Renato Morelli (

Campobasso Campobasso (, ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by Sannio and Matese mountains. Campobas ...

, 17 July 1905 –

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, ...

, 10 March 1977) was an anti-fascist, Liberal Italian lawyer and politician who served as Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

in the Badoglio II Cabinet and Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs as well as Minister for Africa (Colonies) in the Bonomi (I and II), Parri and De Gasperi (I) cabinets. He was later a member of the

Italian Constituent Assembly The Italian Constituent Assembly ( Italian: ''Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana'') was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It was tasked with writing a constitution for the Itali ...

. Between 1948 and 1967 he chaired INAIL, the national workers' insurance agency and its hospital network as well as ISSA, the ILO-based International Social Security Association

Biography

Born in

in 1905, he moved to

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 ...

at a young age and, after graduating in law - as the top graduate in his year - and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, he worked as a successful

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and collaborated for many years with

Il Mattino ''Il Mattino'' (English: "The Morning") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Naples, Italy. History and profile ''Il Mattino'' was first published on 16 March 1892 by the journalists Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao. Since 1999, the ...

and other Liberal newspapers, resigning his position due to his opposition to Fascism in 1939. In 1935 the Bank of Naples, of which he served as General Counsel, appointed him manager of the smaller banks it had absorbed across the South of Italy, following the difficulties of the Great Depression. During this period he also befriended

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. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

, of whom he became one of the main disciples and the principal political aide and emissary, while operating as a member of the clandestine National Liberation Committee (CLN) After the

fall of Fascism The Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, also known in Italy as (, ; ), came as a result of parallel plots led respectively by Count Dino Grandi and King Victor Emmanuel III during the spring and summer of 1943, culminating with a successfu ...

on 25 July 1944, he became one of the founding members, along with Croce, of the re-constituted

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party (, PLI) was a liberal political party in Italy. The PLI, which was heir to the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor party after World War II, but also a frequent junio ...

and, in late September, after the

armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...

, he participated in the Four Days of Naples popular revolt against Nazi troops, for his activities during which he was awarded a Gold Medal by the City of Naples. In 1944 he was appointed Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Badoglio II Cabinet at Croce's recommendation, serving as Croce's right-hand man in the government. He was subsequently Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs with responsibility for overseas Italians and Acting Minister for Italian Africa (Colonies) in the Bonomi I and II, Parri and De Gasperi I cabinets, between 1944 and 1946, when he was elected to the

. From 1948 to 1965 he was President of INAIL, INAIL the Italian national workers accident and health insurance fund, which he restructured financially and for which he built and consolidated a large network of dedicated orthopaedic and traumatology hospitals across Italy, earning respect from all sides of the political spectrum. For his significant expertise and track record in the field of social insurance, he was elected Chairman, in 1949, of the International Social Security Organisation (ISSA) an agency of the International Labor Office (ILO) accredited with the United Nations. Under Renato Morelli's almost two decades of leadership, ISSA expanded its membership to over one hundred nations and became the prime forum for cooperation by the world's foremost social insurance organisations and agencies. Handicapped by a severe form of Parkinson's disease since 1964, he progressively retired from active life and died in Rome in March 1977, where he had lived since its liberation in 1944.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morelli, Renato 1905 births 1977 deaths Italian Liberal Party politicians Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy