Giustino Fortunato (4 September 1848 – 23 July 1932) was an Italian historian and politician.
Biography
He was born in
Rionero in Vulture (
Basilicata), from a bourgeois family. His great-uncle
Giustino Fortunato (1777-1862) was the prime minister of the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1849 to 1852. Fortunato studied at the Jesuit College and then studied law at the university in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. After the degree, he founded the journals ''Unità Nazionale'' and ''Patria''. In May 1880, 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 ...
.
Fortunato, along with other politician like
Pasquale Villari
Pasquale Villari (3 October 1827 – 11 December 1917) was an Italian historian and politician.
Early life and publications
Villari was born in Naples and took part in the risings of 1848 there against the Bourbons and subsequently fled to Flore ...
,
Francesco Saverio Nitti
Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paolo Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920.
According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' ("T ...
,
Gaetano Salvemini
Gaetano Salvemini (; 8 September 1873 – 6 September 1957) was an Italian Socialist and antifascist politician, historian and writer. Born in a family of modest means, he became an acclaimed historian both in Italy and abroad, particularly in ...
formed a group of socio-political thinker called “meridionalisti” (“southernists”), in order to solve the economic problems of southern Italy after the
Italian unification. Fortunato and others made the strong claim that the economic policies of the central government of the new state discriminated against the interests of the south while favoring those of north.
In his last years he moved away from his native country because of misunderstanding of his fellow citizens and two incidents that showed the ingratitude of the people, such as in 1917, when he was stabbed by a farmer in Rionero, which accused him of having supported the
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. Fortunato died in Naples at the age of 83.
Works
*''Ricordi di Napoli'', Milano, Treves, (1874).
*''I Napoletani del 1799'', Firenze, G. Barbèra, (1884).
*''Santa Maria di Vitalba'', Trani, V. Vecchi, (1898).
*''Rionero medievale'', Trani, V. Vecchi, (1899).
*''Notizie storiche della Valle di Vitalba'', 6 voll., Trani, V. Vecchi, (1898–1904).
*''Il Mezzogiorno e lo Stato italiano. Discorsi politici, 1880-1910'', 2 voll., Bari, Laterza, (1911).
*''Pagine e ricordi parlamentari'', I, Bari, Laterza, 1920; II, Firenze, A. Vallecchi, (1927).
*''Riccardo da Venosa e il suo tempo'', Trani, Vecchi e C., (1918).
*''Rileggendo Orazio'', in "Nuova Antologia", (1924).
*''Le strade ferrate dell'Ofanto, 1880-97'', Firenze, Vallecchi, (1927).
*''Carteggio tra Giustino Fortunato e Umberto Zanotti-Bianco'', Roma, Collezione meridionale editrice, (1972).
*''Carteggio'', Roma-Bari, Laterza, (1978–1981).
*''Giustino Fortunato e il Senato. Carteggio, 1909-1930'', Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, (2003).
Honors
*
Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Commander, 1891
Senato della Repubblica: Giustino Fortunato
/ref>
References
External links
People from Rionero in Vulture
1932 deaths
1848 births
{{Italy-politician-stub