VOLPI, GIUSEPPE

Governor of Libya from 1922 to 1925, after a short period as governor of Tripolitania.

Giuseppe Volpi abandoned the policy of trying to govern Libya through Libyan representatives in the aftermath of the first Italo–Sanusi War. This had involved recognizing a Sanusi amir in Cyrenaica or trying to use the leaders of the Tripolitanian republic in Tripolitania.

Instead, Volpi gave a free hand to the military commanders on the spot, Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio. His new policy was enthusiastically endorsed by the Fascists when they came to power in October 1922. It had been signaled the previous April, when he sanctioned an attack on Misurata, and achieved its fullest expression with the outbreak of the second Italo–Sanusi War in early 1923.

Volpi's three-year tenure as governor also marked the introduction of an intensive colonization scheme. He sought to increase the amount of state funds made available for it, alienated to the state all un-cultivated land and all rebel-held land, once it was conquered, and provided tax-relief schemes to attract investment funding. By doing this, he prepared the way for the legislation introduced by Emilio de Bono, who actually began the process of large-scale Italian peasant migration into Libya.

see also graziani, rodolfo; italy in the middle east.

Bibliography

Lombardi, P. "Italian Agrarian Policy during the Fascist Per iod." In Social and Economic Development of Libya, edited by E. G. H. Joffe and K. S. McLachlan. Wisbech, U.K.: Middle East and North African Studies Press, 1982.

george joffe