Achille Lauro

Achille Lauro
Mayor of Naples
In office 9 July 1952 – 6 January 1958
Preceded by
Succeeded by
In office 4 February 1961 – 29 November 1961
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Member of Italian Chamber of Deputies
In office 12 June 1958 – 4 June 1968
In office 25 May 1972 – 19 June 1979
Member of the Italian Senate
In office 25 June 1953 – 12 June 1958
In office 4 June 1968 – 25 May 1972
Personal details
Born	(1887-06-16)16 June 1887 Piano di Sorrento, Campania, Italy
Died	15 November 1982(1982-11-15) (aged 95) Naples, Campania, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	PNF (1939–1943) PNM (1946–1954) PMP (1954–1959) PDIUM (1959–1972) MSI (1972–1977) DN (1977–1979)
Spouse(s)	Angelina Lauro
Residence	Naples, Italy
Profession	Politician Entrepreneur
Nickname(s)	'o Comandante

Achille Lauro (Italian pronunciation: [aˈkilːe ˈlauro]; 16 June 1887 – 15 November 1982) was an Italian businessman and politician. He is widely considered one of the main precursors of Italian modern populism. He was nicknamed by his supporters Il Comandante ("The Commander").^[1]

Life[]

Born the fifth of six children of the shipowner Gioacchino and of Laura Cafiero, he was on his part the shipowner and founder of the Flotta Lauro, one of the most powerful Italian fleets of all time and one of the major fortunes in the south of Italy, in addition to the owner of a true financial empire created by himself. A determining fact in marking the force of his activities was his intuition that his workers should participate in the benefits of their activities.

As a politician, he maintained a great popularity and was venerated by the majority of the population of the city of Naples, to the point that in the municipal elections of 1952 and 1956 he received almost 300,000 votes, higher than any number of votes received by any candidate in local elections up to that point. In the general elections of 1953, he received 680,000 votes for the Chamber of Deputies, also a number that had never been achieved before.

During the decades of Italian fascism, he was named the National Counsellor of the Chamber of the fasces and the corporations, appointed to this position by Galeazzo Ciano, the son-in-law of Benito Mussolini himself, who was active in shipping commerce. Also during this period he was named president of the Naples football club SSC Napoli, where he succeeded .

After the war, after an initial participation in the Common Man's Front, he became active in the monarchist movement of Alfredo Covelli and financially supported the birth of the Monarchist National Party (PNM), and was for a long time the mayor of Naples, appreciated and questioned for his management of the public funds.

A square in the coastal town of Sorrento is named in his honour.

References[]

• Achille Della Ragione. Achille Lauro superstar: la vita, l'impero, la leggenda. Napoli, 2003.
• Serena Romano. Don Achille, 'o comandante. Milano, 1992.
• Pietro Zullino. Il Comandante. Milano, 1976.

External links[]

• Achille Lauro