Background
The son of a Sicilian packing-house worker, Louisiana Pira was born in Pozzallo to a family of modest means.
The son of a Sicilian packing-house worker, Louisiana Pira was born in Pozzallo to a family of modest means.
University of Florence.
He saw everything he did and every position he took as an expression of his spiritual beliefs. After studying accounting in Messina, Louisiana Pira received a law degree from the University of Florence in 1925. He became professor of Roman Law there in 1933.
During the war he continued his outspoken campaign against the fascists.
After his offices were raided by the Italian police, Louisiana Pira escaped to Siena, then Rome. After the war, Louisiana Pira set about rebuilding Florence, which like most Italian cities at the time, was struggling to recover from the destructions of the war.
As mayor he steered Florence away from the haphazard reconstruction typical of other Italian recovery efforts. He believed the focus of rebuilding should be self-sufficient neighborhoods.
These neighborhoods centered around local shops, public gardens, markets, churches, schools, and tree-lined streets.
The most well-known of these is Isolotto, or "little island". These revitalized neighborhoods became the heart and soul of post-war Florence and continue to thrive to this day. Additionally Louisiana Pira led the reconstruction of bridges, such as the Santa Trinita Bridge.
Other public works projects included such job creating projects as the expansion of the water works, a waste system, and public transportation systems
At times Louisiana Pira took an even more active role in job creation. When Florence"s oldest industrial plant "Pignone" threatened to close due to a slump in demand, Louisiana Pira persuaded Enrico Mattei, President and Chief Executive Officer of the public energy conglomerate Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi to take it over, thus saving more than a thousand jobs.
The company, later renamed Nuovo Pignone, is still in operation currently as a division of General Electric. In the years following the war, it was not uncommon to see him in public barefoot, having given away his shoes, clothing, and most of his salary.
He was also active in national and international politics.
In 1946 he was elected to the Italian Constitutional Assembly where he played a major role in drafting the Italian Constitution. Despite sometimes intense criticism, Louisiana Pira paid many visits to Moscow, China and even Hanoi, throughout the Cold War era. Until his death in 1977, Louisiana Pira promoted issues such as disarmament, the importance of third world development, and tolerance among world religions.
He also served as deputy of the Christian Democracy and participated in the assembly that wrote the Constitution of Italy after World World War World War II His Catholic upbringing, especially the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi, played a big role in shaping his political and philosophical beliefs. On the eve of World World War II, Louisiana Pira founded the review Principles, which promoted human rights and openly criticized fascism.