Cino Vitta

Cino Vitta (Florence, May 26, 1873 - Florence, January 4, 1956) was an Italian jurist, academic and art collector of Jewish heritage.

Biography Vitta was born in Florence on May 26, 1873, to Annetta and Edoardo Modigliani, a wealthy Jewish family of Piedmontese origin. From a young age he showed a special interest in law, which enabled him to achieve a brilliant career in academia. In 1912 he married Emma Melli. The couple had one son, Edward.

With Santi Romano, Oreste Ranelletti, Federico Cammeo and Ugo Forti, he was part of the so-called Italian School that based administrative law on the teachings of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando.

During the years of World War I he was mayor of the municipality of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. After the war he became an administrator in the municipality of Florence, and was later appointed a member of the reform commissions chaired by Ugo Forti for the reorganization of the state. He was also appointed president of the Israelite Community of Florence. .Between 1933 and 1935 he wrote Administrative Law in two volumes, his major work.

In 1938 Benito Mussolini's fascist racial laws banned him, as a Jew, from teaching in academies and cultural institutes in Italy. Forced to abandon university teaching, he hid for years with his wife in an asylum in the province of Siena, with the help of a doctor friend. He resumed teaching after the war, in 1944.

In 1949 he was appointed professor emeritus in recognition of his high intellectual and scientific qualities by the University of Turin.

After the war, he was released from teaching and assigned to do research on eastern public law.

Art collector Vitta had an art collection that was looted during the Nazi era. Heirs filed claims for five paintings from the Macchiaioli school, including “Woman Rocking a Baby” by Odoardo Borrani and “The Baker’s Shop at Settignano” by Telemaco Signorini. Some of the artworks were later restituted or the object of a settlement.

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