- Quintino Sella
Quintino Sella (
July 7 ,1827 -March 14 ,1884 ) was an Italianstatesman andfinancier .Biography
Sella was born at
Sella di Mosso , in theProvince of Biella .After studying
engineering atTurin , he was sent in 1843 to studymineralogy at the Parisian school of mines. InParis he witnessed therevolution of 1848 , and only returned to Turin in 1852, when he taught appliedgeometry at the technical institute. In 1853 be became professor ofmathematics at the university, and in 1860professor of mineralogy in the school of applied engineering.In 1860 he was elected deputy for
Cossato . A year later he was selected to be secretary-general of public instruction, and in 1862 received from Rattazzi the portfolio of finance. The Rattazzi cabinet fell before Sella could efficaciously provide for the deficit of 17,500,000 with which he was confronted; but in 1864 he returned to the ministry of finance in the La Marmora cabinet, and dealt energetically with the deficit of 8,000,000 then existing. Persuading the king to forgo 120,000 of his civil list, and his colleagues in the cabinet to relinquish part of their ministerial stipends, be effected savings amounting to 2,400,000, proposed new taxation to the extent of 1,600,000, and induced landowners to pay one years instalment of the land tax in advance.A vote of the chamber compelled him to resign before his preparations for financial restoration were complete; but in 1869 he returned to the ministry of finance in a cabinet formed by himself, but of which he made over the premiership to
Giovanni Lanza . By means of the grist tax (which he had proposed in 1865, but which the Menabrea cabinet had passed in 1868), and by other fiscal expedients necessitated by the almost desperate condition of the national exchequer, he succeeded, before his fall from power in 1873, in placing Italian finance upon a sound footing, in spite of fierce attacks and persistent misrepresentation.In 1870 his great political influence turned the scale against interference in favour of
France againstPrussia , and in favour of an immediate occupation ofRome . From 1873 until his premature death, he acted as leader of the Right, and was more than once prevented by an ephemeral coalition of personal opponents from returning to power as head of a Moderate Conservative cabinet. After the failure of an attempt to form a cabinet in May 1881 he practically retired from public life, devoting himself to his studies and his linen factory.Quintino Sella died in 1884 and was buried at
Oropa where a pyramid was erected by the engineerCarlo Maggia as his monument; the implied anti-clericalism of this choice of an ‘Egyptian’ style matched Sella’s rôle in the occupation of Rome. [cite web
url=http://www.santuariodioropa.it/upload/download/guida-al-cimintero-monumentale-en-/download.html
format=pdf
title=THE OTHER OROPA: A Guide to the Monumental Cemetery of the Sanctuary
author= Luisa Bocchietto, Mario Coda and Carlo Gavazzi] A passionistAlpinist , he had found time during his political career to found theClub Alpino Italiano and a number of itsmountain hut s are named in his honour.His "Discorsi parlamentari" were published (5 vols., 1887-1890) by order of the Chamber of Deputies. An account of his life and his scientific labours was given by A Cossa in the "Proceedings of the
Accademia dei Lincei " (1884-1885).Footnotes
References
*1911
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