Mario Lago (1878, in
Savona
Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chie ...
– 1950, in
Capri
Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...
) was an
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 ...
statesman and diplomat.
Biography
Originally from the town of
Peveragno
Peveragno (''Poranh'' in Occitan, ''Povragn'' in Piedmontese) is an Italian town of 5,584 inhabitants (1-1-2017) in the province of Cuneo, in Piedmont.
It belongs to the Union of Communes of the Maritime Alps and to the Occitan language area.Gian ...
, Lago was Governor of the
Italian Aegean Islands
The Italian Islands of the Aegean ( it, Isole italiane dell'Egeo; el, Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (the Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, ...
from 1922 to 1936. His term of office is characterized by a far-sighted policy and respect for ethnic and cultural identity of the inhabitants of the colony. He was able to integrate the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
and
Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
communities of the island of
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
with the
Italian colonists. He also encouraged intermarriage with local Greeks.
This period constituted what might in retrospective be called the "Golden Age" of the Italian Dodecanese, with the economy booming and a relatively harmonious society.
Lago also developed a large plan of public works in Rhodes and other islands. As part of these plans, the new city of
Portolago (present-day Lakki) was built as the base of the
Italian Royal Navy
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("M ...
on the island of
Leros
Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight fr ...
,
as well as the agricultural village of
Peveragno Rodio, a center of settlement of Italian colonists.
See also
*
Italian Aegean Islands
The Italian Islands of the Aegean ( it, Isole italiane dell'Egeo; el, Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (the Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, ...
References
External links
dodecaneso.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lago, Mario
1878 births
1950 deaths
People from Cuneo
Italian diplomats
People of former Italian colonies
Grand Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Dodecanese under Italian rule