Giovanni Amendola

Giovanni Amendola is one of the most illustrious figures of early anti-fascism, the one that opposed Mussolini's seizure of power. Having died following a beating by a gang, the most important square in Salerno, the city in which he was elected deputy, is dedicated to him.

Giovanni Amendola is the hero and martyr of Salerno anti-fascism. The square in front of the town hall and a statue are dedicated to him. He was born in Naples to a family originally from Sarno in the province of Salerno, and his political career led him to election to the constituency of Mercato San Severino and then Salerno. He began his career as a journalist, collaborating first with Prezzolini's Vove and then with Corriere della Sera, with whose director Albertini built a friendship. When war broke out he left for the front and fought on the Isonzo, earning a bronze medal. After the war he attempted an academic career and continued journalism, but his vocation was politics. He was elected to the Chamber first in 1919 and then in 1921, as a liberal with positions similar to those of Francesco Saverio Nitti, and in the Facta government of 1922 he became Minister of the Colonies. We are in the year of the March on Rome and Amendola is among those who vainly ask the King to proclaim a state of siege and block the advance of the fascist militias. Thus began his anti-fascist battle, both from the benches of Parliament and from the tribune of the World, the newspaper he founded. Because of his opposition, he suffered three attacks by fascist squads, the first and second in Rome, where he was seriously injured. But he doesn't give in and is one of the leaders of the Aventine, the boycott of parliamentary work by anti-fascist deputies after the attack on Matteotti. But in July 1925 near Montecatini - where he had participated in a political meeting - a real ambush was set up for him: wounded again with nailed clubs, he took refuge in France and died there in 1926 after a difficult surgical operation due to the consequences of the last beating. One of his sons, Giorgio, will join the Communist Party of which he will become one of the top national leaders, however linked to Salerno, a city in which he will be elected to the Chamber several times