Giulio Prinetti

Giulio Nicoló Margrave Prinetti ( November 8, 1851 in Milan , † June 9, 1908 in Rome ) was an Italian businessman and politician. From March 1896 to December 1897 he was Minister of Public Works in the Rudinì Cabinet , and from February 1, 1901 to April 19, 1903 Foreign Minister in the Zanardelli Cabinet .

Life

Prinetti grew up in a noble , politically very active family: his father was mayor of Merate , two of his brothers had been senators for life since 1860 and 1874 respectively . The young Prinetti also quickly became a politician after completing his engineering degree at the Milan Polytechnic . In addition, he founded the company Prinetti & Stucchi in Milan in 1875 , which produced bicycles , sewing machines and at times also cars . On January 29, 1903, he suffered a stroke from which he - despite initial hopes to the contrary - never recovered.

Political career

In 1882, Prinetti, already a councilor in his hometown, was elected as an extreme conservative member of the Italian parliament, the first four legislative periods for the Como constituency , then a further four legislative periods for the neighboring constituency of Brivio until his death . He appeared to be an eccentric loner on many political issues, but his thoroughness in matters of public finances and public works was well appreciated. As Minister of Public Works he was particularly concerned about the railways , where he uncovered abuses in the procurement of materials; he was considered a good organizer.

As Foreign Minister, he pursued a contradicting policy: on the one hand, he tried to extend the Triple Alliance (which took place on June 28, 1902) , which he had opposed as a member of parliament; on the other hand, he declared a few days later in a private exchange of letters with the French Foreign Minister Camille Barrère de facto the neutrality of Italy in a war between the German Empire and France , with which the Triple Alliance was de facto devalued. This took place in the course of a balance between the Italian and French colonial interests in North Africa (the present-day states of Morocco and Libya ).

Since his health situation did not improve after the stroke, he resigned from office on April 19, 1903.

Others

In Como and Perugia there is a street Via Giulio Prinetti , in Merate a Piazza Giulio Prinetti , in Brivio a primary school is named after him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Article PRINETTI, Giulio in Enciclopedia Italiana, accessed March 17, 2016.
2. ^ Schmidt, Stefan: France's foreign policy in the July crisis 1914: A contribution to the history of the outbreak of the First World War. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2009, p. 116.