Marco Minghetti (18 November 1818 – 10 December 1886) was an Italian economist and statesman.

Biography

Minghetti was born at

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, then part of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. He signed the petition to the

Papal conclave, 1846 The 1846 papal conclave was triggered after death of Pope Gregory XVI on 1 June 1846. Fifty of the 62 members of the College of Cardinals assembled in the Quirinal Palace, one of the papal palaces in Rome and the seat of two earlier 19th century ...

, urging the election of a liberal pope, and was appointed member of the state council summoned to prepare the constitution for the Papal States. With Antonio Montanan and Rodolfo Audinot he founded at Bologna a paper, ''Il Felsineo''. In the first constitutional cabinet of the Papal States, presided over by Cardinal Antonelli, Minghetti held the portfolio of public works, but after

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

publicly spoke against the Italian Risorgimento he resigned and joined the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese army as captain on the general staff. Returning to Rome in September 1848, he refused to form a cabinet after the assassination of

Pellegrino Rossi Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...

(15 November), and spent the next eight years in study and travel. Summoned to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

by Cavour in 1856 to prepare the memorandum on the Romagna provinces for the Paris congress resolving the Crimean War, he was in 1859 appointed by Cavour secretary-general of the Piedmontese Foreign Office. In the same year he was elected president of the assembly of the Romagna after the rejection of pontifical rule by those provinces, and prepared their annexation to Piedmont. Appointed Piedmontese minister of the interior, he resigned office shortly after Cavour's death, but was subsequently chosen to be minister of finance by Farini, whom he succeeded as

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in 1863. With the help of

Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta (22 January 182924 November 1914) was an Italian statesman. He is one of the longest-serving Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the history of Italy. Biography Visconti-Venosta was born at Milan, in the Kingdom of ...

he concluded (September 15, 1864) the

September Convention The September Convention was a treaty, signed on 15 September 1864, between the Kingdom of Italy and the French Empire, under which: * French Emperor Napoleon III would withdraw all French troops from Rome within two years. * King Victor Emmanuel ...

with France, whereby

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

agreed to evacuate Rome, and Italy to transfer her capital from Turin to Florence. The convention excited violent opposition at

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, in consequence of which Minghetti was obliged to resign office. He took little part in public life until 1869, when he accepted the portfolio of agriculture in the Menabrea Cabinet. Both in and out of office he exercised his influence against an Italo-French alliance and for an immediate advance upon Rome, and in 1870 was sent to London and Vienna by the

Lanza Lanza may refer to: People Surname * Adam Lanza (1992–2012), American spree killer and perpetrator of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting * Alcides Lanza (born 1929), Canadian composer * Andrew Lanza (born 1964), New York State senato ...

-Sella Cabinet to organize a league of neutral powers on the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. In 1873 he overthrew the Lanza-Sella Cabinet and regained the premiership, which, with the portfolio of finance, he held until the fall of the Right from power on 18 March 1876. During his premiership he inaugurated the ''rapprochement'' between Italy, Austria and Germany, and reformed the naval and military administration; and before his ouster he was able, as finance minister, to balance the State budget for the first time since 1860. After the advent of the Left, Minghetti remained for some years in opposition, but towards 1884 joined Depretis in creating the ''Trasformismo'' ("Transformation" movement), which united the various liberal factions in the country. He hoped to imitate the example of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

’s Liberal Party. Minghetti, however, drew from it no personal advantage, and died at Rome on 10 December 1886 without having returned to power. His writings include: ''Della economia pubblica e delle sue attinenze con la morale e col diritto'' (Bologna, 1859), and ''La Chiesa e lo Stato'' (Milan, 1878).

Writings

''I partiti politici e la ingerenza loro nella giustizia e nell' amministrazione''''Della economia pubblica: e delle sue attinenze colla morale e col. diritto''''Des rapports de l'économie publique avec la morale et le droit''''Stato e chiesa'' By Marco Minghetti''L'état et l'église ''''La convenzione di settembre: un capitolo dei miei ricordi''''Scritti vari''

References