Gaetano Azzariti

Gaetano Azzariti (26 March 1881 – 5 January 1961) was an Italian jurist and politician, who headed the Commission on Race under the Fascist regime, and served as Minister of Justice of Pietro Badoglio's government after the fall of the Italian fascist regime. After the war, from 1957 to 1961, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Italy.

Early life and career Azzariti was born in Naples into a family of Apulian origins; both his father and two of his brothers (including Francesco Saverio Azzariti, senator of the Kingdom of Italy) were magistrates. He graduated in law from the University of Naples in 1901. In 1938. he adhered to the Manifesto of Race, which played a significant role in the promulgation of the Italian racial laws, and became president of a commission, the Tribunal for the Race, established at the Directorate General for Demography and Race of the Ministry of the Interior. Azzariti would later claim that he had merely "turned into law the wishes of Mussolini" and that as president of the Tribunal for the Race he had "softened" the implementation of the racial laws.

Later life and career On 25 July 1943, following the fall of Fascism, Azzariti was appointed Minister of Justice in the first Badoglio government. In March 2019, the Municipality of Naples decided the removal of the plaque affixed to the facade of the building where Azzariti had been born.

Works Among his main works are Dell'esercizio delle azioni commerciali e della loro durata (1933, with Lodovico Mortara) and Problemi attuali di diritto costituzionale (1952).

Honours Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, 2 June 1953.