Gaetano Polverelli

Italian journalist and politician (1920–1969)

Gaetano Polverelli

Minister of Popular Culture
In office
6 February 1943 – 25 July 1943
Prime Minister| Benito Mussolini
Preceded by| Alessandro Pavolini
Succeeded by| Office abolished
Member of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations
In office
23 March 1939 – 5 August 1943
Appointed by| Benito Mussolini
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
24 May 1924 – 2 March 1939
Constituency| Marche
Personal details
Born| 17 November 1886
Visso, Kingdom of Italy
Died| 17 September 1960(1960-09-17) (aged 73)
Anzio, Italy
Political party| National Fascist Party
Children| 3

Gaetano Polverelli (17 November 1886 – 17 September 1960) was an Italian journalist and politician who served as the minister of popular culture in the cabinet of Benito Mussolini being the last Fascist to hold the post.

## Early life

[edit]

Polverelli was born in Visso, Macerata, on 17 November 1886.[1] He settled in Milan where he started his journalistic career and began to write for Il Popolo d'Italia from 1914.[1]

## Career

[edit]

After World War I Polverelli moved to Rome in 1919 and was one of the founders of the fascist organization there becoming its adviser in May 1919.[2] The same year he was made the head of Il Popolo d'Italia's editorial office.[2][3] He took part in the march on Rome in October 1922.[1] He was elected to the Italian Parliament for the National Fascist Party in 1924.[2]

Polverelli joined the supreme supervisory committee of the Italian Radio Auditions Authority (EIAR) in December 1927.[1] He was re-elected as a deputy in March 1929.[1] In December 1931 he was appointed head of the press office of the Mussolini government, replacing Lando Ferretti in the post.[4][5] Polverelli was in office until August 1933 and was succeeded by Galeazzo Ciano as head of the press office.[6]

On 12 January 1941 Polverelli was named as the undersecretary at the ministry of popular culture and continued to head the press office.[2] He held the post until 6 February 1943 when he was appointed minister of popular culture to the cabinet led by Benito Mussolini replacing Alessandro Pavolini in the post.[7][8] Polverelli was in the office until the end of the Fascist rule on 25 July 1943.[9] During his term he employed a strict policy in regard to the translations of the literary works by the authors from Fascist Italy's "enemy" countries.[10]

Following the fall of the Fascist rule Polverelli was arrested on 21 June 1944 and imprisoned until 19 July 1946, when he was acquitted by the Rome Court of Appeal.[1]

## Personal life and death

[edit]

Polverelli first married Aminta Fracchioni in Piacenza on 6 October 1910 and had a son from this marriage.[1] He divorced his first wife and married Luisa Mazzetti in 1937 with whom he had two sons.[1]

Polverelli remained away from public life until his death in Anzio on 17 September 1960.[1]

### Awards

[edit]

Polverelli was the recipient of the grand cordon of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (June 1932); grand officer of the Order of the Nile (July 1933) and grand cordon of the Order of the Crown of Italy (November 1933).[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Enzo Fimiani (2015). "Polverelli Gaetano". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 84.
2. ^ a b c d Guido Bonsaver (2007). Censorship and Literature in Fascist Italy. Toronto; Buffalo, NY; London: University of Toronto Press. pp. 22, 108. ISBN 978-0-8020-9496-4.
3. ^ William E. Lingelbach (1932). "Party Struggle for Power in Spain". Current History. 35 (5): 741. JSTOR 45337014.
4. ^ George Talbot (2007). Censorship in Fascist Italy, 1922-43: Policies, Procedures and Protagonists. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 80\. ISBN 978-0-230-22285-4.
5. ^ Jane Slaughter (2017). "Book review". University of Toronto Quarterly. 86 (3): 292.
6. ^ Christopher Rundle (April 2000). "The Censorship of Translation in Fascist Italy". Translator. 6 (1): 69. doi:10.1080/13556509.2000.10799056. hdl:11585/877981. S2CID 143704043.
7. ^ Paul H. Lewis (2002). Latin Fascist Elites: The Mussolini, Franco, and Salazar Regimes. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 49\. ISBN 978-0-275-97880-8.
8. ^ W. Vincent Arnold (1999). "Book review". The International History Review. 21 (1): 210. JSTOR 40108965.
9. ^ Luca Lévi Sala (2021). "Cultural Cleansing in Italian Music Criticism in the Early 1930s: Autarchy, Eugenics and Anti-Semitism". In Alessandro Carrieri; Annalisa Capristo (eds.). Italian Jewish Musicians and Composers under Fascism: Let Our Music Be Played. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 25\. ISBN 978-3-030-52931-4.
10. ^ Jane Dunnett (2004). "Foreign Literature in Fascist Italy: Circulation and Censorship". TTR: traduction, terminologie, rédaction. 15 (2): 118. doi:10.7202/007480ar.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Gaetano Polverelli at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Members of the Mussolini Cabinet

Head of government and duce of Fascism|

* Benito Mussolini

Minister of Aeronautics
(since 1925)|

* Italo Balbo

Minister of Foreign Affairs|

* Benito Mussolini
* Dino Grandi
* Galeazzo Ciano

Minister of Agriculture
(abolished in 1923)|

* Giuseppe De Capitani D'Arzago

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
(since 1929)|

* Giacomo Acerbo
* Edmondo Rossoni
* Giuseppe Tassinari
* Carlo Pareschi

Minister of the Colonies
(abolished in 1937)|

* Luigi Federzoni
* Benito Mussolini
* Pietro Lanza di Scalea
* Emilio De Bono
* Alessandro Lessona

Minister of Italian Africa
(since 1937)|

* Alessandro Lessona
* Benito Mussolini
* Attilio Teruzzi

Minister of Communications
(since 1924)|

* Costanzo Ciano
* Umberto Puppini
* Antonio Stefano Benni
* Nino Host Venturi
* Vittorio Cini
* Giuseppe Peverelli

Minister of Corporations
(since 1926)|

* Benito Mussolini
* Giuseppe Bottai
* Ferruccio Lantini
* Renato Ricci
* Carlo Tiengo
* Tullio Cianetti

Ministry of Popular Culture
(since 1937)|

* Dino Alfieri
* Alessandro Pavolini
* Gaetano Polverelli

Minister of the Interior|

* Benito Mussolini
* Luigi Federzoni

Minister of Domestic Economy|

* Orso Mario Corbino
* Cesare Nava
* Giuseppe Belluzzo
* Alessandro Martelli

Minister of Domestic Education|

* Balbino Giuliano
* Francesco Ercole
* Cesare Maria De Vecchi
* Giuseppe Bottai
* Carlo Alberto Biggini

Minister of Finance|

* Alberto De Stefani
* Giuseppe Volpi
* Antonio Mosconi
* Guido Jung
* Paolo Ignazio Maria Thaon di Revel
* Giacomo Acerbo

Minister of Justice and Affairs of Religion|

* Aldo Oviglio
* Alfredo Rocco
* Pietro De Francisci
* Arrigo Solmi
* Dino Grandi
* Alfredo De Marsico

Minister of Industry and Commerce|

* Teofilo Rossi

Minister of Public Works|

* Gabriello Carnazza
* Gino Sarrocchi
* Giovanni Giuriati
* Benito Mussolini
* Michele Bianchi
* Araldo di Crollalanza
* Luigi Razza
* Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli
* Adelchi Serena
* Giuseppe Gorla
* Zenone Benini

Minister of War|

* Armando Diaz
* Antonino Di Giorgio
* Benito Mussolini
* Pietro Gazzera
* Benito Mussolini

Minister of Labour and Social Security|

* Stefano Cavazzoni

Minister of Posts and Telegraphs|

* Giovanni Antonio Colonna
* Costanzo Ciano

Minister of War Production
(since 6 February 1943)|

* Carlo Favagrossa

Minister of Public Education|

* Giovanni Gentile
* Alessandro Casati
* Pietro Fedele
* Giuseppe Belluzzo

Minister of Trades and Currencies|

* Felice Guarneri
* Raffaello Riccardi
* Oreste Bonomi

Minister of Press and Propaganda|

* Galeazzo Ciano
* Dino Alfieri

Minister of Freed Territories from Enemies
(abolished on 5 February 1923)|

* Giovanni Giuriati

Minister of Treasure
(merged into Ministry of Finance on 31 December 1922)|

* Vincenzo Tangorra
* Alberto De Stefani

Authority control databases: People |

* Italian People

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template