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Achille Lauro

Italian businessman and politician (1887–1982)

Summary

Italian businessman and politician (1887–1982)

Field	Value
name	Achille Lauro
nickname	"Il Comandante"
image	Achille Lauro (Senato).jpg
image_size	200px
order	Mayor of Naples
term_start1	9 July 1952
term_end1	6 January 1958
predecessor1	Domenico Moscati
successor1	Nicola Sansanelli
term_start	4 February 1961
term_end	29 November 1961
predecessor	Nicola Sansanelli
successor	Vincenzo Maria Palmieri
order2	Member of the Chamber of Deputies
term_start3	12 June 1958
term_end3	4 June 1968
constituency3	Rome (1958–63)
Naples (1963–68)
term_start2	25 May 1972
term_end2	19 June 1979
constituency2	Naples
order4	Member of the Senate of the Republic
term_start4	4 June 1968
term_end4	25 May 1972
constituency4	Campania
term_start5	25 June 1953
term_end5	6 April 1954
constituency5	Campania
order6	Member of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations
term_start6	23 March 1939
term_end6	5 August 1943
appointer6	Benito Mussolini
birth_date
birth_place	Piano di Sorrento, Italy
death_date
death_place	Naples, Italy
nationality	Italian
spouse	Angelina Lauro
residence	Naples, Italy
profession	Politician
Entrepreneur
party	PNF (1939–1943)
PNM (1946–1954)
PMP (1954–1959)
PDIUM (1959–1972)
MSI (1972–1977)
DN (1977–1979)

Naples (1963–68) Entrepreneur PNM (1946–1954) PMP (1954–1959) PDIUM (1959–1972) MSI (1972–1977) DN (1977–1979)

Achille Lauro (; 16 June 1887 – 15 November 1982) was an Italian businessman and politician. He is widely considered one of the main precursors of modern populism in Italian politics. He was nicknamed by his supporters Il Comandante ("The Commander").

Biography

Born the fifth of six children of the shipowner Gioacchino and of Laura Cafiero, he was on his part the shipowner and founder of the "Flotta Lauro", based in Southern Italy.

During the decades of Italian Fascist dictatorship (1922–1943), he became a member of the National Fascist Party (PNF) and was named National Counselor of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations, appointed to this position by Galeazzo Ciano, son-in-law of Benito Mussolini himself, who was active in shipping commerce. Also during this period he was named president of the Naples football club SSC Napoli, where he succeeded Giorgio Ascarelli.

In fall of 1943, during the Allied invasion of Italy, American OSS officer Donald Downes describes requisitioning Lauro's strategically located palazzo:

Number 71 Via Francesco Crispi is a temple to essential Fascist vulgarity, and looks like nothing so much as a movie lobby in the gilded days of the opening of The Paramount in New York. The further you proceed from the circular foyer in green marble with the insignia of Lauro's fleet worked in the marble floor, the more institutionally ugly it becomes.

After the end of World War II, following an initial participation in the Common Man's Front, he became active in the Italian monarchist movement led by Alfredo Covelli and financially supported the foundation of the Monarchist National Party (PNM), and was for a long time the mayor of Naples.

In 1972, he joined the neo-fascist party Italian Social Movement (MSI). A square in the coastal town of Sorrento is named after him.

In the 2024 film Parthenope, a fictionalised version of Lauro was portrayed by Italian actor Alfonso Santagata.

Electoral history

Election	House	Constituency	Votes	Result	1953
Senate of the Republic	Campania – Naples IV	Monarchist National Party}}"	PNM	182,738	Elected
Chamber of Deputies	Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone	People's Monarchist Party (Italy)}}"	PMP	30,761	Elected
Chamber of Deputies	Naples–Caserta	Monarchist National Party}}"	PDIUM	60,574	Elected
Senate of the Republic	Campania – Naples IV	Monarchist National Party}}"	PDIUM	14,693	Elected
Chamber of Deputies	Naples–Caserta	Italian Social Movement}}"	MSI	108,101	Elected
Chamber of Deputies	Naples–Caserta	Italian Social Movement}}"	MSI	72,436	Elected
Chamber of Deputies	Naples–Caserta	National Democracy (Italy)}}"	DN	11,118	Not elected

References

Achille Della Ragione. Achille Lauro superstar: la vita, l'impero, la leggenda. Napoli, 2003.
Serena Romano. Don Achille, 'o comandante. Milano, 1992.
Pietro Zullino. Il Comandante. Milano, 1976.

References

[https://www.fanpage.it/napoli/achille-lauro-e-quel-nome-ispirato-allex-sindaco-di-napoli/ Achille Lauro: perché il cantante ha il nome dello storico sindaco di Napoli], ''Fanpage''
(1953). "The Scarlet Thread: Adventures in Wartime Espionage". Wildside Press.
[https://jacobin.com/2022/07/italy-far-right-united-states-movimento-sociale-italiano-msi-post-fascism-anti-communism David Broder: ''How Italy’s Far Right Fell in Love with the United States – An Interview with Gregorio Sorgonà'', jacobin.com 29 July 2022.]

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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