Giuseppe Zanardelli

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Giuseppe Zanardelli

| image = Giuseppe Zanardelli iii.jpg

| order = Prime Minister of Italy

| monarch = Victor Emmanuel III

| term_start = 15 February 1901

| term_end = 3 November 1903

| predecessor = Giuseppe Saracco

| successor = Giovanni Giolitti

| order2 = President of the Chamber of Deputies

| term_start2 = 16 November 1898

| term_end2 = 25 May 1899

| predecessor2 = Giuseppe Branchieri

| successor2 = Luigi Chinaglia

| term_start3 = 5 April 1897

| term_end3 = 14 December 1897

| predecessor3 = Tommaso Villa

| successor3 = Giuseppe Branchieri

| term_start4 = 23 November 1892

| term_end4 = 20 February 1894

| predecessor4 = Giuseppe Branchieri

| successor4 = Giuseppe Branchieri

| order5 = Minister of the Interior

| primeminister6 = Benedetto Cairoli

| term_start6 = 28 March 1878

| term_end6 = 19 December 1878

| predecessor6 = Agostino Depretis

| successor6 = Agostino Depretis

| primeminister5 = Giovanni Giolitti

| term_start5 = 21 June 1903

| term_end5 = 2 November 1903

| predecessor5 = Giovanni Giolitti

| successor5 = Giovanni Giolitti

| order7 = Minister of Justice

| primeminister9 = Agostino Depretis

| term_start9 = 29 May 1881

| term_end9 = 25 May 1883

| predecessor9 = Tommaso Villa

| successor9 = Bernardino Giannuzzi-Savelli

| primeminister8 = Francesco Crispi

| term_start8 = 4 April 1887

| term_end8 = 6 February 1891

| predecessor8 = Diego Tajani

| successor8 = Luigi Ferraris

| primeminister7 = Antonio Starabba

| term_start7 = 14 December 1897

| term_end7 = 1 June 1898

| predecessor7 = Emanuele Gianturco

| successor7 = Teodorico Bonacci

| order10 = Member of the Chamber of Deputies

| term_start10 = 18 February 1861

| term_end10 = 26 December 1903

| constituency10 = Iseo

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1826|10|29}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1903|12|26|1826|10|29}}

| birth_place = Brescia, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, Austria

| death_place = Maderno, Kingdom of Italy

| party = Historical Left
Dissident Left

| nationality = Italian

}}

Giuseppe Zanardelli (29 October 1826 {{snd}} 26 December 1903) was an Italian jurist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 15 February 1901 to 3 November 1903. An eloquent orator, he was also a Grand Master freemason. Zanardelli, representing the bourgeoisie from Lombardy, personified the classical 19th-century liberalism, committed to suffrage expansion, anticlericalism, civil liberties, free trade and laissez-faire economics.De Grand, The hunchback's tailor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=21-X5zzkCrsC&pg=PA17 p. 17] Throughout his long political career, he was among the most ardent advocates of freedom of conscience and divorce.Seton-Watson, Italy from liberalism to fascism, pp. 47–48

Early life

File:Zanardelli Basilicata.jpg

Giuseppe Zanardelli was born in Brescia (Lombardy) on 29 October 1826. He was a combatant in the volunteer corps during the First Italian War of Independence of 1848 between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia, within the era of Italian unification (Risorgimento). After the lost battle of Novara he went to Pisa to study law, and he returned to Brescia to become a barrister.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/12/27/105071559.pdf Signor Zanardelli Dead; Ex-Premier of Italy Was Seventy-four Years Old], The New York Times, 27 December 1903{{in lang|it}} [http://storia.camera.it/presidenti/zanardelli-giuseppe#nav Biografia Giuseppe Zanardeli], Camera dei deputati, portale storico For a time earned a livelihood by teaching law, but was molested by the Austrian police and forbidden to teach in consequence of his refusal to contribute pro-Austrian articles to the press.{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Zanardelli, Giuseppe |volume=28 |page=955}}

In 1859 he was forced to flee to Switzerland. He moved to Lugano, but returned in time to organize the insurrection of Brescia in the Second Italian War of Independence and welcomed Giuseppe Garibaldi in the city. Enlisted in the Cacciatori delle Alpi (Hunters of the Alps), he remained in the area until the armistice of Villafranca. With the annexation of Lombardy to Piedmont, he was elected to Parliament in Turin.

Elected deputy in 1859, he received various administrative appointments, but only attained a political office in 1876 when the Left, of which he had been a prominent and influential member, came into power. Zanardelli became a freemason in 1860; he was initiated in the Lodge "Propaganda" of Rome.{{cite web|url= http://www.grandeoriente.it/commemorato-zanardelli-brescia-dalla-loggia-leonessa-arnaldo/|title= Zanardelli commemoration by Lodge 'Leonessa Arnaldo'|language= IT|date= 4 January 2017 |website= GOI |access-date= 30 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180501013926/http://www.grandeoriente.it/commemorato-zanardelli-brescia-dalla-loggia-leonessa-arnaldo |archive-date= 1 May 2018 |url-status= live}}

In government

In 1876 he became Minister of Public Works in the first government of Agostino Depretis, and Minister of the Interior in the government of Benedetto Cairoli in 1878. In the latter capacity, he drafted the franchise reform, but created dissatisfaction by the indecision of his administrative acts, particularly in regard to the Irredentist agitation, and by his theory of repressing and not in any way preventing crime, which led for a time to an epidemic of murders.Seton-Watson, Italy from liberalism to fascism, p. 77

Overthrown with Cairoli in December 1878, he returned to power as Minister of Justice in 1881 with the Depretis government, and succeeded in completing the commercial code. He also was the architect of the electoral reform in 1892 which lowered the voting age from 25 to 21, and reduced the minimum tax threshold for voting or allowed an elementary school certificate.

Abandoned awhile by Depretis in 1883, he remained in opposition until 1887, when he again joined Depretis as Minister of Justice, retaining his portfolio throughout the ensuing government of Francesco Crispi, until 31 January 1891. During this period he began the reform of the magistracy and promulgated a new penal code, which unified penal legislation in Italy, abolished capital punishment and recognised the workers right to strike.Seton-Watson. Italy from liberalism to fascism, p. 131 The code was regarded as a great work by contemporary European jurists.

After the fall of the government of Giovanni Giolitti in 1893, Zanardelli made a strenuous but unsuccessful attempt to form an administration."[http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/Itemid,3,/action,viewer/page,1/articleid,1234_01_1893_0339_0001_18451646/ Zanardelli rinuncia il mandato]". La Stampa. 8 December 1893. Elected president of the chamber in 1894 and 1896, he exercised that office with ability until, in December 1897, he accepted the Ministry of Justice in the government of Antonio di Rudinì, only to resign in the following spring on account of dissensions with his colleague, Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta, over the measures necessary to prevent a recurrence of the Bava-Beccaris massacre of May 1898.Seton-Watson. Italy from liberalism to fascism, pp. 191–92

Prime minister

Returning to the presidency of the chamber, he again abandoned his post in order to associate himself with the obstructionist campaign against the Public Safety Bill (1899–1900) restricting political activity and free speech, which was introduced by the government of general Luigi Pelloux. He was rewarded by being enabled to form an administration with the support of the Extreme Left upon the fall of the government of Giuseppe Saracco in February 1901."[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/02/15/105759203.pdf New Italian Ministry]". The New York Times. 15 February 1901. Giolitti became Minister of the Interior in the administration of Zanardelli, and became its real head.Sarti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xhoLorFC1iwC&pg=PA46 Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present], pp. 46–48

Zanardelli focused his attention on the issue of the South: in September 1902 he undertook a journey through Basilicata, as one of the poorest regions in Italy, to see for himself the problems in the Mezzogiorno.{{in lang|it}} "[https://zanardelliviaggio.wordpress.com/ Zanardelli: il viaggio in Basilicata]". Access date: 8 September 2016."[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/10/01/102632675.pdf Aid for Southern Italy; Premier Zanardelli Promises Two Railways to the Province of Basilicata]". The New York Times. 1 October 1902 Zanardelli tenure was handicapped by his declining health, but some social reforms were passed, such as a law for reducing the tax on flour, and laws regulating workmen’s compensation and the labour of women and children, and provisions were made for the treatment of poor people affected by malaria.Giolitti (1923). Memoirs of My Life, [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.7778/page/155/mode/1up pp. 155–156]

In 1902, a law was passed that set the minimum working age at 12,Vecchi, Giovanni (2017), Measuring Wellbeing, [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Measuring_Wellbeing/gxvGDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=zanardelli+government+to+pass+law+no.+242+of+19+June+1902&pg=PA147&printsec=frontcover147 p. 147] while also limiting the working day for female workers to 11 hours.Clark (2008), Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, [https://archive.org/details/modernitaly1871t0000clar/page/165/mode/1up p. 165] That same year, a Supreme Council of Labour was set up as an advisory body "to examine labour issues and to give its opinion on proposed legislation."Clark (2008), Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, [https://archive.org/details/modernitaly1871t0000clar/page/166/mode/1up p. 166] A law introduced on 21 June 1902 authorized the establishment of an agricultural credit institution in Lazio with the power to grant short- and long-term agricultural credit in that province.{{cite journal |title=Agricultural Credit in Italy |journal=Foreign Crops and Markets |date=1935 |volume=31 |issue=10 |page=304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6ZCAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA304 |access-date=30 March 2025 |publisher= Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, United States Department of Agriculture}} During his tenure, law no. 254 was passed on 31 May 1903, aimed at improving living conditions for workers and to control housing speculation, with the establishment of a Public Housing Institute (Istituto per la Case Popolari). The law was also known as the Luzzatti law, since it was introduced by the deputy Luigi Luzzatti, a member of the opposition at that time.Mazzola (2016), The sustainable city is possible, [https://www.google.com/books/edition/La_citt%C3%A0_sostenibile_%C3%A8_possibile_The_s/7a5qCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Luzzatti+law+31+May+1903+Italy&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover p. 52]

However, his proposed divorce bill, although voted in the chamber, had to be withdrawn on account of the strong opposition of the country.Clark (2008), Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, [https://archive.org/details/modernitaly1871t0000clar/page/196/mode/1up pp. 196–197] He retired from the administration on 21 October 1903 due to his declining health,"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/10/22/104914940.pdf Italian Cabinet Resigns; Its Action Not the Result of the Political Situation but of the Premier's Failing Health]". The New York Times. 22 October 1903. and Giolitti succeeded him as Prime Minister. Tired and ill, he died in Maderno on 26 December 1903.

In popular culture

On 15 September 1902, Zanardelli stayed at the Imperial Hotel Tramontano, owned by the Commendator Guglielmo Baron Tramontano of Sorrento, who was also the mayor of the city Sorrento. Baron Guglielmo Tramontano asked the musician brothers Giambattista and Ernesto De Curtis to compose and write a song in honour of Zanardelli, and the result became the famous Neapolitan song "Torna a Surriento" (Come Back to Sorrento).

Honours

{{Flagu|Kingdom of Prussia}}: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle – August 1902 – during the visit to Germany of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest intelligence – The King of Italy in Berlin|date=29 August 1902 |page=3 |issue=36859| }}
{{Flagu|Ottoman Empire}}: Grand Cordon of the Order of Osmanieh – September 1902 – during the visit to Constantinople of an Italian Regia Marina squadron.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Italy and Turkey |date=8 September 1902 |page=4 |issue=36867 }}
{{Flagu|France}}: Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur – November 1902 – ″in testimony of the good relations between France and Italy″.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Latest intelligence - France and Italy|date=10 November 1902 |page=5 |issue=36921| }}

References

Sources

Clark, Martin (2008). [https://archive.org/details/modernitaly1871t0000clar/ Modern Italy: 1871 to the present], Third Edition, London/New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-1-4058-2352-4}}
De Grand, Alexander J. (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=fUvJCuQxmP0C The hunchback's tailor: Giovanni Giolitti and liberal Italy from the challenge of mass politics to the rise of fascism, 1882–1922], Greenwood.
Giolitti, Giovanni (1923). [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.7778/ Memoirs of My Life] (translated by Edward Storer). London: Chapman and Dodd Ltd.
Mazzola, Ettore Maria (2016). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/La_citt%C3%A0_sostenibile_%C3%A8_possibile_The_s/7a5qCwAAQBAJ The sustainable city is possible: A possible strategy for recovering urban quality and local economies]. Rome: Gangemi Editore {{ISBN|978-88-492-9172-8}}
Sarti, Roland (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=xhoLorFC1iwC Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present], New York: Facts on File Inc., {{ISBN|0-81607-474-7}}
Seton-Watson, Christopher (1967). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nJkOAAAAQAAJ Italy from liberalism to fascism, 1870–1925], New York: Taylor & Francis, {{ISBN|0-416-18940-7}}
Vecchi, Giovanni (2017). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Measuring_Wellbeing/gxvGDQAAQBAJ? Measuring Wellbeing: A History of Italian Living Standards], New York, NY: Oxford University Press {{ISBN|978-0-19-994459-0}}