Attilio Piccioni

Attilio Piccioni (14 July 1892 – 10 March 1976) was an Italian politician. He has been a prominent member of the Christian Democracy.

Attilio Piccioni
Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
In office
23 May 1948 – 27 January 1950
Prime MinisterAlcide De Gasperi
In office
26 July 1951 – 17 August 1953
Prime MinisterAlcide De Gasperi
In office
26 July 1960 – 4 December 1963
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Giovanni Leone
Minister of Justice
In office
27 January 1950 – 19 July 1951
Prime MinisterAlcide De Gasperi
Preceded byGiuseppe Grassi
Succeeded byAdone Zoli
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
18 January 1954 – 19 September 1954
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Mario Scelba
Preceded byGiuseppe Pella
Succeeded byGaetano Martino
In office
29 May 1962 – 4 December 1963
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Giovanni Leone
Preceded byAntonio Segni
Succeeded byGiuseppe Saragat
Minister for Special Political Tasks
In office
4 December 1963 – 24 June 1968
Prime MinisterAldo Moro
Secretary of Christian Democracy
In office
1946–1949
Preceded byAlcide De Gasperi
Succeeded byGiuseppe Cappi
Member of the Senate of the Republic
In office
12 June 1958 – 4 July 1976
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
8 May 1948 – 11 June 1958
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office
25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
Personal details
Born(1892-06-14)14 June 1892
Poggio Bustone, Italy
Died10 March 1976(1976-03-10) (aged 83)
Rome, Italy
NationalityItalian
Political partyChristian Democracy
ChildrenPiero Piccioni
Leone Piccioni
Alma materSapienza University of Rome
ProfessionPolitician, lawyer

Biography

Piccioni was born on 14 July 1892 in Poggio Bustone (Province of Rieti, Umbria) and graduated in Law at the Sapienza University of Rome. He participated in the First World War, first as an officer of the Bersaglieri, then as a vehicle instructor.

After the War Piccioni moved to Turin, where he married, and joined the Italian People's Party (PPI). He became secretary of the Turin section of PPI and member of its National Council.

With the advent of fascism in power, in 1926, after the forced dissolution of the PPI, he moved to Pistoia, where he resumed practicing as a lawyer and became a widower. In 1943 he was a member of the National Liberation Committee of Tuscany.

After the end of the Second World War he moved to Rome and on 2 June 1946 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly among the ranks of the Christian Democracy (DC). He was part of the "Commission of 75" in charge of drawing up and proposing the draft Constitution of the Italian Republic.[1]

A trusted man of Alcide De Gasperi, Piccioni was the political secretary of DC from 1946 to 1949 and Deputy Prime Minister in the fifth, seventh and eighth De Gasperi government. He also served as Minister of Grace and Justice in the sixth De Gasperi government.

After the rejection of the trust by the Chamber of Deputies to the eighth De Gasperi government (28 July 1953), Piccioni was commissioned by the President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi to form the new government. However he had to give up the office, since he failed to form a majority in the Parliament.[2]

Subsequently Piccioni was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the brief first Fanfani government (January-February 1954), after which he was summoned again by President Einaudi to succeed Fanfani as Prime Minister. Piccioni, however, did not want to take on this responsibility for the involvement of his son Piero, composer, in the case of Wilma Montesi, a Roman girl found dead on the beach of Torvaianica; thus he was confirmed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new Scelba Government. On 26 March 1954, the Montesi case (initially filed) was officially reopened by the Rome Court of Appeal. Because of this scandal, on 19 September Piccioni resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs and from all his official offices. Two days later, his son Piero was arrested on charges of manslaughter and drug use and then imprisoned in the Regina Coeli prison. Piero obtained provisional freedom after three months in preventive detention and was finally cleared of all charges.[3]

In the years 1956-57, Piccioni was the head of the Italian delegation to the United Nations.

He served again as Deputy Prime Minister in the third (1960-1962) and fourth Fanfani government (1962-1963), in which he also assumed the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs, to replace Antonio Segni, who became President of the Republic. He was again Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first Leone government (1963) and Minister without portfolio in the I, II, and III Moro government (1963-1968).

He died in Rome in 1976.

References
  1. La Commissione per la Costituzione - “Commissione dei 75”
  2. Il Capo dello Stato e le leggi: Tomo I & Tomo II
  3. Wilma Montesi: la morte, il giallo, lo scandalo nella Dc, il processoUn mistero lungo 60 anni
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