Giuseppe Alessi

The Honourable
Giuseppe Alessi
1st and 3rd President of Sicily
In office
30 May 1947 – 13 June 1949
Preceded by Office created
(Giovanni Selvaggi as High Commissary)
Succeeded by Franco Restivo
In office
5 June 1955 – 4 April 1956
Preceded by Franco Restivo
Succeeded by Giuseppe La Loggia
Member of the Chamber
In office
27 May 1968 – 24 May 1972
Constituency Palermo
Member of the Senate
In office
17 May 1963 – 4 June 1968
Constituency Piazza Armerina
Personal details
Born (1905-10-29)29 October 1905
San Cataldo, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy
Died 13 July 2009(2009-07-13) (aged 103)
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Political party Italian People's Party
(1921–1926)
Christian Democracy
(1943–1994)
Rebirth of Christian Democracy
(1997–2002)
Christian Democracy
(2002–2009)
Alma mater University of Palermo
Profession Lawyer, politician

Giuseppe Alessi (29 October 1905 – 13 July 2009) was an Italian politician.

Biography

Alessi was born in San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Sicily. He was one of the founding members of the Christian Democratic (Democrazia Cristiana) party on the island and became the first elected President of the Regional Government of Sicily. He was a member of the reform wing of the DC. From 1968-72, he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

Journalist Alexander Stille interviewed Alessi in the 1990s and asked him about the relations between the Christian Democrats and the Mafia: "It happened this way. Some people in the Christian Democratic Party approached the separatists, whose backbone were these Mafia bosses and invited them to join the national parties ... [T]he Mafiosi were looking for the road to power, to secure the support they needed for their economic affairs. If the mayor was Republican, they became Republican, if he was Socialist, they were Socialist, if he was Christian Democrat they became Christian Democrat." Alessi defended them as a necessary evil of the Cold War period: "The Christian Democrats subordinated their ideals for a supreme interest of national importance: saving the democratic state. The victory of Communism would have meant Italy ended up behind the Iron Curtain."

Political views

Alessi's justification of his party's dealings with the Mafia is based on a romantic view of the Mafia of the 1940s an 1950s: "They weren't criminals, they were local potentates, neighbourhood bosses, proud men of prestige. Their crimes were basically economic - fraud, forgery, illegal appropriation of property - but they disliked real crime."[1]

Death

Alessi died in Palermo, aged 103, on 13 July 2009.

References

  1. ↑ All The Prime Minister's Men, by Alexander Stille, The Independent on Sunday, 24 September 1995.
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