Michele Coppino (1 April 1822 – 25 April 1901) was an Italian professor and politician.

Biography

Coppino was born to a poor family in

Alba, Piedmont Alba ( pms, label=Piedmontese, Arba; la, Alba Pompeia) is a town and ''comune'' of Piedmont, Italy, in the Province of Cuneo. It is one of the main cities in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and M ...

, where he later died. He was professor of Italian literature at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...

and rector of the same from 1868 to 1870, when he moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(which had been declared capital of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

) to follow his political roles. Coppino participated to the elections for the Chamber of Deputies of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

for the first time in 1857, but was defeated at the ballot. He was elected in 1860 and re-elected to the first legislature of 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 ...

one year later. He was subsequently a member of the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

for some 40 years, interrupted, and twice President of the Chamber (both times succeeding

Domenico Farini Domenico Farini (2 July 1834 – 18 January 1900) was an Italian soldier and statesman, who was President of the Italian Senate from 1887 to 1898. He was the son of politician Luigi Carlo Farini. Biography Farini was born at Montescudolo, in the ...

). Coppino was Minister of Education in the two first Depretis cabinets (1876-1878). He introduced the so-called ''Legge Coppino'' ("Coppino Law"), which made elementary schools mandatory and free of charge, with, in particular, no religious teaching. He was again Minister of Education under Depretis and Crispi between 1884 and 1888. Laws issued during his tenure include one for economical support for teachers, reorganization of kindergartens and of classic instructions.

Sources

Page at ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''
by

Enciclopedia Italiana The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...