Giovanni Cerrina Feroni Explained

Giovanni Cerrina Feroni
Order1:Italian Governor of Eritrea
Term Start1:August 17, 1915
Term End1:September 16, 1916
Predecessor1:Giuseppe Salvago Raggi
Successor1:Giacomo De Martino
Order2:Italian Governor of Somalia
Term Start2:1916
Term End2:1919
Predecessor2:Giacomo De Martino
Successor2:Carlo Riveri
Order3:Italian Governor of Eritrea
Term Start3:April 14, 1921
Term End3:June 1, 1923
Predecessor3:Ludovico Pollera
Successor3:Jacopo Gasparini
Birth Date:July 8, 1866
Birth Place:Florence
Death Date:July 2, 1952
Death Place:Rome
Nationality:Italian

Giovanni Cerrina Feroni (18 July 1866 – 2 July 1952) was an Italian soldier. He was twice colonial governor of Eritrea and also a governor of Italian Somaliland.

Life

Giovanni Cerrina Feroni was born in a noble family of Florence in 1866. He went to the "Italian Navy Academy" and graduated as the best student.

At the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish war, Cerrina Feroni obtained the command of the Italian naval forces stationed in the Red Sea.Also in these operations the commander Cerrina proved skilled as he managed to convince the sheikhs of Yemen to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, obtaining new allies and always putting in greater difficulty the enemy, until May 6, 1912 when the Italian fleet won the Turkish one in the Battle of Kunfuda Bay (today Al Qunfudhah). It was an operation that earned Cerrina Feroni the appointment as "Officer of the Military Order of Savoy".

At the end of this clash, the Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti personally requested the captain Cerrina asking him to perform on behalf of the government some secret diplomacy missions in 1913. Subsequently Cerrina Feroni passed to the "Ministry of the Colonies", where he remained for several years, first as governor of Eritrea and then going to the same office in Somalia (from 1916 to 1920).

During WW1 he was appointed governor of Eritrea from 17 August 1915 to 16 September 1916; he did a second term in Asmara from 14 April 1921 to 1 June 1923.

In the following years he went up to the rank of Vice admiral.

When he returned to the civil life, he accepted the role of President of the "Istituto per l'Africa italiana" in Rome.[1]

He died in the capital of Italy in 1952.

Awards

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-cerrina-feroni_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ Biography of Giovanni Cerrina Feroni
  2. Web site: Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana.