Giuseppe Castellano

Giuseppe Castellano (September 12, 1893 – July 31, 1977) was an Italian general who negotiated and signed the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 3, 1943.

Biography Military career Of Sicilian descent but born in Prato, he was the son of a military man. His career in the Army was rapid and brilliant. During the First World War, he was Captain of Artillery. In 1941, he was promoted to brigadier general during the Invasion of Yugoslavia and was the youngest general in Italy. In 1942 he was called to the Army General Staff and the following year, to the High Command and collaborated as personal aide with General Vittorio Ambrosio.

After complicated negotiations the government and king accepted the conditions for the armistice. On September 3, 1943, Castellano, in lieu of Badoglio, and General Walter Bedell Smith, in place of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed the armistice agreement in the town of Cassibile, near Syracuse, in Sicily. The agreement was not announced until September 8, when Badoglio addressed the nation during a radio broadcast.

Intervention in post-war Sicilian politics After the armistice Castellano emerged as Sicily’s military commander. He had been given powers to hold talks to resolve the separatist threat to Italian unity. He became convinced that the Sicilian Mafia was the strongest political and social force on Sicily to be reckoned with. He started to establish cordial relations with Mafia leaders. The general believed that law and order could be restored if "the system formerly employed by the old and respected Maf(f)ia should return to the Sicilian scene."

Castellano made contacts with Mafia leaders and met with them several times. He gained the co-operation of the Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini, who had supported separatism but was now prepared for a change in the island's political situation. Together with Vizzini, he approached Trapani politician Virgilio Nasi to offer him the leadership of a movement for Sicilian autonomy with the support of the Mafia. The plan was to stage Nasi as a candidate for High Commissioner for Sicily to oppose the favourite, the Christian Democrat Salvatore Aldisio.

Castellano's initiative weakened the Sicilian Independence Movement (Movimento Indipendentista Siciliano, MIS) of Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile. The Mafia, however, became a force of order and stability on the island and prevented a separatist overthrow by stifling extremist elements in the movement. The seeds were planted from which the Mafia would tremendously benefit in the decades to come.

Retirement and death He wrote a number of books about his experiences during the War: Come firmai l'armistizio di Cassibile (How I signed the armistice in Cassibile), published by Mondadori in 1945; La guerra continua (The continuous war); and Roma Kaputt. In 1947, he retired from the Army and became the director of a chain of hotels and thermal baths for some years. He died in Porretta Terme on July 31, 1977.