Bernardo Mattarella
Encyclopedia
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
party (DC - Democrazia Cristiana). He has been Minister of Italy several times. He was the father of Piersanti Mattarella
Piersanti Mattarella
Piersanti Mattarella was an Italian politician. He was assassinated by the Mafia while he held the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily.-Background and early career:...
and Sergio Mattarella
Sergio Mattarella
Sergio Mattarella is an Italian politician.-Life:Mattarella was born in Palermo . He is son of Bernardo Mattarella and brother of Piersanti Mattarella, both politician into Democrazia Cristiana....
, who both became politicians as well.
Early life and political career
Bernardo Mattarella was born in Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and comune in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea- Fortress of the Gulf", deriving from the medieval fortress in the harbor...
, in the province of Trapani
Province of Trapani
Trapani is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Trapani.It has an area of 2,460 km², and a total population of 425,121...
in western Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
as the eldest of seven children in a family of humble origins. His father was a sailor. In 1924, he became the secretary of the Italian People's Party
Italian People's Party
There have been two People's Parties in Italy:*Italian People's Party , precursor of Christian Democracy*Italian People's Party , one of the successor parties of Christian Democracy...
(Partito Popolare Italiano), the predecessor of the Christian Democrat party (DC), in Castellammare.
An anti-fascist, he graduated in law in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, where he lived until the Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
. He moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he took part in the founding of the DC in May 1943 with Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics...
. After the invasion of Sicily by allied forces
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
in July 1943, he moved back to Palermo where he became one of the co-founders of the DC on the island and was nominated in the municipal council of Palermo by the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT).
Positions in the Italian Government
He held the position of Deputy Minister for Public Education in the governments led by Ivanoe BonomiIvanoe Bonomi
Ivanoe Bonomi was an Italian politician and statesman before and after World War II.Bonomi was born in Mantua. He was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1909, representing Mantua as a member of the Italian Socialist Party...
(1944–1945). In the June 1946 he was elected to the Italian Constituent Assembly and in 1948 to the new Republican Parliament. He would be re-elected in 1953, 1958, 1963 and 1968.
In 1953, after having been Minister of the Merchant Navy under De Gasperi's short-lived government, he became Minister of Transportation, a position he maintained until 1955. Later he was Minister of Foreign Trade and Minister of Post and Communications. A favourable evalutation of his work as the Minister of Foreign Trade and of Post and Communications is expressed in Guido Carli's memories. In 1962 he was again Minister of Transportation and, in the following year, of Agriculture and Forests. In 1963-66 he was again Minister of Foreign Trades.
Attitude towards Sicilian Separatism
Bernardo Mattarella was the main opponent of the Sicilian separatism, which had some influence in the years following the end of World War II. He expressed his concern in an article published in 1944 attacking the leader of the separatists, Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile: "This man speaks of democracy, but he has the grave fault of having gathered and tried to strenghten the most dangerous and oppressing organization which, for long years, has afflicted our land."Accusations of links with the Mafia
Mattarella has been accused several times of having links with the MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. These accusations were always rejected in court. The alleged links between Mattarella and the Mafia are described in several reports and books. According to a report of the section of the Communist Party of Trapani, which was reproduced in the final report of the Antimafia Commission
Antimafia Commission
The Italian Antimafia Commission is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . The Antimafia Commission is a commission of inquiry into, initially, the “phenomenon of the Mafia”...
in 1976, Mattarella had an excellent relationship with the Mafia boss of Alcamo
Alcamo
Alcamo is the fourth largest city in the province of Trapani, in north-western Sicily, southern Italy.-History:Alcamo was founded in 828 by the Muslim commander al-Kamuk , though other sources date its origin to c. 972...
, Vincenzo Rimi. The Communist minority of the Parliamentary Antimafia Commission described Mattarella as the man "who had striven to absorb Mafia forces into the Christian Democrats so as to use them as an instrument of power."
He was accused of having approached Calogero Vizzini
Calogero Vizzini
Calogero Don Calò Vizzini was a historical Mafia boss of Villalba in the Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. Vizzini was considered to be one of the most influential and legendary Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954...
, supposedly the most influential Mafia boss at the time to abandon the Sicilian separatists and join the Christian Democrats. The accusation was made by the Italian communists on the basis of an article that Mattarella published on the national Christian democrat newspaper, Il Popolo, on September 24, 1944. This article does not contain any invitation neither to Vizzini nor to the Mafia to join the Christian Democrats. On the contrary, the article accused two families of the town of Villalba (Vizzini and Cipolla) of being responsible of the violence in that town. The article was addressed to those who had voted for the separatists, which were invited to change their vote.
In a letter to Luigi Sturzo, written shortly after the election of the Constituent Assembly of Italy
Constituent Assembly of Italy
The Italian Constituent Assembly was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948...
in 1946, Mattarella wrote about the electoral and political influence of the Mafia: "The electoral fight has been hard and tiring, but it has granted us the result of the full failure of the Mafia: it has been defeated by the state ballot, which has freed electors from old style pressures, which have been now and then renewed." According to a report of the Carabinieri on the electoral campaign of 1946 in Salemi
Salemi
Salemi is a town and comune in South-Western Sicily, Italy, administratively part of the province of Trapani. It is located in the Belice Valley.-History:...
, Mattarella gathered with known mafiosi, among them Ignazio Salvo, one of the Salvo cousins who became intermediates between the Mafia and the DC.
Mattarella supported Vito Ciancimino
Vito Ciancimino
Vito Ciancimino was an Italian politician who served as mayor of Palermo, Sicily. He belonged to the Christian Democrat party , and was the first Italian politician to be found guilty of Mafia membership...
– the first Italian politician to be found guilty of Mafia membership. Ciancimino became a protégé of Mattarella, who supported his political and financial career. In 1950 Ciancimino obtained concessions for all railway transport inside Palermo. The three other firms that had made a bid were put out of the game, because Ciancimino's bid was accompanied by a letter of Mattarella, who was then Minister of Transports.
Portella della Ginestra massacre
He was accused of being one of the men behind the Portella della Ginestra massacrePortella della Ginestra massacre
The Portella della Ginestra massacre was one of the more violent acts of in the history of modern Italian politics, when 11 people were killed and 33 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947, in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi...
, when 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded during May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947. The bloodbath was perpetrated by the bandit Salvatore Giuliano
Salvatore Giuliano
Salvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian peasant. It has been suggested that the subjugated social status of his class led him to become a bandit and separatist. He was mythologised during his life and after his death...
who was possibly backed by the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. In the Portella della Ginestra massacre trial in 1950-51 in Viterbo
Viterbo
See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo UniversityViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 80 driving / 80 walking kilometers north of GRA on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and...
, Giuliano’s right-hand man Gaspare Pisciotta
Gaspare Pisciotta
Gaspare Pisciotta was a companion and close friend of the Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano, and considered to be the co-leader of his outlaw band.- Origins :...
said: "Those who have made promises to us are called Bernardo Mattarella, Prince Alliata, the monarchist MP Marchesano and also Signor Scelba
Mario Scelba
Mario Scelba was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as the 34th Prime Minister of Italy from February 1954 to July 1955...
, Minister for Home Affairs … it was Marchesano, Prince Alliata and Bernardo Mattarella who ordered the massacre of Portella di Ginestra. Before the massacre they met Giuliano
Salvatore Giuliano
Salvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian peasant. It has been suggested that the subjugated social status of his class led him to become a bandit and separatist. He was mythologised during his life and after his death...
…" Mattarella, Alliata and Marchesano were declared innocent by the Court of Appeal of Palermo, at a trial which dealt with their alleged role in the event.
The Court of Viterbo decided that Pisciotta had made false accusations. In his final statement the public prosecutor affirmed that Pisciotta was unreliable and that his accusations against Scelba and Mattarella were untrustworthy. During the trial, Giuliano’s mother and some members of the gang said that Pisciotta’s statements were part of a plot designed to put the investigations on the wrong track. This was confirmed before the Parliamentary Antimafia Commission
Antimafia Commission
The Italian Antimafia Commission is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . The Antimafia Commission is a commission of inquiry into, initially, the “phenomenon of the Mafia”...
by two more members of the gang, who had joined Pisciotta in this plot. "It was simply an infamous act that even the toughness of the political game cannot justify," Mattarella later said about the accusation.
According to some sources, he had opposed the constitution of the Parliamentary Antimafia Commission
Antimafia Commission
The Italian Antimafia Commission is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . The Antimafia Commission is a commission of inquiry into, initially, the “phenomenon of the Mafia”...
in 1958. Others maintain that he had been the only Sicilian minister in the Government of the time who was favourable to its constitution. In an interview in the newspaper Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, he put forward several proposals that influenced the constitution of the Commission in 1963.
Accusations by Danilo Dolci
The Antimafia activist Danilo DolciDanilo Dolci
Danilo Dolci was an Italian social activist, sociologist, popular educator and poet. He is best known for his opposition to poverty, social exclusion and the Mafia on Sicily, and is considered to be one of the protagonists of the non-violence movement in Italy...
also accused Mattarella of collusion with the Mafia. Dolci had been gathering evidence on the links between the Mafia and politicians for the Antimafia Commission
Antimafia Commission
The Italian Antimafia Commission is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate . The Antimafia Commission is a commission of inquiry into, initially, the “phenomenon of the Mafia”...
, which was established in 1963. At a press conference in September 1965, he presented dozen of testimonies of people who had supposedly seen Mattarella meeting with leading mafiosi. Mattarella sued Dolci for libel. Mattarella’s lawsuit for libel allowed Dolci “ampia facoltà di prova”, meaning that the defendant would have been declared innocent if he had been able to show that he had offended the plaintiff on the basis of true evidence. In the ensuing two-year trial, dozens of witnesses were heard and many documents were considered. Dolci made an application for an amnesty, but was sentenced to two years imprisonment for libel. He never served the verdict, because of a general pardon.
When the Court refused to allow new evidence from witnesses, Dolci and Alasia decided that the trial was a travesty. They announced that under these circumstances they would no longer attempt to defend themselves. The remainder of the trial, therefore, took place with Dolci and Alasia absent from the courtroom. Dolci responded by broadcasting his opinions over a private radio station, which was promptly closed. On June 21, 1967, the Court of Rome, sentenced that Mattarella offered reliable evidence of his opposition to the Mafia in the entire course of his political career. The statements collected by the defendants – Dolci and his assistant Alasia – were considered nothing more than "deplorable gossip, malicious rumour or even simple lies." The Court was of the opinion that Mattarella "never had relations with the Mafia environment."
Mattarella won the trial but lost a cabinet post in the new government of Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
. According to the journalist and politician Luigi Barzini
Luigi Barzini, Jr.
Luigi Barzini Jr. was an Italian journalist, writer and politician most famous for his 1964 book The Italians, delving deeply into the Italian national character and introducing many Anglo-Saxon readers to Italian life and culture.-Early life:Barzini junior was born in Milan, Lombardy, the son of...
, who had been a member of the Antimafia Commission, few of Dolci’s charges against Mattarella, most of which were undoubtedly true but not all as decisive as he thought, could be proved in a court of law, as Sicilian witnesses rarely repeat in public what they might have said secretly to a trusted friend.
Other accusations
US gangster Joe Bonanno claimed that Mattarella was among the welcoming party that met him when he landed at Fiumicino airport in Rome in October 1957 for a vacation. Both had grown up in Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and comune in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea- Fortress of the Gulf", deriving from the medieval fortress in the harbor...
. However, the claim seems to be fictional: it describes Bonanno’s trip to Italy in September 1957, in the company of F. Pope, the editor of the newspaper “Il progresso italo americano”. As reported by the same newspaper they arrived in Rome on September 13 of that year. According to Pope and Italian newspapers, Mattarella was not in Rome that day. As Minister of the Post, was in another remote Italian town to inaugurate a public work.
In 1996, 25 years after Mattarella died, Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness in 1996...
, a Mafia pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
, said he had been a "man of honour" – a member of Cosa Nostra. His son Sergio Mattarella dismissed such accusations as ridiculous. According to another pentito, Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito in 1989. His nickname was Mozzarella. He is considered to be one of the most reliable government witnesses against the Mafia...
, Mattarella was close with the Mafia boss Francesco Paolo Bontade
Francesco Paolo Bontade
Francesco Paolo Bontade , also known as Don Paolino Bonta, was a legendary and powerful member of the Sicilan Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He hailed from Villagrazia, a rural village before it was absorbed into the city of Palermo in the 1960s...
, but Mannoia said he did not know if Mattarella actually had been a member of the Mafia.
Death and legacy
Mattarella died in Rome in 1971. Journalist Gaia Servadio described him as an elegant gentleman with an elaborate and fluent discourse that disclosed his legal training. He was recognized as an able minister, in particular at the post of Foreign Trade, which he held twice.His son Piersanti Mattarella
Piersanti Mattarella
Piersanti Mattarella was an Italian politician. He was assassinated by the Mafia while he held the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily.-Background and early career:...
was killed by Mafia in 1980. His assassination was probably spurred by his strong commitment against the relationships of numerous Sicilian politicians (mostly members of DC itself) with the Mafia. He was "committed to introducing a new transparency in the functioning of his party and in the Sicilian public life". However, the Mafia felt betrayed by the Mattarellas who used to be responsive to Mafia interests. According to Leoluca Orlando
Leoluca Orlando
Leoluca Orlando , is an Italian politician, who was mayor of Palermo in 1985-1990 and 1993-2000. He is best known for his strong opposition to the Sicilian Mafia.-Biography:Orlando was born in Palermo...
– former mayor of Palermo for the DC and Antimafia activist, who had been a legal adviser to Piersanti Mattarella – the rumours about his father and his party’s experiences with the Mafia were probably responsible for Piersanti’s aspiration to clean the Christian Democrat party of any such connections.