27 Facts About Agostino Depretis

Agostino Depretis was an Italian statesman and politician.

Agostino Depretis served as Prime Minister of Italy for several stretches between 1876 and 1887, and was leader of the Historical Left parliamentary group for more than a decade.

Agostino Depretis is the fourth-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Benito Mussolini, Giovanni Giolitti and Silvio Berlusconi, and at the time of his death he was the longest-served.

Agostino Depretis was a master in the political art of Trasformismo, the method of making a flexible, centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics after the unification.

Agostino Depretis was born at Bressana Bottarone, near Stradella, which at the time was a province of the French Empire of Napoleon and now is in the province of Pavia, Lombardy.

Agostino Depretis took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan.

In 1860 Agostino Depretis went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the policy of Cavour, who desired the immediate incorporation of the island in the Kingdom of Italy, with that of Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian plebiscite until after the liberation of Naples and Rome.

Agostino Depretis replaced Garibaldi's close councilor Francesco Crispi as pro-dictator of Sicily, during the dictatorial government; however he failed in his attempt to win round Garibaldi and his comrades to the idea of immediately incorporating Sicily into the new Italian kingdom, and resigned in September 1860.

On 3 March 1862, Agostino Depretis was appointed Minister of Public Works, and served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi.

Agostino Depretis remained on the sidelines during the 8th legislature, but he regularly participated in the parliamentary works, intervening regarding the laws for administrative unification and declaring himself hostile to regionalism.

Agostino Depretis was particularly active during the electoral campaign of 1865 and at the beginning of the 9th legislature he was elected vice president of the Chamber of Deputies.

On 17 February 1867, Agostino Depretis resigned as minister of the Navy.

On 17 February 1867 Agostino Depretis was appointed Minister of Finance in the second cabinet of Ricasoli; however after few months, on 10 April, Ricasoli resigned and Agostino Depretis returned to be a simple deputy.

On 25 June 1873, the conservative government of Giovanni Lanza fell, beaten by a vote that saw the Agostino Depretis's moderate Left united with a large part of the Right, no longer in support of the Minister of Finance Quintino Sella; in fact Sella abandoned the proposal of a further fiscal tightening in order to achieve a balanced budget.

On 25 March 1876, Agostino Depretis sworn in as prime minister; his cabinet was the first one to be composed only by members of the Left.

Agostino Depretis's policies created criticisms from the progressives who were pushing for an approach to German Empire to fight France.

Agostino Depretis was criticized for having abolished the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and having established the Ministry of Treasury in order to achieve greater control over state budget.

On 11 March 1878, Agostino Depretis resigned from his office, when his candidate lost the election to become president of the Chamber of Deputies; the following cabinet was led by another prominent leftist member Benedetto Cairoli.

In November 1879, Agostino Depretis joined the Cairoli cabinet as Minister of the Interior.

Agostino Depretis was appointed prime minister by the king; his cabinet was formed by members of the Left and of the Right.

On 20 May 1882, Agostino Depretis signed the Triple Alliance, a secret military agreement between Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary to oppose the power of France and Russia.

In domestic policy, 1882 saw the approval of the electoral reform of which Agostino Depretis had become the main spokesman and on 22 January the parliament approved what the Prime Minister had called "the only possible universal suffrage".

Agostino Depretis completed the railway system and initiated colonial policy by the occupation of Massawa; but, at the same time, he increased indirect taxation, corrupted the parliamentary parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of Italian finance.

Agostino Depretis argued that a wider suffrage would give citizens a moral dignity and sense of responsibility.

Agostino Depretis was replaced at the head of the Left and at the head of the government by Francesco Crispi.

Agostino Depretis was the founder and the main proponent of Trasformismo, a method of making a flexible centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right.

Agostino Depretis felt that a secure government could ensure calm in Italy.