1. Bernardo Mattarella was an Italian politician for the Christian Democrat party.
21 Facts About Bernardo Mattarella
1. 2.
Bernardo Mattarella was a cabinet minister of Italy several times, becoming one of the most important politicians of his generation.
3.
Bernardo Mattarella was the father of Piersanti and Sergio Mattarella, who both went on to become important politicians in their own right; Sergio has been the President of the Italian Republic since 3 February 2015, and Piersanti was President of the Regional Government of Sicily prior to being assassinated in 1980 by Cosa Nostra.
4.
Bernardo Mattarella was born in Castellammare del Golfo, in the province of Trapani in western Sicily as the eldest of seven children in a family of humble origins.
5.
Bernardo Mattarella was the son of Santo Mattarella and Caterina di Falco.
6.
Bernardo Mattarella moved to Rome, where he took part in the founding of the DC in May 1943 with Alcide De Gasperi.
7.
Bernardo Mattarella would be re-elected in 1953,1958,1963 and 1968.
8.
Bernardo Mattarella was the main opponent of the Sicilian separatism, which had some influence in the years following the end of World War II.
9.
Bernardo Mattarella has been accused several times of having links with the Sicilian Mafia.
10.
Bernardo Mattarella was accused of having approached Calogero Vizzini, supposedly the most influential Mafia boss at the time to abandon the Sicilian separatists and join the Christian Democrats.
11.
The accusation was made by the Italian communists on the basis of an article that Bernardo Mattarella published on the national Christian democrat newspaper, Il Popolo, on 24 September 1944.
12.
Ciancimino became a protege of Bernardo Mattarella, who supported his political and financial career.
13.
Bernardo Mattarella was accused of being one of the men behind the Portella della Ginestra massacre, when 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on 1 May 1947.
14.
At a press conference in September 1965, he presented dozen of testimonies of people who had supposedly seen Bernardo Mattarella meeting with leading mafiosi.
15.
Bernardo Mattarella never served the verdict, because of a general pardon.
16.
On 21 June 1967, the Court of Rome, sentenced that Bernardo Mattarella offered reliable evidence of his opposition to the Mafia in the entire course of his political career.
17.
Bernardo Mattarella won the trial but lost a cabinet post in the new government of Aldo Moro.
18.
US gangster Joe Bonanno claimed that Bernardo Mattarella was among the welcoming party that met him when he landed at Fiumicino airport in Rome in October 1957 for a vacation.
19.
Bernardo Mattarella was recognized as an able minister, in particular at the post of Foreign Trade, which he held twice.
20.
Bernardo Mattarella's assassination was probably spurred by his strong commitment against the relationships of numerous Sicilian politicians with the Mafia.
21.
Bernardo Mattarella was "committed to introducing a new transparency in the functioning of his party and in the Sicilian public life".