Fernando De Rosa

Fernando De Rosa (7 October 1908October 1936) was an Italian student who attempted to assassinate Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, later Umberto II of Italy in Brussels on 24 October 1929. De Rosa was born in Milan and studied law in Turin before fleeing Italy for France in order to avoid imprisonment for his political views. He remained in Paris for about a year, studying law at the University of Paris and writing for an anti-fascist journal.

In October 1929, De Rosa travelled to Brussels and fired a shot at Italian Crown Prince Umberto II in an attempted assassination. The shot missed and De Rosa was promptly arrested. His trial became a major political event, and though he was found guilty of attempted murder, he was given a light sentence of five years in prison. This sentence caused a political uproar in Italy and a brief rift in Belgian-Italian relations. In March 1932, De Rosa was pardoned at the request of Prince Umberto and released, having served slightly less than half of his sentence. He announced an intention to return to Paris and continue his legal studies, but ended up in Spain, where he was arrested for taking part in a socialist uprising in 1934. He died in October 1936 while fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

Early life De Rosa was born on 7 October 1908 in Milan as Fernando Lencioni, and was left at the hospital there by a midwife. He was adopted by a local family and brought up as their own child, changing his name to De Rosa in 1918. He lived in Milan until 1922 or 1923, when he left to study in Turin, eventually enrolling in a law program there. In 1928, fearing that he would be imprisoned by Mussolini's regime for his political views, he crossed the Alps on skis into France. Upon his arrival in France, he was arrested by the French police, but after explaining his circumstances, he was given a French identity card and allowed to remain in the country. He then moved to Paris where he wrote for an anti-fascist journal and studied law at the University of Paris. While he was in Paris, De Rosa's political views also radicalized. He became a committed socialist and declared himself a member of the Second International.

Assassination attempt

In October 1929, De Rosa travelled from Paris to Brussels (he later gave contradictory statements about the precise date to the police) armed with a revolver, and planning to shoot Umberto II, then Crown Prince of Italy. De Rosa told the police that before firing, he shouted "Long Live Matteotti!" in reference to Giacomo Matteotti, an Italian socialist killed by the fascist party, but other witnesses stated that he yelled "Down with Mussolini!"

After the assassination attempt, the crowd grew angry, yelling "Death to the assassin", and a lynch mob formed with the goal of killing De Rosa. The police, however, took De Rosa away after a struggle with the crowd. The struggle left De Rosa "so bruised ... as to be all but unconscious", but he reached the police station without suffering permanent injuries. The trial began with a statement from De Rosa, which "sounded mostly like a sermon against fascism," setting a political tone that would continue throughout the proceedings. In their closing statement, De Rosa's lawyers even went so far as to say: "It is the fascist rule that is being tried."

In reaction to the intense politicization of the case, the prosecutor urged the jury to only consider the matter of whether de Rosa had attempted to kill Umberto (staying out of the political matters), and demanded "severe punishment". Upon learning of the light sentence and the considerable anti-fascist content of the trial, Benito Mussolini was "so dissatisfied ... that he suggested the recall of the Italian ambassador from Brussels."

Pardon and later life On 16 March 1932, after De Rosa had served about half of his five-year sentence, he was pardoned by King Albert at the request of Prince Umberto. He was released the next day and announced that he would return to Paris in order to resume his legal studies. He soon, however, entered Spain where he was arrested in October 1934, for participation in a Socialist uprising in Madrid. After his release, he joined socialist forces in the Spanish Civil War. He died in October 1936 in fighting near Madrid.