| Luigi Federzoni | |
| Order: | President of the Senate |
| Term Start: | 29 April 1929 |
| Term End: | 2 March 1939 |
| Predecessor: | Tommaso Tittoni |
| Successor: | Giacomo Suardo |
| Order3: | Minister of the Interior |
| Primeminister3: | Benito Mussolini |
| Term Start3: | 17 June 1924 |
| Term End3: | 6 November 1926 |
| Predecessor3: | Benito Mussolini |
| Successor3: | Benito Mussolini |
| Order1: | Minister of the Colonies |
| Primeminister1: | Benito Mussolini |
| Term Start1: | 6 November 1926 |
| Term End1: | 18 December 1928 |
| Predecessor1: | Pietro Lanza di Scalea |
| Successor1: | Benito Mussolini |
| Primeminister2: | Benito Mussolini |
| Term Start2: | 31 October 1922 |
| Term End2: | 17 June 1924 |
| Predecessor2: | Giovanni Amendola |
| Successor2: | Pietro Lanza di Scalea |
| Order4: | Member of the Senate of the Kingdom |
| Term Start4: | 22 November 1928 |
| Term End4: | 5 August 1943 |
| Appointer4: | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Order5: | Member of the Chamber of Deputies |
| Term Start5: | 27 November 1913 |
| Term End5: | 22 November 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Bologna, Italy |
| Death Place: | Rome, Italy |
| Party: | Italian Fascist Party |
| Profession: | Politician, president of the Royal Academy of Italy |
Luigi Federzoni (27 September 1878 – 24 January 1967) was an Italian nationalist and later Fascist politician.
Federzoni was born in Bologna. Educated at the university there, he took to journalism and literature, and for several years was on the staff of the newspaper Giornale d'Italia in Rome. He was also among the editors of the weekly newspaper L'Idea Nazionale.[1]
Among the founders of the Nationalist movement, which later on identified itself with fascism, he was elected a deputy for one of Rome's divisions, at the elections of 1913. In the chamber he never missed an opportunity to combat the Socialists, Republicans and Democrats.[2]
He endorsed Italy joining World War I on the side of France and the United Kingdom against Austria-Hungary and Germany. As soon as Italy intervened in the war, he joined the army as a lieutenant of artillery and was awarded a medal for valour.[3]
Federzoni supported Benito Mussolini when the latter issued his manifesto of 26 October 1922, announcing the march on Rome. In the cabinet formed by Mussolini five days later, Federzoni was minister for the colonies. After the Matteotti murder in June 1924, he was succedeed by Pietro Lanza di Scalea in post,[4] and Mussolini selected Federzoni for the post of minister of the interior from 1924 to 1926 and he was president of the senate from 1929 to 1939. He was also president of the Royal Academy of Italy (founded by Mussolini).[5]
At the historic meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism held on 25 July 1943 when the Fascist regime ended, he was among those who voted for Dino Grandi's Ordine del giorno which led to Mussolini's downfall, for which he was condemned in absentia at the Verona trial.[6] In 1945, Federzoni was sentenced to life in prison for collaborationism, albeit he was amnestied in 1947. He died in Rome on 24 January 1967.
"Italy has awaited this since 1866 her truly national war, in order to feel unified at last, renewed by the unanimous action and identical sacrifice of all her sons. Today, while Italy still wavers before the necessity imposed by history, the name of Garibaldi, resanctified by blood, rises again to warn her that she will not be able to defeat the revolution save by fighting and winning her national war." Federzoni, 1915, at memorial services being held for a relative of Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, called the "Hero of Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe[7]