Pino Romualdi Explained

Pino Romualdi
Office:Member of the European Parliament
Term Start:17 July 1979
Term End:21 May 1988
Constituency:Central Italy
Office1:Member of the Senate of the Republic
Term Start1:12 July 1983
Term End1:2 July 1987
Constituency1:Rome
Office2:Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Term Start2:25 June 1953
Term End2:11 July 1983
Constituency2:Rome (1953–1979)
Bologna (1979–1983)
Birth Date:1913 7, df=y
Birth Place:Predappio, Italy
Death Place:Rome, Italy
Nationality:Italian
Height:1.7m (05.6feet)
Spouse:Vera Romualdi (m. 1940)
Children:Adriano, Marina
Profession:Politician, journalist

Giuseppe "Pino" Romualdi (24 July 1913 – 21 May 1988) was an Italian right-wing politician who served both the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) and the Italian Social Movement (MSI). He was the subject of frequent rumours that he was the biological son of Benito Mussolini, although no proof has been given.[1] Romualdi himself, who was from the same village as Mussolini, encouraged the rumour.[2]

Biography

Before World War II

Romualdi was born in Predappio, near Forlì, the same comune of Mussolini.

He took a laurea in political science, serving as secretary of the Gruppi universitari fascisti in Forlì from 1936 to 1938, and then worked as a journalist.[2]

Romualdi served as a soldier in the Italian Army in the campaigns in Ethiopia and during the Second World War in Greece and Albania, where he was an infantry captain.[2] He returned to Italy in 1943 and became more prominent in political life with the foundation of the Italian Social Republic in 1943. Here he served as a delegate to the 1943 Congress of Verona and edited the Gazzetta di Parma newspaper.[2] Shortly before the collapse of the Republic he was appointed vice-president of the PFR.[3]

Post World War II

Romualdi was one of the fascist contingent captured by Urbano Lazzaro's partisans at Dongo, Lombardy in April 1945. However he managed to escape capture and was sentenced to death in absentia.[3] As a fugitive he became involved in terrorist activity and in 1946 was a founder of the neo-fascist Fasci di Azione Rivoluzionaria. However he left this movement, along with his close ally Pino Rauti at the end of the same year to become a leading figure in the new Italian Social Movement.[4] Captured in 1948 his sentence was reduced to four years imprisonment and he was released in 1951, returning to his role as deputy secretary of the MSI.[3]

He went on to become associated with the "liberal" wing of the party that helped secure the leadership for Giorgio Almirante. He again served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1953 to 1979 and then in the Italian Senate from 1983 to 1987.[5] He also edited the journals Lotta Politica, Il Popolo Italiano and Ardito at various times and as MSI deputy secretary oversaw the modernisation of the party's internal structure and played a leading role in drafting their nine-point programme in 1967.[3]

European Parliament

Romualdi was elected to the European Parliament at the 1979 election and held his seat until his death. He became a leading figure within the far right, serving as vice chair of the Group of the European Right from 1984-1988.[6] He was particularly prominent as a member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.[3]

Romualdi died in Rome of cancer on 21 May 1988, on the same weekend as his former colleagues and fellow Italian Fascist leaders Dino Grandi and Giorgio Almirante. Like Romualdi, Grandi died on 21 May 1988, and Almirante died the following day.[7]

Electoral history

width=12%Electionwidth=25%Housewidth=34%Constituencywidth=5% colspan="2"Partywidth=12%Voteswidth=12%Result
1953Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI13,287 Elected
1958Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI23,473 Elected
1963Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI33,339 Elected
1968Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI37,905 Elected
1972Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI53,416 Elected
1976Chamber of DeputiesRome–Viterbo–Latina–FrosinoneMSI38,783 Elected
1979Chamber of DeputiesBologna–Ferrara–Ravenna–ForlìMSI6,022 Elected
1979European ParliamentCentral Italy133,119 Elected
1983Senate of the RepublicLazioRome IMSI8,874 Elected
1984European ParliamentCentral Italy119,905 Elected

Notes and References

  1. Franco Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy - The Radical Right in Italy After the War, Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 222
  2. [Philip Rees]
  3. Rees, p. 329
  4. R.J.B. Bosworth, The Oxford Handbook of Fascism, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 589
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/23/obituaries/giorgio-almirante-italian-neo-fascist-dies-at-73.html Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73
  6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/term2/view.do;jsessionid=92E2A5083BFA3FC62B5E3D8B7E7E5BAF.node2?id=1727&language=EN MEP Profile Pino ROMUALDI
  7. http://rulers.org/indexg4.html Dino Grandi profile