Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952) was an Italian statesman, who served as the prime minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919.

[4][5] He was also the provisional president of the Chamber of Deputies between 1943 and 1945, and a member of the Constituent Assembly that changed the Italian form of government into a republic.

Aside from his prominent political role, Orlando was a professor of law and is known for his writings on legal and judicial issues, which number over a hundred works.

His father, a landed gentleman, delayed venturing out to register his son's birth for fear of Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand, who had just stormed into Sicily on the first leg of their march to build an Italian nation.

His government instituted new policies that treated Italian troops less harshly and instilled a more efficient military system, which were enforced by Diaz.

On his own initiative Diaz also softened the harsh discipline practiced by Cadorna, increased rations, and adopted more modern military tactics which had been observed on the Western Front.

[11] With the Austro-Hungarian offensive stopped by Diaz at the Second Battle of the Piave River, a lull in fighting ensued on the Italian front as both sides brought up their logistical elements.

While he continued to reform the military, he refused demands from both sides of the political aisle calling for mass trials of generals and ministers.

When Benito Mussolini seized power in 1922, Orlando initially tactically supported him, but broke with him over the murder of Giacomo Matteotti in 1924.

Some authors criticize the blunt way he represented Italy at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, in contrast to his more diplomatic foreign minister Sidney Sonnino.

Other authors say that Orlando was connected to the Mafia and mafiosi from beginning to end of his long parliamentary career,[20] but no court ever investigated the issue.

[22] In 1925, Orlando stated in the Italian senate that he was proud of being mafioso and intended it to mean a "man of honor" but making no admission of links to organized crime, saying that "if by the word 'mafia' we understand a sense of honour pitched in the highest key; a refusal to tolerate anyone's prominence or overbearing behaviour; ... a generosity of spirit which, while it meets strength head on, is indulgent to the weak; loyalty to friends ...

If such feelings and such behaviour are what people mean by 'the mafia', ... then we are actually speaking of the special characteristics of the Sicilian soul: and I declare that I am a mafioso, and proud to be one.

[25] French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and US President Woodrow Wilson criticized his behavior at the Paris Peace Conference.