ZOLI, ADONE

(1887–1960)

Born in Cesena in the province of Forli (Emilia-Romagna), Adone Zoli was a close collaborator of Luigi Sturzo after the foundation of the Partito Popolare Italiano/Italian People’s Party (PPI) in 1919. He took an active role in the Tuscan Comitati di Liberazione Nazionale/National Liberation Committees (CLN) during the resistance, from which position he moved to being vice mayor of Florence and a member of the national council of the Democrazia Cristiana/Christian Democracy Party (DC). He was elected to the Senate in 1948 and reconfirmed in the elections of 1953 and in 1958. He was briefly vice president of the Senate, before becoming minister of justice in 1951. Zoli also served as finance minister and as minister for the budget between 1955 and 1957. He briefly headed a DC-only cabinet, between May 1957 and June 1958. Politically close to Amintore Fanfani, Zoli’s government nevertheless represented all strains of opinion within the DC. He died in Rome in February 1960.