Pino Romualdi

Giuseppe "Pino" Romualdi' (24 July 1913, Predappio – 21 May 1988, Rome) was an Italian right-wing politician who served both the Partito Fascista Repubblicano (PFR) and the Movimento Sociale Italiano (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]

Under fascism

Romualdi took a doctorate in political science, serving as secretary of the Gruppi universitari fascisti in Forli from 1936 to 1938, and then worked as a journalist.[2] He also served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies under the Fascist regime.[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-war activity

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 Forze Armate Rivoluzionarie. 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 would go on to become associated with the 'liberal' wing of the party that helped to 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 Politca, Il Poplo 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 of cancer in 1988, around the same time as his contemporaries Almirante and Dino Grandi.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Franco Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy - The Radical Right in Italy After the War, Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 222
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 328
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rees, p. 329
  4. ↑ R.J.B. Bosworth, The Oxford Handbook of Fascism, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 589
  5. ↑ Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73
  6. ↑ MEP Profile Pino ROMUALDI
  7. ↑ Dino Grandi profile
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