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: ...

Edgardo Pietro Andrea Sogno Rata del Vallino di Ponzone ( Camandona, 29 December 1915 –

Turin Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, 5 August 2000) was an Italian diplomat, partisan and

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was born in an aristocratic family from

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Under Fascism

Sogno was born in

. He joined the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

at 18 and became sublieutenant in the "Nizza Cavalleria" regiment. After graduating in law, in 1938 he volunteered to fight in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

on the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

side with Italian troops sent by Benito Mussolini. In 1940 he entered the Italian

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

. During this time he also started frequenting some

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

circles, which included Benedetto Croce and Giaime Pintor. In 1942 he was called back into military service and deployed in

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

. A year later he was arrested on charges of high treason for having publicly hoped for the victory of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. A

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

, he was then close to the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

(PLI), and after the armistice of Cassibile became representative of the PLI at the

National Liberation Committee The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...

, the umbrella organization of the Italian resistance movement. He established the liberal-leaning partisan group ''"''Organizzazione Franchi" and was awarded the

Gold Medal of Military Valor The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The fac ...

for his wartime acts. During the war he also helped hundreds of Italian Jews and others seek safe haven in Switzerland.

After the war

After the Liberation, he founded the ''Corriere Lombardo'' newspaper as well as ''Costume''. In September 1945 he was named by the PLI as one of the deputies to the National Council, a provisional legislative body. He contested the June 2, 1946 referendum creating the Republic of Italy, submitting without success numerous appeals before the ''

Corte di Cassazione The Supreme Court of Cassation ( it, Corte Suprema di Cassazione) is the highest court of appeal or court of last resort in Italy. It has its seat in the Palace of Justice, Rome. The Court of Cassation also ensures the correct application of ...

'' in the aim of reversing the results of the vote and restoring the monarchy. He joined the diplomatic service, serving in Buenos Aires, where Juan Peron was head of state, then in Paris, London, Washington DC and, last, as ambassador in Rangoon. Stefano Baldi (27 March 2009)
Scheda biografica Edgardo Sogno
. Retrieved 9 December 2021. While posted to Budapest, Hungary, in 1956, he helped people flee the country after the Soviet Union invaded Hungary and crushed the Hungarian Revolution. He returned to Italy in 1971, where he founded the ''Comitati di Resistenza Democratica'' (Committee of Democratic Resistance), an anti-communist organization of the political center. Three years later, he was accused by the communist magistrate

Luciano Violante Luciano Violante (born 25 September 1941) is an Italian judge and politician, Member of Parliament from 1979 to 2008. He is particularly interested in questions of justice, the struggle against the Mafia and institutional reform. Biography Viola ...

of having planned, along with

Luigi Cavallo is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

and

Randolfo Pacciardi Randolfo Pacciardi (1 January 1899 – 14 April 1991) was an Italian politician. He was a long-time member of the secular, centre-left Italian Republican Party. An ardent anti-fascist, he lived in exile for many years and was an officer of the ...

, the '' Golpe bianco'' ("white coup d'etat"), a supposed coup. Following a year and a half of prison, he was freed in 1978, the

investigative magistrate In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases m ...

declaring that he was unable to proceed in the trial. He was later completely exonerated for attempting to plot a coup. Liberal, monarchist, then admirer of Charles de Gaulle, Edgardo Sogno returned to politics only in 1996, as a candidate to the Italian Senate, in

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

, for the National Alliance (''Alleanza Nazionale'') party founded by Gianfranco Fini. Failing to be elected, he retired to private life. In his 1998 memoirs, Sogno revealed how he had visited the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

station chief in Rome in July 1974 to inform him of his plans for an anti-communist coup. He wrote: "I told him that I was informing him as an ally in the struggle for the freedom of the west and asked him what the attitude of the American government would be," and then: "He answered what I already knew: the United States would have supported any initiative tending to keep the communists out of government."Philip Willan, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', March 26, 200
Terrorists 'helped by CIA' to stop rise of left in Italy

Honors

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Grand Officer – June 2, 1974

Publications

* * *''

De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

: La spada appesa al filo'' Bietti (1997) *''Due fronti'' (1998), memoirs ("Two Fronts", two accounts of the Spanish Civil War, one from the Francist side and Sogno, the other from Nino Isaia who took part to the International Brigades) *''La grande utopia: I confini delleconomia, della natura, della morale'' Sugarco (1982) ASIN: B0000ECLR6 * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sogno, Edgardo 1915 births 2000 deaths Counts of Italy Politicians from Turin Italian monarchists Nobility from Turin Italian military personnel of World War II Italian anti-communists Italian resistance movement members Italian Liberal Party politicians National Alliance (Italy) politicians 20th-century Italian politicians Italian people of the Spanish Civil War Diplomats from Turin Italian diplomats 20th-century diplomats

Under Fascism

After the war

Honors

Publications

See also

References