ALCIDE DE GASPERI
Biography
Alcide De Gasperi was born on April 3rd in 1881 in Trento, which was part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire.
In 1905 he joined in news room of the newspaper “Nuovo Trentino”.
He was a protagonist in the political and economical rebuilding of Italy after the World War II, he was member of Austrian Chamber of Deputies, where he defended autonomy of italian population, then a member of the “Partito Popolare Italiano” (Italian Popular Party).
He joined the “Popular Party '' in 1919, the year of its foundation.
In 1922 he witnessed Benito Mussolini’s raise to power.He disapproved Mussolini’s violent ways, but, De Gasperi with the Popular Party supported the first fascist government an alliance that lasted only a few months.
Matteotti’s murder and the “fascistissime laws” converted Mussolini’s goverment into a regime. De Gasperi became a fascist police’s person under surveillance, he was threatened by the squadristi and in 1927 he was arrested on charges of attempting illegal expatriation.
He stayed in prison for sixteen months and, when he was released , Alcide was politically isolated and he didn’t have a job. He got a job at the Vatican library, which became a refuge from the regime’s persecutions.
He was the last president of the Council of Ministers of the italian Kingdom, under the monarchy of King Umberto II then, for a short time, he was temporary head of the State after the vote in referendum on 2nd June 1946 and he didn’t lose the Alto Adige and Valle D'Aosta ‘s territories but he lost eastern territories.
He’s remembered for his speech in Paris when he asked for the annexation of Italy to the United Nations, which, however happened after his death.He was able to reduce the post-war damages to Italy by joining the Marshall Plan for the financial and social reconstruction of the country. He died on the 19th August 1954.
Mameli anthem
The Mameli anthem represents one of the three symbols of national unity. It was written by Goffredo Mameli on 10 September 1847 and was titled “the song of the Italians”. It was first sung in Genoa during a popular festival, but later it became the most loved song of the Italian Risorgimento. On October 12, 1946, during a council of ministers, chaired by Alcide de Gasperi, the use of this popular song was allowed as the national anthem of the Italian republic. In this hymn there is mainly a spirit of peace and union, a patriotic sense, what Italy was looking for in this period of wars and crisis. It is characterized by a cultured language, in which we find many references to our past, from the Roman Empire to the Sicilian Vespers. In the six stanzas we find an intense patriotic fervor, which can be traced back to the enthusiasm of the young Mameli animated by a revolutionary spirit and desire for freedom from the foreign oppressor. With de Gasperi we can find many points in common as one of the goals he had set himself: the unity of Italy, or the clash between his hometown and Austria which is mentioned at the end.