The ''fatti di Rovereta'' (the Rovereta affair) was a
constitutional crisis
In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this ...
in
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
in 1957 in which the
Grand and General Council
The Grand and General Council ( it, Consiglio Grande e Generale) is the parliament of San Marino. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term.
History
From the fifth century San Marino was ruled by an assembly composed by all t ...
was deliberately rendered
inquorate to prevent the scheduled election of
Captains-Regent
The Captains Regent (Italian: ''Capitani reggenti'') are the two heads of state of the Republic of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council, the country's legislative body. Normally the Regents are chosen ...
. A
provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...
was established in the village of
Rovereta, in opposition to the outgoing Captains-Regent whose term had expired.
Background
Following the end of the
fascist government and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the
1945 general elections produced a
Communist-
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
coalition government, making it the only communist republic west of the
Iron Curtain.
Both the middle and working class supported the socialists and communists out of fear that San Marino would return to being ruled by an oligarchy of local patrician families. However, due to it being majority communist, America boycotted the economy of San Marino and did not give it funds from the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
for reconstruction. The American government also put pressure on the Italian government to not respect any agreements made with the country. This made San Marino extremely poor but it still continued to vote communist.
The government brought several welcomed reforms and only nationalized three drugstores.
In the
1955 general elections, the ruling coalition won 35 of the 60 seats in the Grand and General Council. Five moderate Socialist members of the council wanted to break the alliance with the Communists who were close to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and did not condemn Soviet actions during the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
. They left in April 1957 to form a new party, the
Sammarinese Independent Democratic Socialist Party
The Sammarinese Independent Democratic Socialist Party ( it, Partito Socialista Democratico Indipendente Sammarinese, PSDIS) was a social-democratic political party in San Marino. Its Italian counterpart was the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.
...
(PSDIS). This left a perfect 30–30 split in the council that paralyzed the government. Given the deadlock, the
Captains-Regent
The Captains Regent (Italian: ''Capitani reggenti'') are the two heads of state of the Republic of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council, the country's legislative body. Normally the Regents are chosen ...
avoided convening the council until the mandatory 19 September regency election to choose their replacements.
Crisis
A day before the election, one Communist councillor became an independent and joined the opposition, giving them the majority.
However it was the practice of the Socialist and Communist parties to enforce
party discipline
Party discipline is a system of political norms, rules and subsequent respective consequences for deviance that are designed to ensure the relative cohesion of members of the respective party group. In political parties specifically (often refe ...
by making their councillors sign
letters of resignation after each election, with the date left blank. The party chiefs submitted to the regency all 35 letters, including the six who left their parties, with the date of 19 September. With the majority of seats vacant in the council, there was no
quorum, so the regency dissolved the council until new general elections could be held on 3 November which the communist was likely to win.
But because the council did not elect a new regency, the status of the sitting regency would be uncertain once their terms expired on 1 October, causing a
constitutional crisis
In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this ...
. The regency ordered the
Gendarmerie to seal off the
Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico (''town hall'') is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 to serve as the seat of the Republic of Siena's government, which consisted of the Podestà and Council of Nine, the elected officia ...
, preventing any councillors from entering. The opposition was in an uproar as the six defectors claimed their resignations were invalid and what transpired was a
coup. Federico Bigi, leader of the Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party, led his men into a church and declared the communist government illegal, forming an executive consul. The communists claimed they would arrest the ex-consul members and so they went underground.
On 28 September, the Italian carabinieri and soldiers set up roadblocks on highways leading into San Marino and refused passage to anyone besides journalists and foreign tourists. This was to insure that communists from
Romagna and the
Marches could not join the militia. According to Vice, The Italian government didn't wish to get involved in what it saw as an American fixation but was pressured to do so in order to not upset its allies.
However others sources say the opposition government was recognized immediately by Italy.
Eventually, no one was allowed in or out including food shipments and medicines.
On the night of 30 September, near midnight, the opposition council and a few supporters occupied an abandoned factory in the town of
Rovereta,
Serravalle on the Italian border. At the stroke of midnight when the regency should have expired, the councillors declared the
provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...
of San Marino.
It was immediately recognized by France, the United States, and Italy (or one day later according to Vice).
Soon after, both the communist and provisional governments began to organize militias as the police force declared neutrality.
Italy also sent in a force of 150
carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
to support the provisional government.
Initially the communists only had 150 men armed with German machine guns left over from WWII to 1891 muskets. The provisional government had a smaller 100-man force but was armed with more modern weapons.
The communists sent a letter to the United Nations asking for them to send a peacekeeping force but they were denied.
By 2 October, both forces had grown by about 100 men and a communist militant shot at an anti-communist militant but missed. No other shots were fired as neither side wanted to shed blood.
Resolution
Italy recognized the provisional government and Italian
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
protected the three sides of the factory that sat in their territory. The regency organized a militia of supporters and weapons flowed in from Italy to both sides. On 11 October, the regency caved in and recognized the provisional government, ending the crisis. The new government elected a new regency. One of its acts was to provide for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
. General elections were held in
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
, confirming the victory of the PSDIS-
Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
coalition.
References
Bibliography
*Maria Antonietta Bonelli a cura di Valentina Rossi, ''1957 Rovereta'', Minerva Edizioni in collaborazione con la Fondazione San Marino,
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, 2011,
*Claudio Visani, ''Gli intrighi di una Repubblica. San Marino e Romagna, 80 anni di storia raccontati dai protagonisti.'' Prefazione di
Sergio Zavoli
Campania (2013–2018)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Ravenna, Italy
, death_date =
, death_place = Rome, Italy
, nationality = Italian
, profession = Politician, journalist
, party = DS (2004–2007) ...
.
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Pendragon Edizioni, 2012
External links
1957: The Rovereta AffairFootage about Fatti di RoveretaLIFE Magazine Nov. 4, 1957
{{Authority control
History of San Marino
1957 in San Marino
1957 in politics
Constitutional crises
Conflicts in 1957