{{Short description|Italian lawyer, politician and mayor (1825–1891)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Stefano Castagnola |image = L’ex ministro senatore Stefano Castagnola (xilografia).jpg |office = [[Minister of Agriculture (Italy)|Minister of Agriculture]] |term_start = 14 December 1869 |term_end = 10 July 1873 |predecessor = [[Marco Minghetti]] |successor = [[Gaspare Finali]] |office2 = [[Minister of the Navy (Italy)|Minister of the Navy]], ''interim'' |term_start2 = 14 December 1869 |term_end2= 15 January 1870 |predecessor2 = [[Augusto Riboty]] |successor2 = [[Guglielmo Acton]] |office3 = [[List of mayors of Genoa|Mayor of Genoa]] |term_start3 = 27 May 1888 |term_end3 = 28 February 1891 |predecessor3 = [[Riccardo Pavesi]] |successor3 = [[Giacomo Doria]] |office4= [[Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia|Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Sardinia]] |term_start4 = 14 December 1857 |term_end4 = 21 January 1860 |office5 = [[Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy|Member of the Chamber of Deputies]] |term_start5 = 8 February 1861 |term_end5 = 3 October 1876 |office6 = [[Senate of the Kingdom of Italy|Senator]] |term_start6=2 March 1889 |term_end6=11 September 1891 }} '''Stefano Castagnola''' ([[Chiavari]], 3 August 1825 – [[Genoa]], 11 September 1891) was an Italian lawyer and politician. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the Lanza cabinet, as well as Minister of the Navy and Minister of Public Works on an interim basis.
==Early life== Stefano was the son of Giovanni Castagnola, a lawyer and member of the Royal Genoese Senate, and his wife Giovanetta Solari. In 1847 he graduated in law from the [[University of Genoa]]<ref name="Senato">{{cite web |title=CASTAGNOLA Stefano |url=https://notes9.senato.it/web/senregno.nsf/96ec2bcd072560f1c125785d0059806a/e9a309da979cf7e24125646f0059e356?OpenDocument |website=senato.it |publisher=Senato della Repubblica |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref> where he mixed in radical political circles, meeting [[Nino Bixio]], [[Girolamo Ramorino]] and [[Goffredo Mameli]]. In 1848, he volunteered for the army and took part in the siege of [[Peschiera del Garda]], as well as in a number of battles including [[Battle of Goito|Goito]], [[Roncoferraro|Governolo]] and [[Custoza]].<ref name="DB">{{cite web |last1=Rebuffa |first1=Giorgio |title=CASTAGNOLA, Stefano |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/stefano-castagnola_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |website=treccani.it |publisher=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |access-date=10 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Rivista storica del risorgimento italiano Volume 1 |date=1896 |publisher=Roux Frassati e Company |location=Milan |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rtei5jiZM5gC&dq=stefano+castagnola&pg=PA11 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>
After the war was over he returned to Genoa and became active in [[Mazzini]]'s party. He also often represented political defendants (including Nino Bixio in 1851) and radical newspapers in the courts. He was among the founders of ''Italia e Popolo'' and he promoted the [[:it:Società di Tiro Nazionale]], becoming its secretary together with [[:it:Bartolomeo Savi]].<ref name="DB"/>
==Parliamentary career== He stood for election to the Municipality of Genoa, becoming a councilor and later acting mayor. In 1857, after being forced to flee to [[Switzerland]], he was elected from the constituency of Genoa III as a liberal-democratic deputy to the [[Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia|Subalpine Chamber]]. Although he was not elected to the next legislature, he was returned to every parliament between 1861 and 1876 from the constituency of Chiavarì; after another three-year absence he was re-elected in 1879 from the constituency of [[Albenga]].<ref name="Senato"/><ref name="DB"/><ref name="Camera">{{cite web |title=Stefano Castagnola |url=https://storia.camera.it/deputato/stefano-castagnola-18250803 |website=storia.camera.it |publisher=Camera dei Deputati |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>
While he began his career sitting with the radical democrats, he increasingly moved closer to the moderates and ended up joining the parliamentary Right. This change earned him harsh attacks from his former Mazzinian companions, particularly through the Genoese newspaper ''[[:it:Unità italiana e Dovere]]''.<ref name="DB"/>
==Ministerial career== Castagnola entered the [[Lanza government|Lanza cabinet]] with two ministerial portfolios. The former Navy Minister [[Augusto Riboty]] had resigned with his colleagues in the [[third Menabrea government]] and his ambitious plans to build up the Italian navy had been shelved as too expensive, and Lanza wanted to adhere to strict expenditure limits. It was not immediately clear who would take this remit on while preserving the necessary regional and political balance in the cabinet. Eventually Lanza resolved this by appointing admiral [[Guglielmo Acton]], who was found a seat in a by-election to enable him to serve. In the meantime from 14 December 1869 to 15 January 1870 Castagnola held the navy portfolio.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gabriele |first1=Mariano |title=RIBOTY, Augusto |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/augusto-riboty_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |website=treccani.it |publisher=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nisco |first1=Niccola |title=Storia civile del regno d'Italia scritta per mandato di S. M. da Niccola Nisco |date=1892 |publisher=Cav. Ant. Morano |location=Naples |pages=350–353 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Mc8yJYL6jcC&dq=lanza+guglielmo+acton%C2%A0&pg=PA351 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>
His main and enduring cabinet role however was as [[:it: Ministri dell'agricoltura, dell'industria e del commercio del Regno d'Italia|Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce]] which he held for the duration of the government.<ref name="Camera"/> His work as minister included promoting industrial research, establishing a shipping register and setting up postal savings banks. He worked for the abolition of [[common land]] in [[Sardinia]], created the irrigation trusts and reformed the regulation of forestry and fishing. He established a naval high school in Genoa and schools of arts and crafts in Chiavari, [[Savona]], [[Ferrara]], [[Cagliari]]. In cabinet he enthusiastically supported the [[Capture of Rome|occupation of Rome]] advocated by his colleague [[Quintino Sella]].<ref name="DB"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Revue d'histoire diplomatique Volume 19 |date=1905 |publisher=E. Leroux |location=Paris |page=624 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8xutAAAAMAAJ&dq=stefano+castagnola&pg=PA624 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>
==Later life== Castagnola remained in parliament until 1876. In 1888 he ran for election as mayor of Genoa, defeating Andrea Podestà and serving until 1891. He had development work carried out in the port, and prepared for the [[:it: Esposizione italo-americana (Genova 1892)|Columbian Exhibition]] which took place in 1892.<ref name="DB"/><ref>{{cite book |title=United States Consular Reports Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, Etc., of Their Consular Districts |date=1891 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington DC |page=627 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhxJAQAAIAAJ&dq=stefano+castagnola&pg=PA627 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>
He had a strong commitment to welfare and public health, attending to the care of those affected during the cholera epidemics of 1854 and 1866–67;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freschi |first1=Francesco |title=Storia documentata della epidemia di cholera-morbus in Genova nel 1854 e delle provvidenze ordinate dal municipio a vantaggio della pubblica e privata igiene |date=1855 |publisher=Tip. Sordo-muti |page=606 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GjJJ5CDVFzUC&dq=stefano+castagnola+cholera&pg=PA606 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref> for these efforts in 1869 he was awarded the medal of merit for public health in 1869.<ref>{{cite book |title=Atti della Società ligure di storia patria Volume 8 |date=1868 |location=Genoa |page=628 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DvosAAAAYAAJ&dq=stefano+castagnola+cholera&pg=PA628 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref> He also served as president of the administration of the Genoese hospitals.<ref name="DB"/><ref name="Senato"/>
In the later years of his life he dedicated himself to university teaching: first as a substitute professor in Roman law, then in charge of ecclesiastical law and then full professor of commercial law at the University of Genoa. He wrote extensively on legal topics and from 1881 to 1887 he was a member of the Council of the Bar Association of Genoa.<ref name="DB"/>
He was buried in the [[Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno]] where his tomb was created by [[:it:Demetrio Paernio]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Resasco |first1=Ferdinando |title=La necropoli di Staglieno |date=1892 |publisher=Stabilimento Tipigrafico Genovese |location=Genoa |pages=336–339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WgM4iKL4NE8C&dq=stefano+castagnola+%22staglieno%22+paernio&pg=PR5 |access-date=10 February 2024}}</ref>
== Honours == Stefano Castagnola received a number of Italian and foreign honours.<ref name="Senato"/> {| |- | rowspan=2 style="width:60px; vertical-align:top;" | [[File:Cavaliere di Gran Croce OCI Kingdom BAR.svg|60x30px|center|Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Italy - ribbon for ordinary uniform]] || [[Order of the Crown of Italy|Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Italy]] |- | |} {| |- | rowspan=2 style="width:60px; vertical-align:top;" | [[File:Commendatore SSML Regno BAR.svg|60x30px|center|Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus - ribbon for ordinary uniform]] || [[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus|Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] |- | |} {| |- | rowspan=2 style="width:60px; vertical-align:top;" | [[File:Ord.Franz.Joseph-GC.png|60x30px|center|Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Franz Joseph (Austria-Hungary) - ribbon for ordinary uniform]] || [[Order of Franz Joseph|Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Franz Joseph (Austria-Hungary)]] |- | |} {| |- | rowspan=2 style="width:60px; vertical-align:top;" | [[File:PRT Order of Christ - Grand Cross BAR.svg|60x30px|center|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Christ - ribbon for ordinary uniform]] || [[Military Order of Christ|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (Portugal)]] |- | |} {| |- | rowspan=2 style="width:60px; vertical-align:top;" | [[File:ESP Charles III Order GC.svg|60x30px|center|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (Spain) - ribbon for ordinary uniform]] || [[Order of Charles III|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (Spain)]] |- | |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHTqu30jBpoC |title=Un avvocato nelle istituzioni: Stefano Castagnola giurista e politico dell'Italia liberale |first=Roberta |last=Braccia |publisher=Giuffrè |publication-place=Milan |date=2008 |isbn=978-88-14-14227-7 |language=it}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Castagnola, Stefano}} [[Category:1825 births]] [[Category:1891 deaths]] [[Category:Lawyers from Genoa]] [[Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy)]] [[Category:Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy]] [[Category:Ministers of the navy of Italy]] [[Category:Mayors of Genoa]] [[Category:Politicians from Genoa]]