Giovanni Spadolini was an Italian politician and statesman, who served as the 44th prime minister of Italy.
17 Facts About Giovanni Spadolini
2.
Giovanni Spadolini had been a leading figure in the Republican Party and the first head of a government to not be a member of Christian Democrats since 1945.
3.
Giovanni Spadolini is considered a highly respected intellectual for his literary works and his cultural dimension.
4.
Giovanni Spadolini was a journalist and editor-in-chief of the Bolognese newspaper Il Resto del Carlino, then of the Milanese newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
5.
Giovanni Spadolini became Prime Minister in 1981 and he led two successive cabinets which were supported by a coalition of parties in Parliament but this only lasted a few months.
6.
Giovanni Spadolini was Minister of Defence in the governments headed by Socialist leader Bettino Craxi from 1983 to 1987 before being elected President of the Senate.
7.
In 1991, Giovanni Spadolini was appointed Lifetime Senator by President Francesco Cossiga.
8.
Giovanni Spadolini was a republican and fascist-aligned activist, and wrote for the periodical Italia e Civilta.
9.
Giovanni Spadolini was close to Giovanni Gentile, and a number of times Spadolini expressed his anti-Freemason, anti-liberal and antisemitic views.
10.
Giovanni Spadolini studied law at the University of Florence and shortly after graduation was appointed Professor of Contemporary History in the Faculty of Political Science.
11.
Giovanni Spadolini became a political columnist for several newspapers, such as Il Borghese, Il Messaggero and Il Mondo, becoming editor-in-chief of the Bologna paper Il Resto del Carlino in 1955, doubling its circulation during his tenure.
12.
In 1968, Giovanni Spadolini moved to Milan where he took over the editorship of Italy's largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, a position he held until 1972.
13.
Giovanni Spadolini served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1981 to 1982, the first PM since 1945 not to be a member of the Christian Democrats.
14.
Giovanni Spadolini pledged to fight corruption and mounting terrorist violence.
15.
In 1982, after a political crisis between the Minister of the Treasury Beniamino Andreatta and the Minister of Finance Rino Formica, Giovanni Spadolini resigned and formed a new cabinet identical to the former, which collapsed in November when Bettino Craxi's Socialist Party withdrew its support.
16.
Giovanni Spadolini became Acting President of Italy on 28 April 1992, upon the resignation of then President Francesco Cossiga, for a month.
17.
Giovanni Spadolini died of respiratory failure in Rome in August 1994.