even when it was occupied by the

Yugoslav People's Liberation Army The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

in May 1945. On 28 August 1945 he was arrested by the

OZNA The Department for People's Protection or OZNA ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Одељење за заштиту нaрода, Odjeljenje za zaštitu naroda, Odeljenje za zaštitu naroda; mk, Одделение за заштита на народот; sl, Oddele ...

and was never seen again. According to some reports, he was tried and executed in the

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

prison in late 1945 or 1946, while according to others he was executed in Fiume shortly after his arrest. His body was never found.Le vittime di nazionalità italiana a Fiume e dintorni
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacci, Icilio 1879 births 1945 deaths Italian irredentism National Fascist Party politicians Missing people Executed Italian fascists Politicians killed in World War II