Mario Scelba (pronounced [ˈmaːrjo ʃˈʃɛlba] ⓘ; 5 September 1901 – 29 October 1991) was an Italian politician and statesman who was the 33rd prime minister of Italy from February 1954 to July 1955.

[1] A founder of Christian Democracy (DC), Scelba was one of the longest-serving Minister of the Interior in the history of the republic, having served at the Viminale Palace in three distinct terms from 1947 to 1962.

[3] Known for his law and order policies, he was a key figure in Italy's post-war reconstruction, thanks to his drastic reorganization of the Italian police, which came out heavily disorganised from the war.

His father Gaetano Scelba was a poor sharecropper on land owned by the priest Don Luigi Sturzo, while his mother Maria Gambino was a housewife.

The outbreak of the World War I forced the institute to suspend lessons and Scelba recovered the lost years by studying as a privatist and achieving the classical diploma in 1920.

[8] When the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power, suppressing all the other parties, including the PPI, Sturzo was forced into exile, while Scelba remained in Rome as his informer.

In the interregional congress of the DC, held in Naples on 29 and 30 July 1944, Scelba was elected to the party's national council, which appointed De Gasperi as new secretary.

[12] In September 1943, as a member of the DC, Scelba joined the National Liberation Committee (CLN), a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile.

The Italian Communist Party (PCI) deputy Girolamo Li Causi stressed the political nature of the massacre, claiming that the Mafia had perpetrated the attack, in cahoots with the large landowners, monarchists and the rightist Common Man's Front.

[29][30] As interior minister, Scelba announced that the government had 330,000 men under arms, including a special shock force of 150,000 ready to take on communists if they would try to make troubles on election day.

"[6] During his rule, he transformed country's dishevelled police into a force of some 100,000 agents and established a riot squad, heavily armed and equipped with armoured cars and special jeep, called the Reparto Celere ("Fast Department").

"[6] Scelba emphasized the possibility of undermining communist strength "by determined measures of social and economic improvement, like a land reform of the great estates in Southern Italy, for example.

"[20] While in office, he was also involved in setting up the Gladio network, the clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to organise resistance after a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe.

Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a superbonus of two-thirds of seats in the House for the coalition which would obtain at-large the absolute majority of votes.

[38] Pella's government lasted only five months,[39][40] and Fanfani became the new prime minister in January 1954; however, he was forced to resign after only 23 days in power, and then Italian president Luigi Einaudi gave Scelba the task of forming a new cabinet.

[42] During his premiership, he built strong relations with the United States and NATO and resolved many wartime issues notably including the difficult situation in the Free Territory of Trieste.

A few months before, former prime minister Pella risked an open conflict with Josip Tito's Yugoslavia,[43] Scelba instead pursued a diplomatic way, which brought to the sign of the "London Memorandum" on 5 October 1954.

[48] At the end of 1954, Scelba approved a package of measures against the PCI and trade unions that was largely modelled on United States psychological warfare plans first elaborated in 1951–52.

The PCI used the episode to denounce the illiberal and authoritarian nature of the DC government and to pose itself once more as the real defender of political freedoms and constitutional rights.

[50] Scelba presented to the newly elected head of state the formal resignation of his government: it was an act of courtesy towards the new president, who, in the absence of a majority crisis, should reject them, but Gronchi did not do it.

[52] In 1958, Scelba formed his own faction within the DC, known as Centrismo popolare ("People's Centrism") and composed conservative by politicians such Guido Gonella, Roberto Lucifredi, Mario Martinelli and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, which would be dissolved in 1968.

[54] In fact, the disorders which caused the fall of Fernando Tambroni's government, made Scelba's return to the Viminale Palace necessary to protect public order against violent demonstrations.

[55] Scelba adopted extraordinary measures to save public order and established an advisory commission called to draw up proposals to promote coexistence between different ethnic-linguistic groups.

[58] During the rest of his political career, he always tried to oppose the positions of DC members who, like Fanfani and Aldo Moro, worked to overcome centrist policies, starting a gradual convergence with the PSI.