Luigi Preti (23 October 1914 – 19 January 2009) was an Italian politician and member of the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an im ...

Biography

Preti was born in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. He graduated in law from the University Ferrara and subsequently in Literature from the University of Bologna. After completing his studies, he taught history and philosophy in some high schools, and later became a professor of Institutions of Public Law at the University of Ferrara. The didactic activity was alternated with that of journalist and author of historical and legal publications. Preti did not hide his socialist ideas and when, in 1941, he was called to arms, he was denounced to the military court for "lese majesty, defeatism and insubordination". Held in a military prison awaiting trial, he managed to escape the death sentence, thanks to the fall of the regime and the subsequent armistice. After working in Milan, Preti moved to Switzerland where, in Zurich, he came into contact with

Ignazio Silone Secondino Tranquilli (1 May 1900 – 22 August 1978), known by the pseudonym Ignazio Silone (, ), was an Italian political leader, novelist, and short-story writer, world-famous during World War II for his powerful anti-fascist novels. He was no ...

, who entrusted him with the direction of the periodical "The future of workers". Returning to Italy at the end of the conflict, in 1946 he was elected provincial secretary of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

in Ferrara, and was elected to the municipal council. In June of the same year he was elected deputy to the Constituent Assembly, collecting as many as 20.516 preference votes. On 12 January 1947 Preti joined the Italian Socialist Workers' Party (later known as the

, or PSDI), of which he was President from 1988 to 1992 and Honorary President from 1992 to 1994. He was Deputy from 1946 to 1987; he also served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, for International trade, for Budget, for Public Administration and for Transport. In 1995 Preti left the PSDI and founded (together with Enrico Ferri) the

European Liberal Social Democracy The European Liberal Social Democracy ( it, Socialdemocrazia Liberale Europea, SOLE), was a social-democratic political party in Italy. It was initially founded as an internal faction of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party on 10 December 1994 by ...

party (SOLE). Opposed to Ferri's decision to bring the SOLE into the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...

, Preti left the party to found the Movement of Social Democratic Rebirth. He died in 2009 at the age of 94.Morto Luigi Preti, storico leader del PsdiCostituente, padre della riforma tributaria
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References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preti, Luigi 1914 births 2009 deaths Politicians from Ferrara Finance ministers of Italy Government ministers of Italy Italian Socialist Party politicians Italian Democratic Socialist Party politicians 20th-century Italian lawyers Bancarella Prize winners University of Ferrara alumni University of Bologna alumni Transport ministers of Italy