« A jurist, a politician, a Catholic. And above all a Sardinian, a Sassarese, deeply attached to his hometown. Leader of the People's Party after the Great War and then leader of the Christian Democrats after the Second World War. He was minister eleven times, prime minister twice, finally head of state. A man of government, a legislator, rather than a party leader. His name is linked to the agrarian reform, one of the most important reforms in the history of Italy from 1861 onwards».
The synthesis of Antonio Segni's human and political journey in the words of Salvatore Mura, professor of History of Political Institutions at the University of Sassari and director of the Antonio Segni Foundation . He edited the Diary and the political writings of the Sassari politician and will publish the volume “Antonio Segni ei giuspubblicisti. An unpublished correspondence (1956-1964) at the center of the meeting scheduled for December 6th at 4.15 pm in the conference room of the Historical Archive of the Presidency of the Republic (Palazzo Sant'Andrea).
The diary
«The publication of the Diary - he explains - now dates back to ten years ago. It is an important source for understanding the relationship between the ecclesiastical hierarchies and Segni. The notes and letters he enclosed in the Diary in March 1960 provide us with largely new elements. Cardinal Tardini, Vatican secretary of state, declared himself against any government supported by the abstention of the socialists. The opening to the left would have led – warned the authoritative cardinal – to the internal split of the DC. In 1960 Segni found himself at the center of pressure from the Vatican. He gave in, convinced of the need not to proceed immediately with the opening to the left. However, he wrote to Giuseppe Siri, president of the CEI: the socialists must be put to the test; if for no other reason, for a matter of political strategy: a negative response from the PSI would have marked the choice of the socialists not to differentiate themselves from the communists; a positive response, on the other hand, would have separated the PSI from the PCI, and made the Italian left weaker».
The Reformation
Antonio Segni was the architect of a land reform that left a deep mark and broke old social and economic balances. «According to the communist Giorgio Amendola - recalls Salvatore Mura - the "excerpt" law (and with it the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno) had given a blow to the old landowner classes and broke the old balance of the dominant classes in Italy, the balance of the industrial and agricultural block. The reform offered a job and a stable life to more than one hundred thousand families, increased production, favored the development of cooperation, constituted a sort of powerful incentive to general economic development".
Sassari
His relationship with the island has always been close. Frequent trips to Sassari from Rome. «There is no proof - warns the historian - that Segni thought of moving permanently to Rome once he became a national politician (unlike Francesco Cossiga and others, such as Enrico Berlinguer). He traveled continuously, and he tended to spend the weekend in Sassari. He defended the rights of the island and looked after the interests of the Sardinians, using the means he had. He threatened to resign in order to advance the bill to finance the Renaissance Plan. The relationship for Sardinia, however, was quite different from his relationship with Sassari. Her city was for Segni as a mother is for a son. A unique, special relationship.
The politician
Defining him a conservative, according to Mura, is a simplistic judgement: «For many politicians, one adjective is enough to define them: conservative, progressive, reformist. For Antonio Segni an adjective is not enough. Not everything can be simplified. The articulated interpretation of his work seems to me the only possible one. At the Quirinale, yes, he was a conservative president, because he would have liked to maintain the political balance that had established itself during the 1950s: the DC at the center, with the small parties (PSDI, PLI, PRI) around it».
At the Quirinal
Those were troubled years and not just because his name was associated with the attempted coup. «Beyond any interpretation, what appears evident is that the summer of 1964 cast a shadow over Segni's entire life. The work of a man of institutions who had left a profound imprint of his passage in post-war Italy conditioned the deepening. Not even after his death, which took place in Rome on 1 December 1972, did the controversy subside completely. Like a karst river, from time to time it appeared and overwhelmed President Segni with accusations. Did he deserve all of this? He made some political mistakes, but he had firm convictions. He happened to be ahead of the socio-political process, when he elaborated the ambitious project of the general land reform, but he found himself behind on the reformist path, during the season of the centre-left». The memory of Antonio Segni today, fifty years after his death: « He certainly shouldn't be mythologized. He should be remembered - concludes Salvatore Mura - as a man who committed himself with all his strength to building republican Italy. Not so much his political thought, which naturally belongs to an era that no longer exists, but his commitment, his great courage, his passion can be an example".