26 Facts About Mario Scelba

Mario Scelba's father Gaetano Scelba was a poor sharecropper on land owned by the priest Don Luigi Sturzo, while his mother Maria Gambino was a housewife.

In 1914, Don Sturzo took steps to guarantee an education to Mario Scelba, who began attending the first class of the lower gymnasium in Caltagirone.

The outbreak of the World War I forced the institute to suspend lessons and Mario Scelba recovered the lost years by studying as a privatist and achieving the classical diploma in 1920.

Mario Scelba then studied law and graduated at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1924, with a thesis on regional decentralization.

In 1929 Mario Scelba married Nerina Palestini, from San Benedetto del Tronto, from whom he had a daughter Maria Luisa, born in 1930.

Mario Scelba was part of the committee which led the new party, known as the DC, during the German occupation.

Mario Scelba was arrested by the Nazis but was released within three days.

In September 1943, as a member of the DC, Mario Scelba joined the National Liberation Committee, a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile.

On 25 September 1945 Mario Scelba was appointed to the National Council, the unelected legislative assembly established in the Kingdom of Italy after the end of the war.

On 2 February 1947 Mario Scelba became Minister of the Interior in the third government of Alcide de Gasperi, and remained in office until July 1953.

Mario Scelba's hard-fisted record earned him the nickname "Iron Sicilian" for his ruthless suppression of left-wing workers' protests and strikes, as well as neo-fascist rallies.

Mario Scelba reported to Parliament the next day that so far as the police could determine, the Portella della Ginestra shooting was non-political.

Mario Scelba claimed that bandits notoriously infested the valley in which it occurred; however, that version was challenged by the left.

Mario Scelba made himself known as a man of action against what he considered communist disorder.

In doing so, Mario Scelba was criticised by many DC members who disapproved of his harsh methods.

Mario Scelba had a conservative attitude toward certain issues such as scant bathing suits, public kissing and nude statues.

Mario Scelba favoured more social reforms and public works, attacking speculators for pushing up prices.

Mario Scelba declared that he was going to tell the whole truth, in particular, who signed the letter which had been brought to Giuliano, which demanded the massacre at Portella delle Ginestra in exchange for liberty for the bandits and which Giuliano had destroyed immediately.

Mario Scelba presented to the newly elected head of state the formal resignation of his government: it was an act of courtesy towards the new president, who, in the absence of a majority crisis, should reject them, but Gronchi did not do it.

In July 1955 Mario Scelba renounced the office, and on 6 July, Antonio Segni sworn in as new prime minister.

Mario Scelba, whose fall was caused by the political manoeuvring of his party's rivals, always stated that he had been overthrown not by a parliamentary vote but by a party coup.

Mario Scelba adopted extraordinary measures to save public order and established an advisory commission called to draw up proposals to promote coexistence between different ethnic-linguistic groups.

Mario Scelba remained in office until February 1962, when Fanfani proposed a cabinet reshuffle, ousting him from office.

Mario Scelba ran in the first European election in June 1979, for the constituency Italian Islands, receiving nearly 200,000 votes but he did not succeed in being elected, arriving third after Salvo Lima and Vincenzo Giumarra.

On 29 October 1991, Mario Scelba died of thrombosis aged 90 at his home in Rome.

Mario Scelba embodied the values of democratic Catholicism and anti-fascism, inherited by Don Sturzo's policies.