Ernesto Nathan (5 October 1848 – 9 April 1921) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

politician, and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

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Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

from November 1907 to December 1913.

Biography

Nathan was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1848 to Sara Levi, an Italian from

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, and Mayer Moses Nathan, a naturalised Briton of German origin, both of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

heritage. His father died when Ernesto was 14. He spent his youth 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 ...

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, where he was called to administer a

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

mill. In these years he was attracted by the revolutionary ideas of

Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...

, and in 1870, at 25, he moved to

as administrator of ''La Roma del Popolo''. His house in Rome became a center of literarian and political debate, with figures like

Giosuè Carducci Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (; 27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, h ...

and Francesco Crispi Nine years later he was member

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for Crispi's left-wing party. In 1888 he obtained Italian citizenship. In 1887 he became a member of the

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

Grande Oriente d'Italia The Grand Orient of Italy (GOI) ( it, Grande Oriente d'Italia) is an Italian masonic grand lodge founded in 1805; the viceroy Eugene of Beauharnais was instrumental in its establishment. It was based at the Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, Italy fro ...

, of which he was named Grand Master in 1899 and later in 1917. In April 1889, Nathan was elected in the Town Council of Rome, and was elected mayor of the city in November 1907.Jew To Be Mayor of Rome; Outcome of Anti-Clerical Victory In Recent Election
The New York Times, November 22, 1907 He retained the charge until 1913, and was elected for a second time in November 1911. The first mayor of Rome who did not belong to the land-owning elite which had controlled politics in the city until then, and motivated by a deep belief in the importance of a secular, ethical politics, Nathan tried to regulate as much as possible the intense building programs that had erupted all around the city after it became the capital of Italy in 1871. He also strove to promote a secular education system, at a time when education in Rome was still dominated by Catholic institutions. He opened more than 150 kindergartens. The 40th anniversary commemoration of the

Capture of Porta Pia The Capture of Rome ( it, Presa di Roma) on 20 September 1870 was the final event of the unification of Italy (''Risorgimento''), marking both the final defeat of the Papal States under Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian Peninsula ...

in 1910 heightened tension between Nathan's anticlerical administration and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. With respect to public works, Nathan inaugurated the

Vittoriano The Victor Emmanuel II National Monument ( it, Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II), also known as Vittoriano or Altare della Patria ("Altar of the Fatherland"), is a large national monument built between 1885 and 1935 to honour Victor Em ...

, the Palace of Justice (Palazzo di Giustizia), the Archaeological Walk on the Aventine and

Caelian The Caelian Hill (; la, Collis Caelius; it, Celio ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill over ...

Hills, and the National Stadium, the current Stadio Flaminio, Rome's first modern building for sport events. A public transport network (

ATAC ATAC, or Atac, may refer to: * Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, a U.S. government contractor which operates foreign military aircraft for training purposes * Anti-Terrorist Action Command, a fictional police organization in the 1981 movie ''N ...

) was created in 1911, as well as a city energy company (ACEA), in 1912. He died on 9 April 1921.

References

*Claudio Rendina, ''Enciclopedia di Roma'', Newton Compton, Rome, 2000.

External links

David B. Green, "This Day in Jewish History 1907: A Jew Who Would Irk the Vatican Becomes Mayor of Rome"

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

, Nov 25, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Ernesto 1848 births 1921 deaths Politicians from London Mayors of Rome Jewish Italian politicians Jewish mayors British people of German-Jewish descent British people of Italian-Jewish descent British emigrants to Italy 19th-century Italian Jews Italian Freemasons Italian Radical Party politicians 20th-century Italian Jews