The Royal Academy of Italy ( it, Reale Accademia d'Italia, italic=no) was a short-lived Italian

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

of the Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

,See reference . but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929. It was effectively dissolved in 1943 with the

fall of Mussolini The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, also known in Italy as 25 Luglio ( it, Venticinque Luglio, ; "25 July"), came as a result of parallel plots led respectively by Count Dino Grandi and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Victor Emmanuel ...

, and was finally suppressed on 28 September 1944. All of its functions and assets, including the

Villa Farnesina The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy. Description The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. Be ...

, were passed to the

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

. Until 25 April 1945 it continued some activity in the

Villa Carlotta Villa Carlotta is a villa and botanical garden in Tremezzo on Lake Como in Northern Italy. Today the villa is a museum, whose collection includes works by sculptors such as Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and Giovanni Migliara; painters su ...

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

near

Tremezzo Tremezzo is a ''comune'' (or municipality) of some 1,300 people in the Province of Como, in the Italian region Lombardy. It is located on the western shore of Lake Como between Mezzegra to the southwest and Griante to the northeast, and about ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

. The declared purpose of the academy was "to promote and coordinate Italian intellectual activity in the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, to preserve the integrity of the national spirit, according to the genius and tradition of the race, and to encourage their diffusion

broad Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly na ...

/nowiki>".

Structure and history

The Academy was modelled upon the prestigious

French Academy French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. The Academy selected sixty Italians chosen for their scientific, literary, and artistic achievements. Those sixty members were divided into four groups of fifteen, representing the physical sciences, moral sciences (including history), arts, and letters (literature).See reference . Politically the Academy served to unify and strengthen the Fascist regime's hold on intellectual activity in Italy, as the Academy demanded that all its members swear loyalty to Fascism and Italy. The Academy was effective at drawing in the intellectual and cultural elites, and was mostly effective at rewarding real talent rather than just loyalty to the regime. It absorbed other independent institutions, notably the prestigious and venerable scientific

Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

in 1939. The members were well paid, earning 3,000 lire per month at a time when average per capita income in Italy was 3,079 per year. The members were automatically granted

first class travel First class is the most luxurious and most expensive travel class of seats and service on a train, passenger ship, airplane, bus, or other system of transport. Compared to business class and economy class, it offers the best service and most co ...

on Italy's national railways and were entitled to wear uniforms designed for the members and to be addressed as "''Your Excellency''".See reference : the exact

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 ...

phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

is "''Sua Eccellenza''". Each were allowed to compete for the four annual Mussolini prizes which were awarded to Academy members who demonstrated outstanding work in their respective fields. The Academy sponsored lectures, meetings, research, and publications. In 1934, the Academy appointed a commission to create a dictionary of the Italian language in which all Italianized foreign words were to be removed. After the collapse of the Fascist regime in 1943 and the installation of the puppet Fascist regime in the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, a new version of the Academy was briefly reopened until the remnant Fascist state was defeated in 1945.

Membership

The six presidents of the Academy were: *

Tommaso Tittoni Tommaso Tittoni (16 November 1855 – 7 February 1931) was an Italian diplomat, politician and Knight of the Annunziata. He was Italy's foreign minister from 1903 until 1909, except for a five-month period. He also was interim prime minister for ...

, politician, 1929–1930 *

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

, inventor of

radio telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for t ...

, 1930–1937 * Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet and politician, 1937–1938 *

Luigi Federzoni Luigi Federzoni (27 September 1878 – 24 January 1967) was a twentieth-century Italian nationalist and later Fascist politician. Biography Federzoni was born in Bologna. Educated at the university there, he took to journalism and literature, a ...

, politician, 1938–1943 *

Giovanni Gentile Giovanni Gentile (; 30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944) was an Italian neo-Hegelian idealist philosopher, educator, and fascist politician. The self-styled "philosopher of Fascism", he was influential in providing an intellectual foundation for I ...

, philosopher, 1943–1944 * , geologist and geographer, from 1944. There were sixty members in all. An initial list of thirty names was compiled by Tittoni and

Francesco Giunta Francesco Giunta (21 March 1887 – 8 June 1971) was an Italian Fascist politician. A leading figure in the early years of fascism, he helped to build the movement in several regions of the country and was particularly active in Trieste. Duri ...

, and was approved by the

council of ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

on 13 March 1929. They were: , ,

Filippo Bottazzi Filippo Bottazzi (23 December 1867 – 19 September 1941) was an Italian biochemist who is considered the father of Italian Biochemistry. Bottazzi conducted experiments on the physiology and biochemical aspects of blood in his early career. His po ...

Armando Brasini Armando Brasini (Rome, 21 September 1879 - Rome, 18 February 1965) was a prominent Italian architect and urban designer of the early twentieth century and exemplar of Fascist architecture. His work is notable for its eclectic and visionary style i ...

Pietro Canonica Pietro Canonica (1 March 1869 – 8 June 1959) was an Italian sculptor, painter, opera composer, professor of arts and senator for life. Biography He was born in Moncalieri, a town in the Province of Turin, northern Italy. His long and prest ...

, Francesco Coppola, Giotto Dainelli Dolfi,

Salvatore Di Giacomo Salvatore Di Giacomo (12 March 1860 – 5 April 1934) was an Italian poet, songwriter, playwright and fascist, one of the signatories to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals. Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for ...

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...

, Carlo Formichi,

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

, , Antonio Mancini,

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece ''Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ' ...

, ,

Alfredo Panzini Alfredo Panzini (31 December 1863 – 10 April 1939) was an Italian novelist and lexicographer. Born in Senigallia, Panzini was a student of Giosuè Carducci at the University of Bologna. Panzini worked as a secondary school teacher before becomi ...

, ,

Marcello Piacentini Marcello Piacentini (8 December 1881 – 19 May 1960) was an Italian urban theorist and one of the main proponents of Italian Fascist architecture. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of architect Pio Piacentini. When he was only 26, he was ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

Pietro Romualdo Pirotta Pietro Romualdo Pirotta (7 February 1853 – 3 August 1936) was an Italian professor of botany. He was made Knight of the Crown of Italy. Biography He enrolled in the faculty of medicine of the University of Pavia and then changed to the Univer ...

, ,

Romano Romanelli Romano Romanelli (14 May 1882 – 25 September 1968) was an Italian artist, writer, and naval officer. He is best known for his sculptures and his medals. Romanelli was born in Florence, the son of sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. Romano's wor ...

Giulio Aristide Sartorio ] Giulio Aristide Sartorio (11 February 1860 – 3 October 1932) was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and film director from Rome. Biography Having attended the Rome Institute of Fine Arts, Sartorio presented a Symbolist work at the ...

Francesco Severi Francesco Severi (13 April 1879 – 8 December 1961) was an Italian mathematician. He was the chair of the committee on Fields Medal on 1936, at the first delivery. Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algeb ...

Bonaldo Stringher Bonaldo Stringher (Udine, 18 December 1854 – Rome, 24 December 1930) was an Italian banker, economist and politician. Born into a modest family emigrated from Conegliano in Udine, he managed to graduate in economics from the School of Commerce ...

Alfredo Trombetti Alfredo Trombetti (16 January 1866, in Bologna – 5 July 1929, in Venice), was an Italian linguist active in the early 20th century. Career overview Trombetti was a professor at the University of Bologna. He was a member of the Italian Academy ...

, ,

Gioacchino Volpe Gioacchino Volpe (16 February 1876 – 1 October 1971) was an Italian historian and, during the years between the two world wars, a politician. Biography Born in Paganica, Volpe graduated in Letters at the University of Pisa, and in 1906 he beca ...

and

Adolfo Wildt Adolfo Wildt (March 1, 1868 – March 12, 1931) was an Italian sculptor. He is mostly known for his marble sculptures, which blend simplicity and sophistication, and paved the way for numerous modernist sculptors.http://translate.googleusercont ...

Notes

References

*. * (in

), freely available from th
Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali - Dipartimento per i Beni Archivistici e Librari - Direzione Generale per gli Archivi
(a branch of the

Italia 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 ...

n Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali). The complete inventory of the Reale Accademia d'Italia, which incorporated the

between 1939 and 1944. * This article contains material translated from its equivalent in Italian Wikipedia, accessed 5/20/2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Academy Of Italy

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 ...

Italian Fascism

1926 establishments in Italy 1943 disestablishments in Italy Organizations established in 1926 Organizations disestablished in 1943 Learned societies of Italy