Ignazio De Genova di Pettinengo (

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

, 28 February 1813 –

Moncalieri Moncalieri (; pms, Moncalé ) is a town and ''comune'' of 56,134 inhabitants (31 January 2022) about directly south of downtown Turin (to whose Metropolitan City of Turin, Metropolitan City it belongs), in Piedmont, Italy. It is the most populo ...

, 2 November 1896) was an Italian politician and general. He was

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

during the

Third Italian War of Independence The Third Italian War of Independence ( it, Terza Guerra d'Indipendenza Italiana) was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in ...

Early life and career

Pettingo was a career soldier in the artillery. He fought in the

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

and was promoted to colonel in 1848. In 1850 he was appointed deputy commander of the Royal Military Academy of Turin. In June 1851 he was appointed general of the army and in 1858 he was appointed major general. On 7 September 1860 he reached the rank of lieutenant general. He was elected deputy to the Chamber of the Kingdom of Italy from the constituency of

Fossano Fossano ( pms, Fossan) is a town and ''comune'' of Piedmont, northern Italy. It is the fourth largest town of the Province of Cuneo, after Cuneo, Alba and Bra. It lies on the main railway line from Turin to Cuneo and to Savona, and has a branch li ...

in February 1861 and re-elected in 1865. From September 1861 he was the king's lieutenant general in the Sicilian provinces, until 5 January 1862. In 1864 he was President of the Superior Council for educational and military education institutions.

Minister of War

From 31 December 1865 to 22 August 1866 he was Minister of War of the Kingdom of Italy, in the third La Marmora and second Ricasoli governments. When he accepted the office his main priority was to reduce military spending, but within months the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

broke out, which Italy soon joined in the side of Prussia in the

. He therefore found himself rapidly reversing some of the measures he had instituted. Among the criticisms made of his tenure was that mobilisation was too slow; he reduced the rate of the fresh call-up of conscripts while authorising release for those already conscripted. Nevertheless he did ensure that 565,000 men were called up for the war effort. He was appointed senator of the Kingdom in 1868. He held the position of General Commander of the Carabinieri from 18 May to 3 November 1877.

Honours

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Genova, Ignazio 1813 births 1896 deaths People from Biella Italian Ministers of Defence Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy) Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy