Piero Calamandrei (21 April 1889 – 27 September 1956) was an Italian

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

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, university

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, and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, he was one of Italy's leading authorities on the law of

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...

. After studies in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...

and

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, Calamandrei assumed a professorship at the

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at the University of

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 in ...

in 1915. He fought as a volunteer in the 218th infantry regiment in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, rising to the rank of captain, and turning down a further promotion to resume teaching. In 1918, he resumed teaching at the University of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, then went on to teach at the law school in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, and finally, in Florence. His notable works include ''La cassazione civile'' (Appellate Review of Civil Judgments) (1920) and ''Studi sul processo civile'' (1930). He also co-founded the journals ''Rivista di diritto processuale'' (1924), ''Il foro toscano'' (The Tuscan Courts) (1926) and ''Il Ponte'' (The Bridge) (1945), and participated in the 1942 revision of the Italian code of civil procedure. Calamandrei was highly critical of Italian Fascism; he signed

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a ...

's 1925 Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals and was linked to the Florentine journal '' Non mollare!'' (Don't Give Up!) published between January and October 1925. After the fall of the fascist regime in 1943, the Allies named him rector of the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first univer ...

. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1945 and, as a Social Democrat, to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

in 1948. On 4 December 1952, Calamandrei also penned the antifascist

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

''Lapide ad ignominia''
("A monument to ignominy"). The German general

Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring becam ...

who was responsible for various war crimes during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

occupation of Italy had been sentenced to death, a sentence that was later commuted. When Kesselring was freed, he refused to repent for his crimes and claimed the Italians ought to build him a monument for his good work there. Calamandrei responded with this poem, stating that if Kesselring returned, he would indeed find a monument but one stronger than stone and comprising Italian resistance fighters who "willingly took up arms, to preserve dignity, not to promote hate, and who decided to fight back against the shame and terror of the world." Calamandrei's poem appears in monuments in the towns of

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and '' comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) ...

and

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rom ...

. He died in Florence at the age of 67.

Works

* * * - III edition doubled, Le Monnier, 1954; introduction by Paolo Barile, Firenze, Ponte alle Grazie, 1989. * ''Delle buone relazioni fra giudici e avvocati nel nuovo processo civile. Due dialoghi'', Firenze, Le Monnier, 1941 * ed. privata 1941 G. Mazzoni Rajna ed., Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1965; preface by

Giorgio Luti Giorgio may refer to: * Castel Giorgio, ''comune'' in Umbria, Italy * Giorgio (name), an Italian given name and surname * Giorgio Moroder, or Giorgio, Italian record producer ** ''Giorgio'' (album), an album by Giorgio Moroder * "Giorgio" (song), ...

, Vallecchi, 1989; Christophe Carraud ed., Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2013, . * ''Costruire la democrazia. Premesse alla Costituente'', Edizioni U, 1946; Montepulciano (Siena), Le Balze, 2004. * , preface by

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

, Laterza, 2006. * ''Parlare di Firenze'', Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1958. * ''Opere giuridiche'', Mauro Cappelletti ed., 10 voll., Morano, Napoli * ''Scritti e discorsi politici'' (vol.1: Storia di dodici anni; vol.II: Discorsi parlamentari e politica costituzionale),

Norberto Bobbio Norberto Bobbio (; 18 October 1909 – 9 January 2004) was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily ''La Stampa''. Bobbio was a social libera ...

ed., La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1966 * ''Lettere 1915-1956'', 2 voll., Giorgio Agosti and Alessandro Galante Garrone ed., Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1968. * ''Scritti ed inediti celliniani'', Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1971. * ''La burla di Primavera con altre fiabe, e prose sparse'', Palermo, Sellerio, 1987. * ''In difesa dell'onestà e della libertà della scuola'', Palermo, Sellerio, 1994. * ''Diario (1939-1945)'', Giorgio Agosti and Alessandro Galante Garrone ed., Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1982; riedizione 1997. * ''La Costituzione e leggi per attuarla'', Milano, Giuffré, 2000. * ''Futuro postumo: testi inediti 1950'', Silvia Calamandrei ed., Montepulciano (SI), Le Balze, 2004. * ''Costituzione e le leggi di Antigone'', Firenze, Sansoni, 2004. * ''Ada con gli occhi stellanti. Lettere 1908-1914'', Palermo, Sellerio 2005. * ''Zona di guerra. Lettere, scritti e discorsi (1915-1924)'', S. Calamandrei and A. Casellato ed., Collana Storia e Società, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007. * ''Una famiglia in guerra. Lettere e scritti (1939-1956)'', with Franco Calamandrei, Alessandro Casellato ed., Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008. * ''Fede nel diritto'', Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008. * ''Per la scuola'', Palermo, Sellerio, 2008. * ''Lo Stato siamo noi'', preface by Giovanni De Luna, Milano, Chiarelettere, 2011. ollection of writings 1946 - 1956* ''Chiarezza nella Costituzione'', introduction by C. A. Ciampi, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2012. * ''Non c'è libertà senza legalità'', Roma-Bari, Laterza 2013. * ''Il fascismo come regime della menzogna'', Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014. * ''Il mio primo processo'', Milano, Henry Beyle, 2014. * ''Un incontro con Piero Della Francesca'', Milano, Henry Beyle, 2015. * ''Gli avvocati'', Milano, Henry Beyle, 2015. * ''Diario'' (1939–45), edizione integrale riscontrata su manoscritto, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2015. * * ''Vino colorato artificialmente con sostanza vietata dalla legge'', Milano, Henry Beyle, 2016. *

References

* * Alessandro Galante Garrone, ''Calamandrei'', Milano, Garzanti, 1987. * ''Piero Calamandrei: ventidue saggi su un grande maestro'', a cura di Paolo Barile, Milano, Giuffrè, 1990. * Roberta Gambacciani Lucchesi, ''Piero Calamandrei: i due volti del federalismo'', Firenze, Polistampa, 2004.

External links

Audio Speeches of Piero Calamandrei on defense of the italian constitution
– University of Milan, 1955 – Italian language {{DEFAULTSORT:Calamandrei, Piero 1889 births 1956 deaths Politicians from Florence Action Party (Italy) politicians Italian Democratic Socialist Party politicians Popular Unity (Italy) politicians Members of the National Council (Italy) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Italian anti-fascists Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals 20th-century Italian jurists Italian jurists University of Pisa alumni University of Messina faculty University of Modena and Reggio Emilia faculty University of Siena faculty University of Florence faculty Italian military personnel of World War I Members of Giustizia e Libertà 20th-century jurists