Riccardo Lombardi (16 August 1901 – 18 September 1984) was an Italian politician.

Early life

Lombardi was born in

Regalbuto Regalbuto (Latin: Ameselum; Sicilian: ''Regarbutu'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy. There is an annual cattle fair held in the month of August. History Regalbuto may be the ancient town of Amaselos, which wa ...

, in the

province of Enna Enna ( it, Provincia di Enna; Sicilian: ''Pruvincia di Enna''; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Enna'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It was created in 1927, out of parts of the Provinces of Caltanise ...

(now in the

province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

), in 1901. He studied at the Pennisi College of Acireale, and, after completing his high school studies, he attended the Polytechnic of Milan, where he obtained a degree in Industrial Engineering. He joined the Italian People's Party of

Don Luigi Sturzo Luigi Sturzo (; 26 November 1871 – 8 August 1959) was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a " clerical socialist" and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. He w ...

, thus sympathizing with the Christian Labor Party, founded in 1920 by left-wing members of the PPI, such as Guido Miglioli, to whom he was very attached. He participated in some actions of the

Arditi del Popolo The ''Arditi del Popolo'' (''The People's Daring Ones'') was an Italian militant anti-fascist group founded at the end of June 1921 to resist the rise of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and the violence of the Blackshirts (''squadris ...

, including the defense of the socialist newspaper ''Avanti!'' from the assault of the fascist squads. In 1923 he collaborated with ''Il Domani d'Italia'', a newspaper of the Catholic left. When Italian Catholicism gave up actively opposing Fascism, he approached Marxist culture, also drawing inspiration from

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...

, and, gradually, deviated from its own Catholic formation. After the suppression of political parties decreed on 5 November 1926 by the fascist regime, he continued to participate in clandestine activity with anti-fascist exponents of various tendencies, in particular with the communists whose activism he appreciated, while refusing to join the

Communist Party of Italy The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current ...

. In those years he met his partner, and then his wife, Ena Viatto (1906–1986), who fell in love with Lombardi and separated from

Girolamo Li Causi Girolamo Li Causi (1 January 1896 – 14 April 1977) was an Italian politician and a leader of the Italian Communist Party who was a prominent figure in the struggle for land reform and against Sicilian Mafia, the Mafia in Sicily. He labelled la ...

. In 1930, following a leafleting action, he was attacked by the black shirts, then arrested and tortured with batons by the police at the Fascist headquarters. The beatings injured his lung and he never fully recovered from the after-effects of the violence.

Italian resistance and political activity

A leader 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 ...

against

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 ...

during

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 ...

, he was one of the founders of the Action Party in 1942. He was member of the CLNAI from which at the Liberation he was appointed Prefect of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(from 30 April 1945 to December 1945): in this office he testified in favor of the former Fascist prefect of Milan

Piero Parini Piero Parini (13 November 1894 – 23 August 1993) was an Italian journalist, politician and soldier. He fought in World War I and the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He rose through the ranks of the Italian political establishment through his wor ...

. He participated in the first De Gasperi government (10 December 1945 – 1 July 1946) as Minister of Transport, starting the rapid reconstruction of the railway network. He represented the Action Party in the

Constituent Assembly of Italy The Italian Constituent Assembly (Italian: ''Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana'') was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It was tasked with writing a constitution for the Italian ...

from 1946 to 1948 and 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 the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

from 1948 to 1983. In 1980, he was appointed president of the Italian Socialist Party.

Forged NATO document incident

On 18 June 1970 Lombardi made claims before the Italian Chamber of Deputies, based on a document printed on

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

stationery, that the organization was planning to move troops into Italy as a result of the perceived political instability. Lombardi stated that he had received the document at the end of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on 25 May 1970. The document was later rejected as a forgery by the Italian Foreign Ministry and by NATO headquarters.

Death

Lombardi died of pulmonary fibrosis and respiratory failure at the Roman clinic Mater Dei and, by his explicit will, was cremated without religious rites.E' MORTO A ROMA RICCARDO LOMBARDI
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References