Count Nicolò Carandini (6 December 1896 – 18 March 1972) was a leader of

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 ...

post−

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

and a champion of

European Federalism The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Americ ...

. He was the first Italian ambassador to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

after

, and the first president of

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana Società per azioni, S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of ...

from its foundation in 1948 until his retirement in 1968.

Biography

Carandini was born in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

. His political career started in the 1920s when he got involved in the Italian democratic veterans movement, but he retired from political life after the rise of the fascist regime. In 1926 he married Elena Albertini, daughter of

Luigi Albertini Luigi Albertini (19 October 1871–29 December 1941) was an influential Italian newspaper editor, member of the Parliament, and historian of the First World War. As editor of one of Italy's best-known newspapers, ''Corriere della Sera'' of Mila ...

, who in 1925 had been removed by the fascists from his position as Director of the newspaper ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

''. Carandini then became chief administrator of the Torre in Pietra estate near Rome, transforming it into a modern agricultural enterprise. During the years of fascism he came into closer contact with democratic opposition groups around liberal philosopher

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...

and developed ideas of a modern reformatory liberalism, based on the principle of social justice. In May 1943, two months before the overthrow of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, he wrote liberal pamphlets and organized their distribution in the Roman underground. In August, he joined other liberals such as

Leone Cattani Leone Cattani (5 January 1906 – 29 October 1980) was an Italian lawyer, politician and Anti-fascism, anti-Fascist activist. Between December 1944 and December 1945 he served as secretary general of the Italian Liberal Party. Later, in 1955, h ...

Alessandro Casati Alessandro Casati (5 March 1881 – 4 June 1955) was an Italian academic, commentator and politician. He served as a senator between 1923 and 1924 and again between 1948 and 1953. He also held ministerial office, most recently as Minister ...

and

Mario Pannunzio Mario Pannunzio (5 March 1910 – 10 February 1968) was an Italian journalist and politician. As a journalist he was the director in charge of the daily newspaper Risorgimento Liberale (''Liberal reawakening'') in the 1940s and of the weekly p ...

to refound the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor party ...

(PLI). After the armistice of September 1943 and the ensuing German occupation of Rome he joined the underground

Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale The National Liberation Committee ( it, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, CLN) was a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against Nazi Germany’s forces during the German occup ...

(the political organization of the

Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

). After the

liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

in June 1944, he became Minister in the antifascist Bonomi government. In November 1944 he became Italy's first Ambassador in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

after the end of the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

regime (which still existed as a German satellite state in Northern Italy until April 1945). He proved to be an efficient diplomat in his efforts to regain British confidence in the new Italian democratic government, but wasn't able to avoid his country being treated as a loser of World War II by the British and their

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in the upcoming

Peace Treaties A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surre ...

. In 1946 at the Paris Conference he brokered the Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement that settled the dispute on

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He returned from Great Britain in autumn 1947. The 1947 Congress of the

(PLI) signed a complete split between the Carandini-led left and the majoritarian right of the PLI. Not being able to gain the support of the party-centre, in early 1948 Carandini and other left-wing liberals left the PLI, aiming to assemble a Third Force alliance of all centre-left democratic parties as a counterpart to the dominating

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

and to the rising

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

. By 1951 those plans had failed, but Carandini had contributed in a change of the PLI-leadership (

Bruno Villabruna Bruno Villabruna (12 August 1884 – 16 October 1971) was an Italian lawyer and liberal politician. Born in Santa Giustina, near Belluno in the Veneto, he was first elected to parliament in 1921. After the rise to power of the fascists, he joined ...

) and a more progressive orientation of the party, which he and his movement re-joined in the end of that year. But in 1954 the liberals once again changed leadership (

Giovanni Malagodi Giovanni Francesco Malagodi (12 October 1904 – 17 April 1991) was an Italian liberal politician, secretary of the Italian Liberal Party (''Partito Liberale Italiano''; PLI), and president of the Italian Senate. He was the third and sixth Pre ...

) and the following year Carandini and other left-wing liberals left the party for the second time to found the Partito Radicale that existed as a small party until 1962. After that date he retired from political life. Carandini was a leading member of the Movimento Federalista Europeo, founded in 1943 on the basis of the 1942

Ventotene Manifesto The Ventotene Manifesto ( it, Manifesto di Ventotene), officially entitled ''For a Free and United Europe. A Draft Manifesto'' (''Per un'Europa libera e unita. Progetto d'un manifesto''), is a political statement written by Altiero Spinelli while ...

Altiero Spinelli Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, he spe ...

and

Ernesto Rossi Ernesto Rossi may refer to: * Ernesto Rossi (actor) (1827–1896), Italian actor * Ernesto Rossi (politician) (1897–1967), Italian politician and anti-fascist activist * Ernesto Rossi (gangster) (1903–1931), Italian-American gangster {{hndis, ...

. In a controversial 1948 speech he argued that Britain's ties to Commonwealth and USA should not impede other European countries from forming the nucleus of a future United States of Europe. From 1948 to 1968 he served as president of the airline

. Carandini was

second cousin once removed Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

actor

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

(who claimed it is he who suggested him to start an acting career). One of his sons is

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Andrea Carandini Andrea Carandini (born November 3, 1937) is an Italian professor of archaeology specialising in ancient Rome. Among his many excavations is the villa of Settefinestre. Biography The son of Italian diplomat Count Nicolò Carandini (1896–1972 ...

. One of his grandsons is neuroscientist

Matteo Carandini Matteo Carandini (born 1967) is a neuroscientist who studies the visual system. He is currently a professor at University College London, where he co-directs thCortical Processing Laboratorywith Kenneth D Harris. He studies the visual cortex at ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carandini, Nicolo 1896 births 1972 deaths People from Como Nicolo Italian Liberal Party politicians Radical Party (Italy) politicians Government ministers of Italy Members of the National Council (Italy) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Politicians of Lombardy Ambassadors of Italy to the United Kingdom Italian resistance movement members