Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli
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Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli (28 May 1892 – 22 July 1987) was an Italian engineer and politician. From 1935 to 1939, he was member 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 ...
's Italian fascist government as
minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
of public works.


Early life and family

Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli was born in 1892 in
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
, then part of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its Territory, into a family of
national liberalism National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...
persuasion. There is a dispute about his family origins. According to Pietro Valente, Cobolli Gigli was born from Nicolò Cobol (
Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...
, 1861 – Trieste, 1931), an elementary school teacher and Italian irredentist, to which Trieste has dedicated a
Carso The Karst Plateau or the Karst region ( sl, Kras, it, Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills sur ...
trail (''la Napoleonica'') for his creation of municipal recreation centers during the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
times of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. The name was later changed to Cobolli during
Fascist Italy Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
. The addition of ''Gigli'' to the surname was related to the experience of irredentist fighting during
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 ...
. The unredeemed volunteer fighters in the
Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...
assumed a battle pseudonym to protect their families, and many added it, as the war was over, to their last name, as element of honour. According to Valente, the children of Cobolli Gigli were Sergio, a ' on an anti-submarine engine 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 ...
; Antongiulio, an officer on the Eastern Front, where he was wounded in combat; and Niccolò, a fighter pilot who died in the skies of
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and was decorated with the Gold Medal for Military Valour Memorial. Other sources, less detailed, reported Cobolli Gigli as being a member of a Slavic family. According to Giacomo Scotti, Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli was a minister of public works of the Fascist era and son of Nikolaus Combol, Slovenian primary school teacher, born in 1863; the last name was Italianized spontaneously in 1928, and since 1919 had given himself the pseudonym patriotic Giulio Italico. When he became a
National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...
(PNF) leader, he took a second surname, Gigli, giving itself a touch of nobility. According to Federico Vincenti, the father of Cobolli Gigli was the Slovenian Nikolaus Kobolj. According to Claudio Sommaruga, Cobolli Gigli was the son of an elementary school teacher Nicholas Cobol, from Koper ( it, Capodistria), and he first assumed the pseudonym of Giulio Italico, until Italianizing it in 1928 in the name Cobolli, and after becoming a '' gerarca'' he added a second surname, Gigli.


Political career

An engineer, after having fought as irredentist in the First World War, Cobolli Gigli began his political career in the
fascist movement 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 ...
in 1919. That same year, under the pseudonym Giulio Italico, he produced the brochure ''Trieste, la fedele di Roma'' ( en, Trieste, Faithful of Rome). He followed the ''
cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...
'' within the PNF, which he joined in January 1922. He was the federal secretary of Trieste's PNF from 1927 to 1930, and the city's vice-podestà from 1933 to 1934. As the fascist ideologue Giuseppe Cobol, he wrote in the journal '' Gerarchia''. In a September 1927 article entitled ''Il fascismo e gli allogeni'' ( en, Fascism and the Aliens), he theorized the
ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...
of Venezia Giulia, by replacing the populations with native Italian settlers from other provinces the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. In ''Trieste, la fedele di Roma'', about Pazin, he reported: "The village lies on the edge of an abyss which the muse called ''
foiba A foiba (from Italian: ; plural: foibe or foibas) — ''jama'' () in South Slavic languages scientific and colloquial vocabulary (borrowed since early research in the Western Balkan Dinaric Alpine karst) — is a type of deep natural sinkhole ...
'', a worthy place of burial for those who, in the province, threaten with bold claims the national characteristics of
Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
." In 1934, Cobolli Gigli became a member of 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 Trieste. In January 1935, he was appointed Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Public Works. Aged 43, from 5 September 1935, upon the death of
Luigi Razza Luigi Razza (1892–1935) was an Italian journalist and fascist politician who died in an aviation accident in Cairo while serving as the minister of public works. He held several significant posts during the Fascist rule in Italy. Early li ...
, to 31 October 1939, he was minister of public works in the Mussolini government, overseeing the great works carried out in the Italian colonies, a subject upon which he wrote the book ''Strade imperiale'' ( en, Imperial Roads), published in 1938. He specialized in the development of road network in Italian Ethiopia. By order of Mussolini, he went to
Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Seco ...
at the end of 1936 for six months to deal with the development of the road network in Ethiopia and personally supervise the work of the various construction sites directed by the engineer Giuseppe Pini. On 4 April 1939, at the , he illustrated during a conference "the contribution of the Ministry of Public Works to the master plan of imperial Rome". In the national territory, he was among the proponents of the regulatory plan of Catanzaro and
La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...
(the first of the city), and the first signatory of the project to complete the former Busonera Hospital in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
. In 1939, he became a national councilor of the
Chamber of Fasci and Corporations Chamber of Fasces and Corporations ( it, Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) was the lower house of the legislature of the Kingdom of Italy from 23 March 1939 to 5 August 1943, during the height of the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fa ...
. From 1939 to 1943, he was president of Agip, the Italian public oil company founded by Fascism.


Later life and death

In 1943, Cobolli Gigli joined 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 ...
and the
Republican Fascist Party The Republican Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Socia ...
. As chairman of , he collaborated with the Germans through Organization Todt in the construction of defensive structures. For this reason, at the end of the war he was tried for
wartime collaboration Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...
and sentenced in the trial of first instance to 19 years in prison; this sentence was later annulled on appeal on 9 April 1946. He died on 22 July 1987 in Malnate at the age of 95.


Honours

*
War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross (german: Kriegsverdienstkreuz) was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit ...
*
Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Austrian War 1915–1918 The Commemorative Medal for the Italo-Austrian War 1915–1918 was the Italian campaign medal for World War I. History The medal was established by Royal Decree Of Victor Emmanuel III No. 1 241 of July 29, 1920 to award soldiers of the Italian A ...
*
Commemorative Medal of the Unity of Italy The Italian Risorgimento was celebrated by a series of medals set up by the three kings who ruled during the long process of unification - the Commemorative Medal for the Campaigns of the War of Independence and the various versions of the Commemor ...
* Allied Victory Medal


Works

* * * * * * * * *


See also

*
Giovanni Cobolli Gigli Giovanni Cobolli Gigli (born 4 January 1945) is an Italian lawyer and the former chairman of Juventus Football Club. He has a business degree from Bocconi University. After starting out working in marketing for a multinational pharmaceutical compa ...
, lawyer and industrialist who is the grandson of Giuseppe and son of Antongiulio *
Minister of Public Works (Italy) The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (''Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti'' or ''MIT'') is the government ministry for transport in the Republic of Italy. It is responsible for all transport infrastructure (roads, motorways, ...
, postwar equivalent of Cobolli Gigli's ministry


References


Further reading

*


External links


Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli
at Camera.it (in Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gigli, Giuseppe Cobolli 1892 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Italian engineers Italian military personnel of World War I Mussolini Cabinet National Fascist Party politicians Politicians from Trieste