Sandro Pertini

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Sandro Pertini OMCA
Pertini in 1978
President of Italy
In office 9 July 1978 – 29 June 1985
Prime Minister	Giulio Andreotti Francesco Cossiga Arnaldo Forlani Giovanni Spadolini Amintore Fanfani Bettino Craxi
Preceded by	Giovanni Leone
Succeeded by	Francesco Cossiga
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 5 June 1968 – 4 July 1976
Preceded by	Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci
Succeeded by	Pietro Ingrao
Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party
In office 1 August 1945 – 18 December 1945
Preceded by	Pietro Nenni
Succeeded by	Rodolfo Morandi
Parliamentary offices Member of the Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona
Personal details
Born	Alessandro Pertini (1896-09-25)25 September 1896 Stella, Kingdom of Italy
Died	24 February 1990(1990-02-24) (aged 93) Rome, Italy
Political party	PSU (1924–1930) PSI (1930–1990)
Spouse	Carla Voltolina ​ (m. 1946)​
Alma mater	University of Genoa University of Modena and Reggio Emilia University of Florence
Signature

Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini

Early life

Born in Stella (Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landowner, Alberto, he studied at a Salesian college in Varazze, and completed his schooling at the "Chiabrera" lyceum (high school) in Savona.

His philosophy teacher was Adelchi Baratono, a reformist socialist who contributed to his approach to socialism and probably introduced him to the inner circles of the Ligurian labour movements. Pertini obtained a law degree from the University of Genoa.

Aged 19 when Italy entered World War I on the side of the Triple Entente, Pertini opposed the war, but nonetheless enlisted in the army where he served as a lieutenant and was decorated for bravery. After the armistice in 1918, he joined the Unitary Socialist Party, PSU, then he settled in Florence where he also graduated in political science with a thesis entitled La Cooperazione ("Cooperation"; 1924). While in the city, Pertini also came into contact with people such as Gaetano Salvemini, the brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, and Ernesto Rossi. Pertini was physically beaten by Fascist squads on several occasions, but never lost faith in his ideals.

Resistance to Fascism

After the assassination of PSU leader Giacomo Matteotti by Fascists in 1924, Pertini became even more committed to the struggle against the totalitarian regime. In 1926, he was sentenced to internment but managed to go into hiding. Later, together with Carlo Rosselli and Ferruccio Parri, he organized and accompanied the escape to France of Filippo Turati, who was the most prominent figure of the PSU. Pertini remained in the country until 1926 working as a mason. According to the Italian historian of Freemasonry Aldo Alessandro Mola, during that period Pertini had relationships with exponents of the Grand Orient of Italy who were in exile in France.^[4] This hypothesis seems unsupported by known documents from archives. On his return to Italy, he was arrested in Pisa, tried, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

In 1935 he was interned on

.

Prominence

After the war ended in Italy on 25 April 1945 and the monarchy was abolished through the

(the PSI, which the PSU had rejoined).

In spite of his intransigent attitude toward the Italian Communist Party, Pertini was suspicious of many policies enforced by the PSI. He criticized all forms of colonialism, as well as corruption in the Italian state and within the Socialist Party, where he kept an independent political position.

He was elected president of the

President (1978–1985)

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Quirinale

palace

In 1978, the 81-year-old Pertini was

.

In 1981, Pertini presided over the formation of the government by Giovanni Spadolini, the first non Christian Democratic Italian government since the time of De Gasperi.

In 1985, he stepped down from the presidency, becoming automatically senator for life. The only official role he accepted in his retirement was President of the "Filippo Turati" Foundation for Historical Studies of Florence inaugurated in 1985 and dedicated to recording and preserving the history of the socialist movement in Italy. In December 1988 Pertini was the first person to be awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold by the United Nations Association of Germany (Deutsche Gesellschaft für die Vereinten Nationen, DGVN) in Berlin, "for outstanding services to peace and international understanding, especially for his political ethics and practical humanity". Pertini died in February 1990 at the age of 93 and was mourned across the nation.

1982 World Cup Final

Pertini attended the

Memorable images from the event are Pertini standing on his chair at Santiago Bernabeu stadium, exulting in the Italian victory, and the card game on the return flight, between the president and three team members (trainer Bearzot and players Causio and Zoff), the world cup trophy next to them on the table.

Paolo Rossi, Italy's and the tournament's top scorer, later said: "I remember that when he welcomed us at the Presidential Palace after our win, he rose and said: 'This is my best day as President.'"^[7]

Relationship with Pope John Paul II

Adamello

, on 16 June 1984

Sandro Pertini had a close friendship with Pope

, with whom he met often both for official and private occasions, and had frequent phone conversations. In "Accanto a Giovanni Paolo II", he is known to have referred to his mother looking over him in heaven, moved that her atheist son was friends with the Pope.

On 13 May 1981, he went to the

Honours and awards

In 1986, he received the

In popular culture

In the 1975 film Last Days of Mussolini by Carlo Lizzani, there is a character inspired by Pertini, performed by Sergio Graziani.^[11] In early 1980s, Andrea Pazienza created the comic book series Il Partigiano Pert ("The Partisan Pert"), a comedy strip portraying Pertini during World War II with the same cartoonist as his helper.^[12][13][14]

Pertini has been mentioned in some verses of several Italian songs, as in Sotto la pioggia ("under the rain", 1982) by Antonello Venditti, Babbo Rock ("Daddy Rock", 1982) by the Skiantos, L'Italiano ("The Italian", 1983) by Toto Cutugno, Caro Presidente ("Dear President", 1984) by Daniele Shook, Pertini Dance (1984) by the S.C.O.R.T.A., Pertini Is A Genius, Mirinzini Is Not Famous (2007) by the Ex-Otago.^[15][16]

Electoral history

Election	House	Constituency	Party		Votes	Result
1946	Constituent Assembly	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSIUP	27,870	Y Elected
1953	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	22,802	Y Elected
1958	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	19,966	Y Elected
1963	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	22,579	Y Elected
1968	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	24,235	Y Elected
1972	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	53,657	Y Elected
1976	Chamber of Deputies	Genoa–Imperia–La Spezia–Savona		PSI	35,506	Y Elected

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandro Pertini.

• A biography of Pertini from the Associazione Nazionale Sandro Pertini
• Fondazione Sandro Pertini

Party political offices
Preceded by Pietro Nenni	Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party 1945	Succeeded by Ivan Matteo Lombardo
Political offices
Preceded by Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci	President of the Chamber of Deputies 1968–1976	Succeeded by Pietro Ingrao
Preceded by Giovanni Leone	President of Italy 1978–1985	Succeeded by Francesco Cossiga