Renato Zangheri (8 April 1925 – 6 August 2015) was an Italian politician, who was
Mayor of Bologna
The Mayor of Bologna is an elected politician who, along with the Bologna’s City Council, is accountable for the strategic government of Bologna, the regional capital of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Overview
According to the Italian Constitution, th ...
from 1970 to 1983 and Member of the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
from 1983 to 1992.
Early life and political activity
Zangheri was born in
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy.
Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...
on 8 April 1925.
He attended the city's
classical lyceum
The ''liceo classico'' or ''ginnasio'' () is the oldest public secondary school type in Italy. Its educational curriculum spans over five years, when students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age.
Until 1969, this was the only secondar ...
,
and was a
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
partner of
Clara Petacci
Clara "Claretta" Petacci (; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945) was a Mistress (lover), mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed by Italian resistance, Italian partisans during Death of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini's summar ...
, mistress of
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
, during her stays at the
Grand Hotel Rimini.
Zangheri joined the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
(PCI) in 1944.
In 1946, he codirected , a weekly newspaper dedicated to discussing the city's post-war reconstruction. Sitting on boards of the local party, Zangheri was concerned by its intake of intellectual socialists unable to respond to the acute socio-economic crises of the time.
Zangheri studied with the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...
, graduating with a thesis on the problems and aspects of
Italian socialism.
Among his teachers were , who wrote that Zangheri had "the religious sense of culture" in a 1948 letter.
Emilio Sereni
Emilio Sereni (13 August 1907 – 20 March 1977) was an Italian writer, politician and historian.
Biography
Born into a Jewish family of anti-fascist intellectuals, Sereni graduated from the Liceo Terenzio Mamiani in Rome. Brother of the Zio ...
, the PCI's cultural director, had requested that Zangheri be transferred to Rome after his university studies to work in the party's cultural office, but the transfer was continually postponed and never realised.
Instead, Zangheri assisted the historian ,
who had invited Zangheri to the
University of Perugia
The University of Perugia ( Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public university in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale.
The offi ...
to assist his course in economic history.
Zangheri joined the editorial committee of , a
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
historiographic
Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...
journal founded in 1949, and also directed the magazines ''Emilia'' and ''Stuidi Storici''; the latter was run by the .
Academic career
Zangheri obtained a teaching qualification that elevated him to the university professorship in 1960.
In 1962, he won a competition for the professorship of economic history at the
University of Trieste
The University of Trieste (, or UniTS, Formerly Regia Università degli Studi or The Royal University of Studies) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 ...
, moving to Bologna in 1965 as professor of history of economic doctrine.
Zangheri's research concerned the distribution of land ownership in 19th and 19th centuries,
land registers as
historical sources, the thought of the
Physiocrats
Physiocracy (; from the Greek for "government of nature") is an economic theory developed by a group of 18th-century Age of Enlightenment French economists. They believed that the wealth of nations derived solely from the value of "land agricult ...
, income distribution during pre-capitalist development, and the
history of socialism
The history of socialism has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment and the 1789 French Revolution, along with the changes that brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. ''The Communist Manifesto'' was written by Karl M ...
. His writings on socialism included studies on
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...
and
Andrea Còsta.
Zangheri lectured at the universities of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
,
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
,
Columbia,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
,
Yale
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
, and
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
.
After his political career, Zangheri returned to university teaching. He was rector at the
University of San Marino from 1991 to 1994. In 1998, the
Ministry of Cultural Heritage appointed Zangheri as president of the scientific commission for a national edition of Gramsci's works;
he resigned in 2000.
Among Zangheri's most popular publications is a history of Italian socialism published by
Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician
* Mario Einaudi (1904–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi
* Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, s ...
,
the first volume of which was published in 1993. Zangheri was for a time president of the Istituto Gramsci.
Political career
City councillor and mayor
Gramsci was elected for the first time to the city council of
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
in 1956.
Following the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...
, Zangheri cosigned an appeal from historians endorsing
Giuseppe Di Vittorio
Giuseppe Di Vittorio (11 August 1892 – 3 November 1957), also known as Mario Nicoletti, was an Italian trade union leader and communist politician.
He was one of the most influential trade union leaders of the labour movement after World War ...
's support for the striking workers, against the beliefs of the PCI's leadership.
From 1960 to 1964, Zangheri was responsible for the city's cultural institutions, only recently transferred from the competence of the city's superintendence.
On 29 July 1970, Zangheri was elected
mayor of Bologna
The Mayor of Bologna is an elected politician who, along with the Bologna’s City Council, is accountable for the strategic government of Bologna, the regional capital of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Overview
According to the Italian Constitution, th ...
,
and would be reelected in 1975 and 1980.
Zangheri guided the city throughout the difficult
Years of Lead Years of Lead is a phrase used in several countries to refer to periods of history marked by military repression, political violence or terrorism.
Years of lead may refer to:
Historical periods
* Years of Lead (Brazil), period of state violence ...
. The city faced the
Italicus Express bombing
The Italicus Express massacre () was a terrorist bombing in Italy on a train of the public rail network. On 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was claimed by the neo-fascist terrorist organization '' ...
by a fascist group (4 August 1974),
the social unrest that followed the carabinieri's murder of activist
Francesco Lorusso
Pierfrancesco Lorusso (7 October 1952 – 11 March 1977), generally known as Francesco Lorusso, was an Italian militant of the far-left organization Lotta Continua who was shot dead by carabinieri in Bologna on 11 March 1977 during the riots ...
(11 March 1977),
the crash of
Itavia Flight 870
On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica at 20:59 CEST, killing all 81 occupants on board ...
after leaving Bologna airport (27 June 1980),
and the
massacre
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
at
Bologna Centrale railway station
Bologna Centrale is the main railway station in Bologna, Italy. The station is situated at the northern edge of the city centre. It is located at the southern end of the Milan-Bologna high-speed line, which opened on 13 December 2008, and the ...
(2 August 1980).
Amid this polarised political climate, Zangheri advocated compromising with the burgeoning youth movement, particularly through civil society.
He organised cultural and musical events, bringing
The Clash
The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...
to perform in Bologna,
and
Carmelo Bene
Carmelo Pompilio Realino Antonio Bene (1 September 1937 – 16 March 2002) was an Italian actor, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was an important exponent of the Italian avant-garde theatre and cinema.
In 1968, his movie Our Lady ...
to speak at the
Two Towers.
He promoted political participation, especially among young people. The policy allowed him to navigate the tension between the traditional communists in the PCI's leadership and the progressive communists from the new students' movements of the 1960.
Under his leadership, Bologna opened Italy's first gay
community centre
A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
,
the Cassero, against the wish of the central party.
While Zangheri bemoaned how Bologna was a net fiscal contributor and deprived of its full funding by the central government,
the council was recognised for its administrative efficiency.
Despite this, Zangheri was sometimes vilified by Bologna's citizens, especially by young people out on the streets during the social unrest in 1977, when he was regularly met with a popular protest chant of "Zangherì, Zangherà".
Reflecting on his time in office thirty years later, Zangheri said that the PCI made mistakes and failed to "understand much about those young people",
and he chose "excessive rigidity" because he "couldn't choose otherwise".
In January 1971, Zangheri organised a series of events and meetings celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
.
In 1979, he was appointed a member of the national party's leadership.
He was considered a possible successor to
Enrico Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician and statesman. Considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), he led the PCI as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a te ...
for the PCI's leadership in 1984, but lost to
Alessandro Natta
Alessandro Natta (7 January 1918 – 23 May 2001) was an Italian politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) from 1984 to 1988. An illuminist, Jacobin, and communist, as he used to describe himself, Natta represented the poli ...
.
Deputy
Zangheri resigned as mayor of Bologna on 24 April 1983, when the PCI nominated him as candidate for the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
.
He was elected at the
1983 general election,
and reelected in the
1987 general election. From 1986 to 1990, Zangheri was the group leader of the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
in the chamber;
his resignation, on grounds of ill health, surprised the party's secretariat, but was also perceived as symptomatic of growing discontent with him from other parliamentarians and the broader decline of the party. Zangheri joined the
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left (, PDS) was a democratic-socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, the party was the largest in the A ...
in 1991, followed by the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...
.
As deputy, Zangheri supported the separation of the
province of Rimini
The province of Rimini () is the southernmost Provinces of Italy, province of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rimini, one of the "seven sisters" of the historical region of Romagna.
The province borders the Adriat ...
from the
province of Forlì. While many municipalities tabled bills supporting their separation from existing provinces, Zangheri formed a coalition among municipalities that he thought had more legitimate claims; at the same time, he leveraged the usual fruitlessness of these requests to convince the province of Forlì to endorse Rimini's request. He intervened in favour of further environmental regulations to reduce
algal bloom
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in fresh water or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompass ...
in the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
, against the interests of farmers and industrialists but in favour of the coastal tourist sector.
During his visits to Rome, Zangheri frequently met with a circle of friends from Romagna, including journalist
Sergio Zavoli, painter
Alberto Sughi
Alberto Sughi (October 5, 1928 – March 31, 2012) was an Italian painter.
Biography
Sughi was born in Cesena, Italy.
A self-taught painter, by the end of his formative years he had become one of the greatest Italian artists of his generat ...
, and sometimes filmmaker
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
and poet
Tonino Guerra
Antonio "Tonino" Guerra (16 March 1920 – 21 March 2012) was an Italian poet, writer and screenwriter who collaborated with some of the most prominent film directors, such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Michelangelo Antonioni, Theo Angelopoulos, and Fede ...
.
Personal life and death
In 1992, Zangheri married Claudia dall'Osso, who was half Zangheri's age.
Zangheri had one daughter.
On 19 December 2003,
Zangheri was awarded the Sigismondo d’Oro, the highest civic award offered by Rimini's municipal government.
In his later life, Zangheri lived in
Imola
Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...
,
which he associated with Costa, who was born in the city.
He developed
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
.
Zangheri died in Imola on 6 August 2015.
Though his funeral was a private service, the city of Bologna declared a day of mourning on 8 August 2015, and the funeral chapel was opened for visits in the Sala Rossa of the city's
Palazzo d’Accursio.
References
External links
*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
IXXlegislature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zangheri, Renato
1925 births
2015 deaths
People from Rimini
Italian Communist Party politicians
Democratic Party of the Left politicians
Democrats of the Left politicians
Democratic Party (Italy) politicians
21st-century Italian politicians
Mayors of Bologna