Antonio Martino

Antonio Martino (22 December 1942 – 5 March 2022) was an Italian politician and economist who a deputy and minister during the early years of the Second Italian Republic. A founding member of Forza Italia (FI), he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Minister of Defence from 2001 to 2006. Martino was the son of a prominent Italian Liberal Party (PLI) politician who served as foreign minister in the 1950s. He followed his father's politics and joined the PLI in 1968.

After graduating in Jurisprudence, Martino moved to the United States and became a professor. He was also a prolific writer and author, and wrote for numerous publications. From 1994 to 2018, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies. First elected with Forza Italia, he was a founding member of The People of Freedom (PdL), which was Forza Italia's successor in 2009, and was part of Forza Italia's refoundation in 2013.

Early life and education Martino was born on 22 December 1942 in Messina. He was the son of Gaetano Martino (1900–1967), the Foreign Minister of Italy from 1954 to 1957 and prominent member of the PLI. Martino earned a J.D. in Jurisprudence from the University of Messina Law School in 1964, then went on to the University of Chicago for postgraduate studies in Economics from 1966 to 1968, where he was a student of Milton Friedman. A member of the Italian Parliament, Martino was first elected in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996 and 2001. He was the Adjunct Scholar at The Heritage Foundation from 1978 and an editorial board member of the Cato Journal from 1990. During the 1990s, he wrote Stato Padrone, a book in which he set out his free-market ideas. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first Berlusconi government (1994–1995) and Minister of Defence in the second Berlusconi government (2001–2006).

In 2004, Martino was the main promoter for the suspending compulsory military service, already formally decided in 2001 but officially in 2007; consequently, the suspension came into effect indefinitely on 1 January 2005 (Martino Law), and also granted exemption to all those who had in the past obtained postponements of service on grounds such as study. Additionally, he backed the a speedier transformation of the armed forces into a body of professional volunteers. Martino was also the secretary of the Italy-USA Foundation's Scientific Committee. In 2005, he was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service by the United States Department of Defense.

Personal life and death Martino was married and had two daughters. He died in Rome on 5 March 2022 at the age of 79.