Cesare Maria de Vecchi

Cesare Maria De Vecchi, 1st Conte di Val Cismon (14 November 1884 – June 23, 1959) was an Italian soldier, colonial administrator and Fascist politician.

De Vecchi was born in Casale Monferrato on 14 November 1884. After graduating in jurisprudence he became a successful lawyer in Turin. His stance on the First World War was interventionist, and he himself took part in the final events of the conflict. On his return to Italy he gave his support to the National Fascist Party, in which he would consistently represent the monarchical and ‘moderate’ wing. He became president of the Turin war veterans and head of the local Fascist squadre. In 1921, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

De Vecchi became Commander General of the Milizia (see Blackshirts), was one of the quadrumvirs who organised the March on Rome, and sought to persuade Antonio Salandra to enter into Benito Mussolini’s government. He himself became Undersecretary at the Treasury and then at the Finance Ministry. In December 1922 he inspired the squadre of Brandimarte to the 1922 Turin Massacre (Strage di Torino) and he became known as the most important of the Piedmontese squadristi.

From 1923 to 1928, De Vecchi was governor of Italian Somaliland, a role which took him away from the centre of the Italian political scene. He was made Count of Val Cismon (in memory of the battles fought by his arditi on Monte Grappa in 1918). He was appointed Senator by King Victor Emmanuel III. He became the first ambassador to the Vatican after the Concordat of 1929. Between 1935 and 1936 he was national Minister of Education: as such he promoted a historiography which identified the House of Savoy as the link between Imperial Rome and the Rome of Fascism, and also worked for the centralisation of the administration of the school system.

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