18 Facts About Enrico Mizzi

Enrico Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party from 1926 and briefly Prime Minister of Malta in 1950.

Enrico Mizzi's mother died in 1903 and his father in 1905, when Enrico was only 17 and 19 respectively.

Enrico Mizzi graduated in literature and science at the Royal University of Malta in 1906, and in Law at Urbino in 1911.

In 1926 Enrico Mizzi married Bice Vassallo; they had one son, Fortunat Mizzi, who became a priest in 1952 and founded the Moviment Azzjoni Socjali in 1955.

In 1915 Enrico Mizzi was elected member of the Comitato Patriottico Maltese and founded the newspaper L'Eco di Malta, organ of the Committee itself.

Enrico Mizzi stood as a parliamentary candidate for Gozo in 1915, and was elected.

Enrico Mizzi worked to develop a Constitution that was independent of English rule at the time.

Enrico Mizzi was first elected to the Council of Government from Gozo in 1915 as Member of the Comitato Patriottico.

Enrico Mizzi was sentenced to a year's imprisonment with hard labour, the loss of civil rights and the withdrawal of lawyer's warrant.

Enrico Mizzi founded the Circolo Giovane Malta and was life president of the Societa' Dante Alighieri.

On 23 January 1926 the two parties joined together to form the Partit Nazzjonalista, with Enrico Mizzi acting as a co-leader together with Sir Ugo Mifsud till the death of the latter in 1942.

Enrico Mizzi was associated with the Italianate identity of the Maltese people, the cause for selecting Italian as an official language of the country, and a strong proponent of the Roman Catholic faith in opposition to the Protestant faith of the colonial authorities.

On 30 May 1940, while Enrico Mizzi was at the Malta Printing Press, he was arrested and together with 47 other Maltese was interned for having Italian sympathies.

Enrico Mizzi remained in close contact with other members of the Partit Nazzjonalista, such as Gorg Borg Olivier and Giuseppe Schembri.

Enrico Mizzi planned to reorganise the PN from the ground up.

At the 1950 elections the Partit Nazzjonalista reported a great success and Enrico Mizzi was appointed Prime Minister in a hung parliament.

Enrico Mizzi died in Valletta just three months later, on 20 December 1950, and had a state funeral.

Enrico Mizzi is remembered by the Maltese as a contributing force in the Maltese national and European identity.