Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì

Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì ( born April 6, 1839 in Palermo, † August 6, 1908 in Rome ) was an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 1891 to 1892 and again from 1896 to 1898.

Political rise

Starrabba came from an old Sicilian noble family. In 1859, he joined a revolutionary committee, Giuseppe Garibaldi fought. Then he was appointed syndic ( mayor) of Palermo after he was briefly Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turin. In 1866 he was instrumental in the suppression of a rebellion, which the supporters of the Bourbons staged with the support of the Church against the Italian government. The thus acquired fame led to the appointment Stabarras Prefect of Palermo. In 1868 he was prefect of Naples.

In October 1869 he was Minister of the Interior in the cabinet Menabrea, but went with this government a few months later. In the Chamber of Deputies ( from the 10th legislative period ) Starrabba acted as deputy Canicattì ( Agrigento province ); from 1882 he was elected for Syracuse in the chamber. In 1886, he became the leader of the left. He followed the deceased in the Official Marco Minghetti after.

The President Starabba

First term of office and fall

Beginning of 1891 he followed Francesco Crispi as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister after and formed a coalition government with a fraction of the guided Nicotera left. His cabinet extended the contract from the Triple Alliance. His government was overthrown in May 1892 because of an election in Parliament, and his position was taken over by Giovanni Giolitti. When his opponent Francesco Crispi again seized power in December 1893, he continued his political activities and allied himself with the radical party leader Felice Cavallotti.

Second Term

The broken as a result of the defeat at Adua crisis (March 1, 1896) allowed Starabba to act in a government formed by General Ricotti again as Prime Minister and Interior Minister. Starabba ended with the peace treaty Ethiopia from, but continued relations with the United Kingdom for any unauthorized publication of secret diplomatic correspondence on the Ethiopian problem under pressure. In order to satisfy the party against the colonial policy, he gave from Kassala to the British and thus disappointed the Italian public opinion very much.

End of political career

When he dissolved the House of Representatives beginning in 1898, he led the battles of May 1898 whose suppression required a considerable bloodshed and the state of siege in Milan, Naples, Florence and Livorno. The outrage because of its policy in June 1898 ultimately leads to his downfall. During his second term he changed his cabinet three times ( July 1896, December 1897 and May 1898), without that he could improve his political situation.

Starabba was one of the most powerful landowners in Sicily, who led his goods according to liberal principles.