Attilio Ruffini (31 December 1924 – 23 June 2011) was an Italian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Biography

Born in Mantua in December 1924, Attilio Ruffini completed his first studies in his hometown. After completing the first part of his schooling, he moved to

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

where, having won a scholarship, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (then run by Father

Agostino Gemelli Agostino Gemelli (18 January 1878 – 15 July 1959) was an Italian Franciscan friar, physician and psychologist, who was also the founder and first Rector of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) of M ...

), where he achieved in the years following the

Second World War 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the degree. Ruffini actively participated in the Resistance, cooperating with the partisans of the Catholic Brigades of the Green Flames and being part of the

National Liberation Committee 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 ...

(C.L.N.). In the autumn of 1944, he was captured by a group of the Mantuan Black Brigades and led to the Barracks of the Black Brigades of Cerese, where he was subjected to the first interrogations regarding the anti-fascist activity of the Mantuan Catholics and, in particular, of the Catholic university students. Transferred to the Mandatory Prison in Mantua, in Via Poma, he was then taken over by the S.S. Germans who transferred it to the Forte San Leonardo in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. On 13 December 1944 he was subjected to the last interrogation, conducted personally by the commander of the S.S. Germans in Italy, General

Karl Wolff Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supre ...

. On 19 December of the same year he was taken to

, to the General Command of the S.S. and there he was finally freed. Subsequently, until the Liberation, it was part of the partisan Brigade "Ivanoe Bonomi" who liberated and presided over the city of Mantua until the arrival of the allied troops. He began the forensic activity in Mantua at the office of the lawyer Ennio Avanzini, already a member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected ...

and 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 ...

. In the meantime he became provincial secretary of the

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

until in 1955 he moved to

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

, where from 1946 his uncle Cardinal

Ernesto Ruffini Ernesto Ruffini (19 January 1888 – 11 June 1967) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Palermo from 1945 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. Biography Ruffini w ...

exercised his pastoral activity. In Palermo he married Zina Maria La Loggia, daughter of Giuseppe La Loggia, then President of the

Sicilian Regional Assembly The Sicilian Regional Assembly is the legislative body of Sicily. While it has a long history as an autonomous entity, the modern Region of Sicily was established by Royal Decree on 15 May 1946, before the Italian Republic. The Regional Assembly ...

. He continued to practice the profession of lawyer until 1963, the year in which, having been elected to the Chamber of Deputies, he renounced all professional duties. He was member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1963 to 1987, in the IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX legislature. In 1972 he served Andreotti II Government, as Undersecretary of State, first for Public Education and then for Treasury, office confirmed also in the Rumor IV government. In 1976 he was appointed Minister of Transport in the Andreotti III Government and the following year he took on the interim position as Minister of Merchant Navy. In 1977 he was appointed Minister of Defense, a position that also held in later governments Andreotti IV and V. The IV Andreotti government was the first government to obtain external support from the PCI: on 16 March 1978 the President of the D.C. Aldo Moro was kidnapped and his escort was murdered in Via Fani, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. At that time, Ruffini as Minister of Defence took part in the C.I.S. (Inter-ministerial Security Committee). Chaired by the then Prime Minister

Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti ( , ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992) and leader of the Christian Democracy ...

, it was composed of the heads of various Dicasteries, among which was the Dicastery chaired by Ruffini. From the moment of the

Moro kidnapping The kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro ( it, Rapimento di Aldo Moro), also referred to in Italy as Moro Case ( it, Caso Moro), was a seminal event in Italian political history. On the morning of 16 March 1978, the day on which the new cabine ...

, the Committee met weekly for the duration of the fifty-five days of the kidnapping. On 10 August 1978, together with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior Rognoni, he signed the decree appointing General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa to head the coordination of activities against terrorism and organized crime. Massimo Ciancimino, in the book dedicated to his father

Vito Ciancimino Vito Alfio Ciancimino (; 2 April 1924 – 19 November 2002) was an Italian politician close to the Mafia leadership who became known for enriching himself and his associates by corruptly granting planning permission. An abrasive personality, h ...

, accused Ruffini of having been in contact with mafia circles. The same book presented a letter from Vito Ciancimino to Ruffini in reference to an interview published on ''

L'Ora ''L'Ora'' (English: ''The Hour'') was a Sicilian daily newspaper published in Palermo. The paper was founded in 1900 and stopped being published in 1992. In the 1950s-1980s the paper was known for its investigative reporting about the Sicilian Maf ...

'' on 13 January 1980, in which Ruffini rejected the accusations of mafia connivance. Massimo Ciancimino was arrested on charges of aggravated slander against former police chief Gianni De Gennaro for the statements made by Ciancimino himself on the relationship between the mafia and politics. In the Cossiga I government, in 1980, Ruffini was first confirmed Minister of Defence and subsequently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs until April 1980. During that same period, he held the office of current President of the Council of the European Community. He did not run again for the 1987 general election, dedicating himself again to his professional activity until 1994. Attilio Ruffini died in Rome on 23 June 2011.

References

External links

Attilio Ruffini
at Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Attilio Ruffini
at

Radio Radicale Radio Radicale is the official radio station of the Italian Radical Party. Founded in 1976 as part of the ''Radio libere'' ("Free Radio”) movement, it has no commercial advertisements and is partly funded by the party, with support from the It ...

* 1924 births 2011 deaths Politicians from Mantua Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians 20th-century Italian politicians Foreign ministers of Italy Italian Ministers of Defence Transport ministers of Italy {{Italy-politician-stub