Giuseppe Girardini

Giuseppe Girardini (Udine, 14 April 1856 – Tricesimo, 21 October 1923 ) was an Italian lawyer and politician.

Early life and political career The son of Felice Girardini and Luigia Peressini, he lost his father at the age of 6. He graduated in law in Rome in 1880, and founded the Friulian branch of the Radical Party in Udine, which had the weekly Il Paese as its press organ. First was elected deputy for the Udine constituency in a by-election, he went on to serve in 7 legislatures, between 1893-1895 and 1897-1923. In Libya he was instrumental, together with the governor of Tripolitania, Giuseppe Volpi, in securing the occupation of the port of Misrata, the first step in the reconquest of Libya that was completed during the fascist period. In the troubled postwar period, he felt growing concern over the rise of the Popular and Socialist parties. He believed that the new mass movements were mobilising people against proper national sentiments. When the fascist movement began to spread in Friuli, he immediately showed a certain sympathy towards it, seeing in it a possible restorer of order after the so-called Biennio Rosso. On November 17, 1922, Girardini, elected for the final time and sitting as a deputy for the Social Democracy, voted in support of Mussolini's prime ministership in a vote of confidence. In July 1923, he supported the Acerbo Law. His speech on the Acerbo Law, his last in the Chamber, earned him an honorary membership card from the National Fascist Party, presented to him, on the orders of Mussolini, by the fascists of Udine.