Antonio Segni (2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was twice
Prime Minister of ItalyThe Prime Minister of Italy is Italy's head of government...
(1955-1957, 1959-1960), and the
President of the Italian RepublicThe President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian:
Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy.
The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in
SassariSassari is an Italian city in Sardinia . It is the second-largest in terms of number of inhabitants and one of the most...
,
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law.
Antonio Segni (2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was twice
Prime Minister of ItalyThe Prime Minister of Italy is Italy's head of government...
(1955-1957, 1959-1960), and the
President of the Italian RepublicThe President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian:
Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy.
Biography
The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in
SassariSassari is an Italian city in Sardinia . It is the second-largest in terms of number of inhabitants and one of the most...
,
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law. Segni joined the Italian People's Party – the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party – in 1919. In 1924 he was a member of the party’s national council, until all political organizations were dissolved by
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
two years later in 1926. For the next 17 years Segni taught Agrarian Law for at the Universities of
PaviaPavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 71,000...
,
PerugiaPerugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the Tiber River, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city symbol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form of plaques and statues on buildings around the city.Perugia is a notable artistic center of Italy...
, and
CagliariCagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means the castle...
; he was also rector of Sassari University.
In 1943 Segni was one of the organizers of the new Christian Democratic Party in Sardinia. He held ministerial positions in many Christian Democrat governments from 1944 onward, despite his frail physique. Time Magazine once quoted a friend: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time." In 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after World War II and then to parliament in 1948.
In Government
Segni made his reputation as Minister of Agriculture (1946-1951) under
Alcide de GasperiAlcide De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics...
. He favoured land reform legislation and ordered the expropriation of most of his own estate in Sardinia. He became known as a “white Bolshevik” for his introduction of agrarian reform.
He became Prime Minister in 1955, succeeding
Mario ScelbaMario Scelba was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from February 1954 to July 1955...
. During Segni’s government the treaties instituting the
European Economic CommunityThe European Economic Community was an international organisation that existed between 1958 and 1993 which was created to bring about economic integration between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.It was...
(EEC) were signed on 25 March 1957, and Italy joined the community.
In March 1959, he became Prime Minister again, succeeding
Amintore FanfaniAmintore Fanfani was an Italian career politician and five times Prime Minister of the Republic. He was one of the well-known Italian politicians after the Second World War, and a historical figure of the Christian Democracy...
, in whose government he had been Minister of Defense.
President
Segni was elected President of the Italian Republic on 6 May 1962 (854 to 443 votes). He suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage while working at the presidential palace on 7 August 1964. At the time he was 73 years old and the first prognosis were not positive. He only partially recovered, and he retired from office on 6 December 1964. In the interim, the President of the Senate
Cesare MerzagoraCesare Merzagora was an Italian politician from Milan. He was President of the Italian Senate from 1953 to 1967, and was also temporarily acting as President of Italy in 1964, in the period between the resignation of Antonio Segni and the election of Giuseppe Saragat...
served as acting president.
Politically, Segni was a moderate conservative opposed to "opening to the centre-left" enabling coalition governments between the
Italian Socialist PartyThe Italian Socialist Party was a democratic socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892....
(PSI) and the Christian Democrats. Segni was later accused of having tried to instigate a coup d'état (known as
Piano SoloPiano Solo was an envisaged plot for an Italian coup in 1964, planned by then director of the military police, Giovanni De Lorenzo.The coup plans were investigated in 1967, but the results of that investigation remained classified until the early 1990s. It was released by premier Giulio Andreotti...
) along with General Giovanni De Lorenzo during his presidency to frustrate the opening to the left.
Segni was also a professor of law at University of Sassari. Straightforward, witty and courteous, Segni was more at ease in the classroom or the law court than in the back rooms of Italian politics. He died on 1 December 1972, in Rome. The frail, often ailing Segni, was affectionately called
malato di ferro—"the invalid with the iron constitution".
Segni's son,
Mariotto SegniMariotto Segni, more often known as Mario, is an Italian politician, son of Antonio Segni, one time President of the Republic of Italy....
, is also a prominent Italian politician.
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