Giuseppe Zanardelli

Background

Giuseppe Zanardelli was born at Brescia on the 29th of October 1826.

Career

A combatant in the volunteer corps during the war of 1848, he returned to Brescia after the defeat of Novara, and for a time earned a livelihood by teaching law, but was molested by the Austrian police and forbidden to teach /п consequence of his refusal to contribute pro-Austrian articles to the press. 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. Minister of public works in the first Depretis cabinet of 1876, and minister of the interior in the Cairoli cabinet of 1878, he in the latter capacity 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 a perfect epidemic of murders. Overthrowm with Cairoli in December 1878, he returned to power as minister of justice in the Depretis cabinet of 1881, and succeeded in completing the commercial code. Abandoned 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 Crispi ministry. During this period he promulgated the Criminal Code, and began the reform of the magistracy. After the fall of the Giolitti cabinet in 1893, Zanardelli made a strenuous but unsuccessful attempt to form an administration. Elected president of the chamber in 1894 and 1896, he exercised that office with ability until, in December 1897, he accepted the portfolio of justice in the Rudini cabinet, only to resign in the following spring on account of dissensions with his colleague, Visconti-Venosta, over the measures necessary to prevent a recurrence of the tumults of May 1898. Returning to the presidency of the chamber, he again abandoned his post in order to associate himself w'ith the obstructionist campaign against the Public Safety Bill (1899 - 1900), and was rewarded by being enabled to form an administration with the support of the Extreme Left upon the fall of the Saracco cabinet in February 1901. He was unable to achieve much during his last term of office, as his health was greatly impaired; his Divorce Bill, although voted in the chamber, had to be withdrawn on account of the strong opposition of the country. He retired from the administration on the 2nd of November 1903, and died on the 216t of December following.

Achievements

• He was the Prime Minister of Italy from February 15, 1901 to November 3, 1903. He was a distinguished jurist and eloquent orator. Zanardelli, representing the bourgeoisie from Lombardy, personified the classical 19th-century left liberalism, committed to suffrage expansion, anticlericalism, civil liberties, free trade and laissez-faire economics. Throughout his long political career he was among the most ardent advocates of freedom of conscience and divorce.

Works

More photos

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  • Per il cinquantesimo anniversario della difesa nazionale del Cadore (Vol-1): discorso pronunciato in Pieve di Cadore da Giuseppe Zanardelli il 14 agosto 1898 (Italian Edition)

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Per l'inaugurazione del monumento ai martiri dell'insurrezione del 1849: discorso pronunciato da Giuseppe Zanardelli il 20 settembre 1897 (Italian Edition)

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Giuseppe Zanardelli: Biografia E Discorsi (1903) (Italian Edition)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Sulle Condizioni del Mezzogiorno: Discorso (Classic Reprint) (Italian Edition)

    (Excerpt from Sulle Condizioni del Mezzogiorno: Discorso ...)

  • Discorsi Parlamentari: 1958-1991... (Italian Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Sulla Politica Interna (Italian Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Views

Quotations: "I have striven for perfection, it has always eluded me, but I surely had an obligation to make one more try. "

"I adore art. .. when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear. "

"To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better. "

"Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned. I mean that in all seriousness, and by learning I do not mean knowledge of music. "

"The success of our operas rests most of the time in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or a prima donna. "