Domenico Pellegrini Giampietro (August 30, 1899, in Brienza, in Basilicata – June 18, 1970, in Montevideo) was an Italian academic, economist, lawyer, politician, and (in his final years) journalist. As a young man living in

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial '' comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Ca ...

, Pellegrini Giampietro founded a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

legion named ''Sempre pronti'' ("Always Ready"). He was a decorated

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and joined the Fascist movement in 1922, as a member of the Benito Mussolini's Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), and took part in the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

. In the period, Pellegrini Giampietro became associated with certain clubs of the

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. A major figure of

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

n-elected fascists (together with

Alfredo Rocco Alfredo Rocco (9 September 1875 – 28 August 1935) was an Italian politician and jurist. He was Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Urbino (1899–1902) and in Macerata (1902–1905), then Professor of Civil Procedure in Parma, o ...

, Bruno Spampanato, and the economist

Alberto Beneduce Alberto Beneduce (29 May 1877 – 26 April 1944) was an Italian politician, scholar and financier, who was among the founders of many significant state-run finance institutions in Italy. Early life and education Beneduce was born in Caserta ...

), he received a diploma in Law in 1926, and became a lawyer for the next eight years. He was one who took Fascism into

academia 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, ...

, lecturing on ''Comparative public law and doctrinary history of Fascism'' at

Naples University The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

. He also worked in several

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provisi ...

s. Pellegrini Giampietro was a volunteer infantry captain on Francisco Franco's side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, and was twice decorated. Upon his return, he received numerous political appointments – notably, he was a counsellor for the '' Corporazioni'' and the ''

Fasci Fascio (; plural ''fasci'') is an Italian word literally meaning "a bundle" or "a sheaf", and figuratively "league", and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different (and sometimes opposing) orientations ...

'', and deputy-secretary in the Ministry of Finance in 1943. He joined Mussolini in Northern Italy after the latter's ousting and Italy's commitment to the

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 ...

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 opposing ...

, becoming an official of the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

-controlled Italian Social Republic (the "republic of

Salò Salò (; la, Salodium) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the seat of government of the Italian Socia ...

"). As finance minister, he also set up, in 1944, its infamous '' Brigate Nera'' paramilitary force. At the end of the war Pellegrini Giampietro was arrested and charged with

collaborating Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Mos ...

with the enemy. On 28 August 1945 he was sentenced to thirty-year imprisonment for crimes against the State. He escaped from the prison and in 1949, he took refuge in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, then

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and finally

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. He kept on working as a banker, and edited the magazine ''Sintesi''. Domenico Pellegrini Giampietro wrote on the theory of Fascism: his 1941 volume ''Aspetti spirituali del fascismo'' ("Spiritual Aspects of Fascism") dealt with the more

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

qualities of the dogma, while ''L'oro di Salò'' ("The Gold of Salò") attempted to explain his actions as

planner Planner may refer to: * A personal organizer (book) for planning * Microsoft Planner * Planner programming language * Planner (PIM for Emacs) * Urban planner * Route planner * Meeting and convention planner * Japanese term for video game designer ...

for the Republic's economy (notably, in early 1945 he had printed only 10,881 million although the print of 137,840 million had been authorized), as well as launching accusations at people who would have been responsible for plundering the wealth amassed by Mussolini's government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellegrini Giampietro, Domenico 1899 births 1970 deaths People from Brienza Italian economists Italian essayists Male essayists Italian male non-fiction writers People of the Italian Social Republic Italian jurists Italian people of the Spanish Civil War Italian anti-communists 20th-century essayists 20th-century jurists Italian exiles Finance ministers of Italy