Francesco Nitti

Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as the 36th Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920. After less than a year as head of government, he resigned, and was succeeded by the veteran Giolitti on 16 June 1920.

Still a member of the Italian parliament, Nitti offered resistance to the nascent power of fascism, and openly despised Benito Mussolini. In 1924 he decided to emigrate, but after the Second World War he returned to Italy. He was elected to the Senate, first for the National-Democrats, and later for the Socialist Party of Italy (PSI). To Italy's NATO membership he remained staunchly opposed.

Nitti (Population and the Social System, 1894) was a staunch critic of English economist Thomas Robert Malthus and his Principle of Population. He was an important meridionalist and studied about the reasons of the problems that were born in South Italy after the Italian unification.

In Rome on 20 February 1953, Nitti died. Throughout his career he deplored any kind of dictatorship, whether it was communist, conservative, or fascist.