Royal Academy of Italy
Encyclopedia
The Royal Academy of Italy was an organization of Italian academians, intellectuals, and cultural figures created on 7 January 1926 by the Fascist
government of the Kingdom of Italy
by a royal decree, and effectively dissolved in 1943.
The declared purpose of the academy was "to promote and coordinate Italian intellectual activity in the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, to preserve the integrity of the national spirit, according to the genius and tradition of the race, and to encourage their diffusion[abroad] ".
. The Academy selected sixty Italians chosen for their scientific, literary, and artistic achievements. Those sixty members were divided into four groups of fifteen, representing the physical sciences, moral sciences (including history), arts, and letters (literature).
Politically the Academy served to unify and strengthen the Fascist regime's hold on intellectual activity in Italy, as the Academy demanded that all its members swear loyalty to Fascism and Italy. The Academy was effective at drawing in the intellectual and cultural elites, and was mostly effective at rewarding real talent rather than just loyalty to the regime. It absorbed other independent institutions, notably the prestigious and venerable scientific Accademia dei Lincei
in 1939.
The members were well paid, earning 3,000 lire
per month at a time when average per capita income in Italy was 3,079 per year. The members were automatically granted first class travel
on Italy's national railroads and were entitled to were uniforms designed for the members and to be addressed as "Your Excellency". Each were allowed to compete for the four annual Mussolini prizes which were awarded to Academy members who demonstrated outstanding work in their respective fields. The Academy sponsored lectures, meetings, research, and publications. In 1934, the Academy appointed a commission to create a dictionary of the Italian language in which all Italianized foreign words were to be removed.
After the collapse of the Fascist regime in 1943 and the installation of the puppet Fascist regime in the Italian Social Republic
, a new version of the Academy was briefly reopened until the remnant Fascist state was defeated in 1945.
The heir to the Royal Academy of Italy is the Angelica-Constantiniana Academy of Arts and Sciences, established in 1949.
The following figures were among the first members named by Mussolini in 1929: Antonio Beltramelli, Pietro Bonfante, Filippo Bottazzi, Armando Brasini, Pietro Canonica, Francesco Coppola
, Giotto Dainelli, Salvatore Di Giacomo
, Enrico Fermi
, Carlo Formichi, Umberto Giordano
, Alessandro Luzio, Antonio Mancini
, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
, Pietro Mascagni
, Francesco Orestano, Alfredo Panzini
, Nicola Parravano, Marcello Piacentini
, Luigi Pirandello
, Pietro Romualdo Pirotta, Ettore Romagnoli, Giulio Aristide Sartorio
, Francesco Severi
, Bonaldo Stringher, Alfredo Trombetti
, Giancarlo Vallauri, Gioacchino Volpe, and Adolfo Wildt
.
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
government of the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
by a royal decree, and effectively dissolved in 1943.
The declared purpose of the academy was "to promote and coordinate Italian intellectual activity in the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, to preserve the integrity of the national spirit, according to the genius and tradition of the race, and to encourage their diffusion
Structure and history
The Academy was modelled upon the prestigious French AcademyAcadémie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. The Academy selected sixty Italians chosen for their scientific, literary, and artistic achievements. Those sixty members were divided into four groups of fifteen, representing the physical sciences, moral sciences (including history), arts, and letters (literature).
Politically the Academy served to unify and strengthen the Fascist regime's hold on intellectual activity in Italy, as the Academy demanded that all its members swear loyalty to Fascism and Italy. The Academy was effective at drawing in the intellectual and cultural elites, and was mostly effective at rewarding real talent rather than just loyalty to the regime. It absorbed other independent institutions, notably the prestigious and venerable scientific Accademia dei Lincei
Accademia dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei, , is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy....
in 1939.
The members were well paid, earning 3,000 lire
Italian lira
The lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a “national subunit” of the euro...
per month at a time when average per capita income in Italy was 3,079 per year. The members were automatically granted first class travel
First class travel
First class is the most luxurious class of accommodation on a train, passenger ship, airplane, or other conveyance. It is usually much more expensive than business class and economy class, and offers the best amenities.-Aviation:...
on Italy's national railroads and were entitled to were uniforms designed for the members and to be addressed as "Your Excellency". Each were allowed to compete for the four annual Mussolini prizes which were awarded to Academy members who demonstrated outstanding work in their respective fields. The Academy sponsored lectures, meetings, research, and publications. In 1934, the Academy appointed a commission to create a dictionary of the Italian language in which all Italianized foreign words were to be removed.
After the collapse of the Fascist regime in 1943 and the installation of the puppet Fascist regime in the Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, a new version of the Academy was briefly reopened until the remnant Fascist state was defeated in 1945.
The heir to the Royal Academy of Italy is the Angelica-Constantiniana Academy of Arts and Sciences, established in 1949.
Notable members
The Academy's presidents included:- Guglielmo MarconiGuglielmo MarconiGuglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
, inventor of radio telegraphy, President of the Royal Academy in 1930-1937 - Gabriele d'AnnunzioGabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...
, poet and politician, President 1937–1938 - Luigi FederzoniLuigi FederzoniLuigi Federzoni was a twentieth-century Italian nationalist and later Fascist politician....
, politician, President 1938-1943
The following figures were among the first members named by Mussolini in 1929: Antonio Beltramelli, Pietro Bonfante, Filippo Bottazzi, Armando Brasini, Pietro Canonica, Francesco Coppola
Francesco Coppola
Francesco Coppola was prominent Italian journalist and politician in the twentieth century who associated with Italian nationalism and later Italian Fascism....
, Giotto Dainelli, Salvatore Di Giacomo
Salvatore Di Giacomo
Salvatore Di Giacomo was a Neapolitan poet, songwriter and playwright.Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for renewing Neapolitan dialect poetry at the beginning of the 20th century...
, Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, Carlo Formichi, Umberto Giordano
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
, Alessandro Luzio, Antonio Mancini
Antonio Mancini
Antonio Mancini was an Italian painter.-Biography:Mancini was born in Rome and showed precocious ability as an artist...
, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti was an Italian poet and editor, the founder of the Futurist movement, and a fascist ideologue.-Childhood and adolescence:...
, Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
, Francesco Orestano, Alfredo Panzini
Alfredo Panzini
Alfredo Panzini was an Italian novelist and lexicographer.Born in Senigallia, Panzini was a student of Giosuè Carducci at the University of Bologna. Panzini worked as a secondary school teacher before becoming a writer. Panzini is noted for the humorous and often genial tone of his writings...
, Nicola Parravano, Marcello Piacentini
Marcello Piacentini
Marcello Piacentini was an Italian architect and urban theorist.-Biography:Born in Rome, he was the son of architect Pio Piacentini...
, Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, Pietro Romualdo Pirotta, Ettore Romagnoli, Giulio Aristide Sartorio
Giulio Aristide Sartorio
Giulio Aristide Sartorio was an Italian painter and film director from Rome.-Biography:Having attended the Rome Institute of Fine Arts, Sartorio presented a Symbolist work at the Esposizione Internazionale di Roma of 1883...
, Francesco Severi
Francesco Severi
Francesco Severi was an Italian mathematician.Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algebraic geometry and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He became the effective leader of the Italian school of algebraic geometry...
, Bonaldo Stringher, Alfredo Trombetti
Alfredo Trombetti
Alfredo Trombetti was an Italian linguist active in the early 20th century.He was born in Bologna on January 16, 1866 and died in Venice on July 5, 1929.Trombetti was a professor at the University of Bologna...
, Giancarlo Vallauri, Gioacchino Volpe, and Adolfo Wildt
Adolfo Wildt
Adolfo Wildt was an Italian sculptor whose works, which blend simplicity and sophistication, led the way for numerous modernist sculptors.-Early life:...
.