Tommaso Tittoni | |
---|---|
17th Prime Minister of Italy | |
In office 12 March 1905 – 28 March 1905 |
|
Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
Preceded by | Giovanni Giolitti |
Succeeded by | Alessandro Fortis |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 23 June 1919 – 25 November 1919 |
|
Premier | Giovanni Giolitti |
Preceded by | Sidney Sonnino |
Succeeded by | Vittorio Scialoja |
In office 29 May 1906 – 11 December 1909 |
|
Premier | Giovanni Giolitti |
Preceded by | Francesco Guicciardini |
Succeeded by | Francesco Guicciardini |
In office 3 November 1903 – 24 December 1905 |
|
Premier |
Giovanni Giolitti Himself Alessandro Fortis |
Preceded by | Giulio Prinetti |
Succeeded by | Antonino Paternò Castello |
President of the Italian Senate | |
In office 1 December 1919 – 21 January 1929 |
|
Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
Preceded by | Adeodato Bonasi |
Succeeded by | Luigi Federzoni |
Personal details | |
Born |
Rome, Italy |
16 November 1855
Died | 7 February 1931 Rome, Italy |
(aged 75)
Political party | Historical Right |
Tommaso Tittoni (16 November 1855 – 7 February 1931) was an Italian diplomat, politician and Knight of the Annunziata. He was Italy's Foreign Minister from 1903 until 1909, except for a five-month period. He also was interim Prime Minister for about a month in March 1905.
Tommaso Tittoni was born in Rome. His father, Vincenzo, a tenant farmer on a large scale at La Manziana, had taken part in the defence of the Roman Republic under Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1849, was exiled by Pius IX, and re-entered Rome in 1870 through the breach of Porta Pia. Tittoni was educated first at Naples, and subsequently at Oxford and Liège.
Tittoni became an alderman of Rome, before becoming a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies for Civitavecchia in 1886, aligning himself with the right-wing. He resigned his seat in 1897, having been appointed prefect of Perugia. Three years later he went to Naples in a similar capacity, and in 1902 he entered the Senate.
When Giovanni Giolitti became premier for the second time in 1903, Tittoni became his Foreign Minister. He aimed at improving relations with Austria, and also tried to bring about a reconciliation with France. It was in fact under his auspices that French President Émile Loubet visited Rome.
On the resignation of Giolitti in March 1905, Tittoni became interim Premier for a few days and remained in Alessandro Fortis's cabinet as Foreign Minister. His proposal to reduce the duty on Spanish wines in connexion with an Italo-Spanish commercial treaty aroused a storm of indignation among the agricultural classes and caused the fall of the cabinet on December 24, 1905, and although Fortis composed a new administration, Tittoni did not enter it.