12 Facts About Gaetano Martino

Gaetano Martino was an Italian politician, physician, and university teacher.

Gaetano Martino was born in 1900 in Messina, Sicily, son of its Mayor Antonino Martino.

Gaetano Martino graduated in medicine from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1923.

Gaetano Martino worked as physician for Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris.

From 1966 to 1967, Martino was dean of the Sapienza University of Rome.

Gaetano Martino was elected in 1948 to the Chamber of Deputies, becoming briefly Minister of Public Education in 1954, under Christian Democrat Mario Scelba.

In late 1954, Gaetano Martino became Minister of Foreign Affairs after the replacement of Attilio Piccioni, involved in the Montesi Affair.

Gaetano Martino maintained his Ministry during the Antonio Segni's Cabinet, but was finally removed from office by new Prime Minister Adone Zoli.

Gaetano Martino attended the Treaty of Rome in 1957, establishing the European Economic Community.

In 1956, the newspaper La Repubblica published an article where Gaetano Martino said that investigations on the German war crimes in Italy during World War II would have a negative impact on the Germany's integration in Europe, like an internal disapprove of the NATO.

In 1994, with discovery in a military base of an armoire with secret documents on Nazi war crimes in Italy, nickname "Armoire of Shame", emerged that Gaetano Martino blocked the investigations to avoid German isolation during Cold War.

Gaetano Martino continued to serve as Deputy in the Italian Chamber until his death in July 1967.