Paolo Emilio Taviani

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Paolo Emilio Taviani
Italian Minister of Defense
In office August 17, 1953 – July 1, 1958
Prime Minister	Giuseppe Pella Amintore Fanfani Mario Scelba Antonio Segni Adone Zoli
Preceded by	Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli
Succeeded by	Antonio Segni
Italian Minister of the Interior
In office February 21, 1962 – June 21, 1963
Prime Minister	Amintore Fanfani
Preceded by	Mario Scelba
Succeeded by	Mariano Rumor
In office December 4, 1963 – June 24, 1968
Prime Minister	Aldo Moro
Preceded by	Mariano Rumor
Succeeded by	Franco Restivo
In office July 7, 1973 – November 23, 1974
Prime Minister	Mariano Rumor
Preceded by	Mariano Rumor
Succeeded by	Luigi Gui
Born	November 6, 1912 (1912-11-06) (age 95) Genoa, Italy
Died	June 18, 2001
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Christian Democracy
Profession	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic

Paolo Emilio Taviani (Genoa, November 6, 1912 - June 18, 2001) was an Italian politician. One of the founders of the Christian Democracy (DC), he was Minister of Defense from 1953 to 1958, and then Minister of the Interior from 1961 to 1968 and from 1972 to 1974. As Minister of Defense, he organized the creation of the Italian NATO stay-behind network, dubbed Gladio ^[1]. Named Senator for life by president Francesco Cossiga (DC) in 1991, he died of a stroke ten years later, aged 88.

A captain in the artillery during the Second World War, he went into exile and became a partisan leader in 1943. Joining the National Liberation Committee for Liguria, he took part in the Genoa revolt against the Nazis. Taviani was then decorated for his services to the Resistance by the US and the USSR. He then became Secretary of the DC from June 1949 to April 1950.

A staunch supporter of the Atlantic Alliance, Taviani has also been accused of collusion with neofascists while he was Interior Minister. However, he was also the one who outlawed Ordine Nuovo and Avanguardia Nazionale far-right groups, involved in Italy's strategy of tension in the 1970s. He personally thought that this measure blocked him from helding again any ministerial office ^[1].

Interrogated by Italian justice about the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan (16 dead) organized by neofascists, he told investigators that the SID military intelligence service was on the point of sending a senior officer from Rome to Milan to impede the bombing. However, the SID finally decided to sent a different officer, from Padua, in order to put the blame of the bombing on left-wing anarchists ^[1].

Taviani also declared in an August 2000 interview to Il Secolo XIX newspaper: "It seems to me certain, however, that agents of the CIA were among those who supplied the materials and who muddied the waters of the investigation." Finally, he confided to senator Giovanni Pellegrino, chairman of the parliamentary terrorism commission: "I don't deny that as minister of the interoir I sometimes had to violate the law. But, believe me, I always remain faithful to the constitution." ^[1]

He also admitted in a magazine interview in November 2000 that he had taken part to the decision, alleging "reasons of state" (ragione di stato), not to press charges against the German soldiers responsible for the massacre of 6,000 Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Cephalonia in 1943 ^[1].

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