Leonardo Severi (Fano, 31 December 1882 – 28 May 1958) was an Italian politician and civil servant, who served as Minister of National Education of the Kingdom of Italy of the Badoglio I Cabinet, the first after the fall of the Fascist regime, and as president of the Council of State in 1951–1952.

In 1913 he was appointed Supervisor of Education in Potenza, but two years later he enlisted as a volunteer in the Alpini after the outbreak of the First World War, rising in rank from second lieutenant to captain and earning a Bronze Medal of Military Valor on Monte Solarolo during the battle of Vittorio Veneto.

[3][4][5][6] After the fall of the Fascist regime on 25 July 1943, he was recommended by Marcello Soleri to Pietro d'Acquarone as Minister of National Education of the new government.

He was thus appointed Minister on 27 July, and supervised the epuration of Fascist rectors (such as those of the universities of Turin, Rome, Naples, Florence, Pisa and Padua; among the anti-fascist rectors appointed in their place were Piero Calamandrei, Luigi Einaudi, Adolfo Omodeo, Guido De Ruggiero and Concetto Marchesi), and the "de-fascistization" of school textbooks.

From the liberation of Rome, and until after the war, he was a member of several government committees; on 8 February 1951 he became president of the Council of State, a post he held until December 1952, when he retired after reaching the age limits.