Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi (
3 April 1881 –
19 August 1954) was an
Italian statesman and
politician. He is considered to be one of the
Founding Fathers of the
European communities, along with the
Frenchman Robert Schuman and the
German Konrad Adenauer.
De Gasperi was born in
Pieve Tesino in the
Tirol,
Austria-Hungary, now part of the
Province of Trento in
Italy.
He studied
philosophy and
literature in
Vienna, and afterwards he became a
journalist. In
1911 he became a
Member of Parliament in the
Austrian
Reichsrat. Moving to Italy after the First World War, in
1919 he was one the founders, with Don
Luigi Sturzo, of the Italian Popular Party, or
Partito Popolare; starting in
1921 he was an MP for the party. He later became
party leader and
Secretary-General.
De Gasperi served a 16-month jail sentence as an
anti-fascist. After his release in
1931 he worked in the library of the
Vatican; there, in
1943 during the
Second World War, he organized the establishment of the first (and at the time, illegal) Christian Democracy party, or
Democrazia Cristiana, drawing upon the ideology of the Popular Party. From
1945 to
1953 he was the
prime minister of eight successive Christian Democratic
governments. His eight-years of rule remain a landmark of political longevity for one leader in modern Italian politics.
In
1946 when Italy become a Republic He was Elected Capo Provvisorio dello Stato (President of Republic) Pro-Tempore and Regnante Reggente. He is the only man who was become Presiden of the Council, Republic and Regent.
In
1952 he received the
Karlspreis (engl.: International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen), an Award by the German city of
Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.
De Gasperi died in
Sella di Valsugana, in Trentino. He is buried in the
Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, a basilica in
Rome.
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De Gasperi's memorial monument. |
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De Gasperi-Gruber Agreement*
Alcide de Gasperi - one of the EU's founding fathers Page from the Italian presidency of the EU showing how Alcide de Gasperi fits into the European Union history.
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Alcide de Gasperi Biography A biography by a student of the University of Wisconsin
