Pietro Fedele

Pietro Fedele (15 April 1873 –9 January 1943) was an Italian historian and Fascist politician who served as Minister of Public Education of the Kingdom of Italy from 1925 to 1928.

In April 1924, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and in September of the same year he joined the National Fascist Party, later becoming a member of the Grand Council of Fascism.

On 5 January 1925, Alessandro Casati, Minister of Public Education, resigned in protest against the speech with which Benito Mussolini had taken moral responsibility for the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, and the Duce chose Fedele as his successor.

The choice, opposed by Giovanni Gentile (who would have preferred Balbino Giuliano), was due to Fedele's excellent relationship with the Catholic Church and to his personal friendship with Pope Pius XI.

[11][12][13] However, he was often widely criticized by party members for being "too soft"; among his main detractors were Augusto Turati, Ernesto Codignola, Vittorio Cian, Bernardo Barbiellini Amidei and, above all, Giovanni Gentile, who wrote about him in an article for Il Popolo d'Italia, which was never published, "It is clear that he is in the government and among the fascists with the spirit of Don Abbondio."