Giorgio Amendola (
21 November 1907 -
5 June 1980) was an
Italian writer and politician.
Born in
Rome in 1907, he was son of
Giovanni Amendola, a
liberal anti-fascist beaten by killers hired by
Benito Mussolini and successively dead in
1926 in
Cannes, consequently to that attack. After this episode, Amendola secretly joined the
Italian Communist Party in
1929 and, after having been graduated in law, started to propagandize opposition against the Mussolini regime.
Arrested and brought in exile in
France, and successively banished to
Santo Stefano Island, in the
Pontine archipelago, he was freed in
1943 by the
resistance troops, which he then joined.
After the World War II, Amendola served, from
1948 to his death, in 1980, as deputy for the Italian Communist Party, becoming known especially in the 1970s as one of the leaders of the party right wing, which claimed graudal removal of
marxist ideals, and supported the opportunity to make alliances with the more moderate parties, especially the
Italian Socialist Party. One of his main allies was
Giorgio Napolitano, the current
President of the Italian Republic.
From
1967, Amendola also started to work as a writer; his most notable books include
Comunismo, antifascismo e Resistenza ("Communism, anti-fascism and resistance", 1967),
Lettere a Milano ("Letters to Milan",
1973), Intervista sull'antifascismo ("Interview on anti-fascism",
1976, with Piero Melograni),
Una scelta di vita ("A choice of life",
1978), and
Un'isola ("An island",
1980), considered his best work.
Amendola died in Rome, aged 73, after a long illness. For a trick of fate, his wife Germaine Lecocq, first met during his French exile in
Paris, who helped him to write his last work, died a few hours after Amendola.
Today, Giorgio Amendola is regarded and often cited as one of the main precursors of the
Olive Tree. The
President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, is an avowed disciple and follower of Amendola.