Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paola[citation needed] Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and statesman.

He was correspondent for the Gazzetta Piemontese (English: Piedmontese Gazette) and was one of the editors of the Corriere di Napoli (Courier of Naples).

Nitti had great difficulty keeping the administration functioning at all, thanks to the enmity between the extremely divergent political factions of communists, anarchists, and fascists.

In social policy, Nitti's government passed a law setting up compulsory insurance for unemployment, invalidity and old age.

In 1924, Nitti decided to emigrate, and returned to Italy only after World War II, and joined the National Democratic Union and was a member of the Senate for the Republic in the Independent Left group from 1948 until his death in 1953.

Referring to modernisation, he wrote: "Transplanting the principles and methods of the Russian Revolution into a country like Italy ... would be certain ruin.