Cesare Maria De Vecchi, 1st
Conte
Conte may refer to:
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* Conte (surname)
* Conté, a drawing medium
* Conte, Jura, town in France
* Conté royal family, a fictional family in Tamora Pierce's Tortallan world
* Conte, the title of Count in Italy ...
di
Val Cismon (14 November 1884 – 23 June 1959) was an Italian soldier, colonial administrator and Fascist politician.
Biography
De Vecchi was born in
Casale Monferrato
Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...
on 14 November 1884. After graduating in
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
he became a successful lawyer in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
. His stance on the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
was interventionist, and he himself took part in the final events of the conflict, finishing the war with the rank of captain and various decorations for valor.
On his return to Italy he gave his support to the
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...
, in which he would consistently represent the monarchical and 'moderate' wing. He became president of the Turin war veterans and head of the local Fascist ''
squadre''. In 1921, he was elected to the
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...
.
De Vecchi became Commander General of the ''Milizia'' (see
Blackshirts
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Natio ...
), was one of the
quadrumvirs Quadrumvirs ( it, quadrumviri) may refer to:
In ancient Rome, ''quadrumvir'' was an elective post assigned to four citizens having police and jurisdiction power, elected by the Senate. The term is cognate with ''triumvir'' and '' duumvir'', respec ...
who organised the
March on Rome
The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fa ...
, and sought to persuade
Antonio Salandra
Antonio Salandra (13 August 1853 – 9 December 1931) was a conservative Italian politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Italy between 1914 and 1916. He ensured the entry of Italy in World War I on the side of the Triple Entente (the ...
to enter into
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's government. He himself became Undersecretary at the Treasury and then at the Finance Ministry. In December 1922 he inspired the ''squadre'' of Brandimarte to the
1922 Turin massacre
The 1922 Turin massacre refers to the attack by Italian Fascists against members of a local labour movement in Turin in Italy. Over three days starting on 18 December and ending on 20 December 1922, at least 11 workers (and perhaps as many as ...
(''Strage di Torino'') and he became known as the most important of the
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
ese ''
squadristi
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
''.
From 1923 to 1928, De Vecchi was governor of
Italian Somaliland
Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centur ...
, a role which took him away from the centre of the Italian political scene. He was made
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
of
Val Cismon (in memory of the battles fought by his
arditi
Arditi (from the Italian verb ''ardire'', lit. "to dare", and translates as "The Daring nes) was the name adopted by a Royal Italian Army elite special force of World War I. They and the opposing German '' Stormtroopers'' were the first modern ...
on
Monte Grappa
Monte Grappa ( vec, Mónte Grapa) (1,775 m) is a mountain of the Venetian Prealps in Veneto, Italy. It lies between the Venetian plain to the south and the central alpine areas to the North. To the west, it is parted from the Asiago upland by ...
in 1918). He was appointed a Senator by King
Victor Emmanuel III
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
. He became the first ambassador to the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
after the
Concordat
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Ed ...
of 1929.
During the 1939s he chaired the Piedmont Committee for the History of
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, organized eventi and lectured to celebrate the period.
Between 1935 and 1936 he was national Minister of Education: as such he promoted a historiography which identified the
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
as the link between
Imperial Rome
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
and the Rome of Fascism, and also worked for the centralisation of the administration of the school system.
On June 20, 1935, he got approved the De Vecchi reform, a bill of law which abolished the distinction between high schools depending from the central government and secondary schools that could be financed by local ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' and
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
. The control of the while high school education was centralized on the government who decided scholastic curriculums and applied censorship upon scholastic textbooks before and after their publication.
From 1939 to 1943 he was also president of the
Italian Numismatic Institute.
From 1936 to 1941, De Vecchi acted as governor of the
Italian Aegean Islands
The Italian Islands of the Aegean ( it, Isole italiane dell'Egeo; el, Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (the Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, ...
promoting the official use of the Italian language.
In the following year he was appointed to the
Grand Council of Fascism
The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy, that held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of the ...
and
on 25 July 1943, he voted in favour of
Dino Grandi
Dino Grandi (4 June 1895 – 21 May 1988), 1st Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament.
Early life
Born at Mordano, province of Bologna, Grandi was a gr ...
's order of the day which deposed Benito Mussolini of his role as Fascist
Duce
( , ) is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word 'leader', and a cognate of ''duke''. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as ('The Leader') of the movement since the birth of the in 1919. In 1925 ...
(leader). On 1 August 1943 the was promoted to
Generale di Divisione and given command of the newly forming
215th Coastal Division 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 an ...
. After the announcement of the
Armistice of Cassibile
The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II.
It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...
on 8 September 1943 De Vecchi authorized German forces to enter the port of Piombino and forbade any act of resistance. Nevertheless, units of the
Royal Italian Navy
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' (" ...
and
Royal Italian Army
The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...
supported by the local population prevented the Germans from landing at Piombino and killed about 100 and captured over 200 Wehrmacht soldiers. The following day De Vecchi ordered to free the Germans and return their weapons to them, after which he signed the surrender of his Division to the Germans. On 13 September De Vecchi with pass given to him by German field marshal
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 beca ...
left his positions and took refuge in Piedmont.
In early October 1943 De Vecchi went into hiding with the help of the order of the
Salesians of Don Bosco
The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in the late 19th century by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor children du ...
, who hid him from Mussolini's
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
(''Repubblica Sociale Italiana'', or RSI), which condemned De Vecchi to death
in absentia
is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent".
may also refer to:
* Award in absentia
* Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body
* Election in absen ...
in the
Verona trial in January 1944. The Salesians hid De Vecchi even after the war until 1947 when he escaped to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
on a Paraguayan passport.
After returning to Italy in 1949, De Vecchi supported the
neo-fascist
Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...
Italian Social Movement (''
Movimento Sociale Italiano
The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...
'', or MSI) together with
Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's '' Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and durin ...
. However, he refused to accept any political or institutional office within the MSI.
Cesare Maria De Vecchi died in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1959.
Notes
References
* This article originated as a translation of its counterpart in the
Italian Wikipedia
The Italian Wikipedia ( it, Wikipedia in italiano) is the Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on May 11, 2001 and first edited on June 11, 2001. As of , , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is th ...
as retrieved on 2007-03-18
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Vecchi, Cesare Maria
1884 births
1959 deaths
Counts of Italy
Italian monarchists
Italian military personnel of World War I
People from Casale Monferrato
Members of the Grand Council of Fascism
Education ministers of Italy
Mussolini Cabinet
Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy
Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy
Governors of Italian Somaliland
People of former Italian colonies
Dodecanese under Italian rule
People sentenced to death in absentia
Exiled Italian politicians