Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.134.4
Object Name
Poster
Title
Pietro Nenni portfolio - part four: Volunteer in the First World War
People
Pietro Nenni
Date
1991
Description
This poster is part of a portfolio about Pietro Nenni. This is the fourth part. The top of the poster has a title in Italian black text - this translates to "volunteer in the First World War." There is a small red number four on the top right of the page, indicating this is the fourth poster in the portfolio. On the left side of this poster there is a large image of a young Pietro Nenni - this looks like it is a print of a photograph. It shows Nenni as a young man volunteering in the First World War, wearing a hat, military uniform and leaning on a chair. The bottom right of the poster has a description of this image in Italian - the English translation of this is as follows - "in the photo pietro nenni in a soldier's uniform in 1915 before leaving for the front." The top right of the poster has a block of text in Italian - this English translation of this is as follows - "Pietro Nenni was born in Faenza on 9 February 1891 from a family of peasant origin. At the age of five he is orphaned of his father. On 1 December 1900 he entered the city orphanage from which he left in 1908. He was then hired as a scribe in a pottery factory. Pietro Nenni, who has been attending the Mazzinian club in Faenza for some years, is now collaborating with the republican weekly. In 1909 he was appointed secretary of the Republican Federation of carrara. As an agitator he participates in numerous demonstrations and knows the first days of his life in prison. In 1911 Giolitti announced the war in Libya. The general strike turns into a street war in Forli. Nenni is arrested and sentenced to one year and 15 days. At the end of 1913 he directed the republican newspaper (il lucifer) in Ancona. A year later he was among the promoters of the (red week) of ancona together with errico Malatesta. Once again arrested, he was released in 1915 following an amnesty. Meanwhile the First World War is looming. Nenni and the intervention. << In the silence and concentration of the prison I had, since the first cannon shot, opted for the intervention >>. Released from prison, in fact, he volunteered: sixteen uninterrupted months at the front, first as a soldier, then as an artillery sergeant. Wounded, he obtained a year's leave in 1916. During this period he was appointed director of the << Giornale del Mattino >> of Bologna."
