Lorenzo Chierici

Lorenzo "Renzo" Chierici (11 January 1895 – 19 November 1943) was an Italian Fascist official, prefect and soldier, who served as Commander of the Forestry Militia from December 1941 to April 1943 and Chief of the Italian Police from April to July 1943.

Biography

Chierici was born in Reggio Emilia and studied law. During the First World War he enlisted in the Royal Italian Army as a volunteer, reaching the rank of captain by 1918; after the end of the war he was among Gabriele D’Annunzio’s legionnaires who occupied Fiume in 1920, and in the same year he joined the National Fascist Party.

He quickly rose through the ranks of the Voluntary Militia for National Security, becoming console (Colonel) by 1926, when he was transferred to the Forestry Militia and subsequently promoted to console generale (brigadier-general). In 1929 he became federal secretary of the PNF of Ferrara. From July 1935 to August 1939 he served as Prefect of Pescara, and in 1939 he was appointed prefect of the Province of Pola, remaining in office until December 1941. On 5 December 1941 he was appointed commander of the Forestry Militia with the rank of luogotenente generale (Major General). Chierici was then reinstated by the new prime minister Pietro Badoglio to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Royal Italian Army, and given command of an Alpini battalion in South Tyrol.