Name
Nitti, Francesco Saverio

Gender
Male

Birth
July 19, 1868 Melfi

Death
February 20, 1953 Rome

Descriptive Note

Francesco Nitti studied law in Naples and worked as a journalist for the Gazzetta Piemontese and the Corriere di Napoli. In 1898, he became professor of finance at the University of Naples. In 1904, he began to serve in the Italian Parliament and from 1911 to 1914, he was minister of agriculture, industry, and trade under prime minister Giovanni Giolitti. He was minister of finance from 1917 to 1919, when he became prime minister and interior minister, and a year later he was appointed as minister of the colonies. Nitti had to deal with great unrest between the divergent political factions of communists, anarchists, and fascists and in 1920 he resigned and was succeeded by Giolitti.

From 1901 to 1924, Nitti was a member of the country's Chamber of Deputies, first for the Italian Radical Party and then for the Italian Democratic Liberal Party. Still a member of the Italian Parliament, Nitti was a staunch opponent of the Italian fascism. In 1924, Nitti decided to emigrate, and returned to Italy only after World War II.

As the Minister of Agricolture, Industry and Trade at the time of the 1911 Exposition in Turin, Nitti delivered the Inauguration Speech on April 29, 1911 in the presence of the Italian Royal Family.

Roles
Public Figures, Kingdom of Italy

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