Guido Rocco

Guido Rocco
Guido Rocco
Minister of Popular Culture of the Kingdom of Italy
	In office; 26 July 1943 – 15 August 1943
Preceded by	Gaetano Polverelli
Succeeded by	Carlo Galli
Personal details
Born	26 November 1886; Naples, Kingdom of Italy
Died	2 May 1959 (aged 72)
Awards	Order of the White Lion

Guido Rocco (Naples, 26 November 1886 – 2 May 1959) was an Italian diplomat and politician, who served as Minister of Popular Culture of the Kingdom of Italy of the Badoglio I Cabinet, the first after the fall of the Fascist regime, and well as Italian ambassador to Turkey and Czechoslovakia.

Biography

After graduating in law in 1909, he started his diplomatic career in 1912, initially serving as consular attaché, then as vice-consul and later as consul in various Italian consulates.^[1] He later became a member of the Italian delegation to the League of Nations, and legation councilor in Paris and Berlin, and attended the London Naval Conference and the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments.^[2]^[3] He was then plenipotentiary minister in Prague from 25 August 1932 to 26 July 1935, protagonist of various missions abroad and from 1936 general director for foreign press services at the Ministry of Press and Propaganda and then at the Ministry of Popular Culture.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] On 26 July 1943 he was appointed Minister of Popular Culture in the first Badoglio government.^[9]^[10]^[11] His main task was to keep the censorship of the press unchanged, and he carried out his duty to the point that the directors of the main Roman newspapers sent a letter of protest directly to Marshal Badoglio on 11 August.^[12]^[13] On 15 August 1943 Badoglio decided to replace Rocco with Carlo Galli.^[14]^[15] On 6 September 1943 Rocco was appointed ambassador to Turkey; among his tasks in this role, after the armistice of Cassibile, was that of establishing the first official contacts between Italy and the Soviet Union from the beginning of the hostilities, contacts that led shortly thereafter to mutual official recognition.^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20]

References

[1] La Stefani

[2] La Stefani

[3] "Italy and the League of Nations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-10-19. Retrieved 2022-10-19.

[4] Ambasciata italiana a Praga

[5] Ambasciata d'Italia a Praga

[6] Il viaggiatore della parola G. B. Angioletti

[7] Storia diplomatica del patto a quattro

[8] The U.S. Foreign Service in Italy and the Byington Family Consular Dynasty in Naples (1897-1973)

[9] La Stefani

[10] Governo Badoglio

[11] Badoglio: "Sparare a vista contro i dimostranti"

[12] 11 agosto

[13] Salgari fermato dal Duce

[14] Governo Badoglio I

[15] Agosto 1943

[16] Ambasciatori d'Italia in Turchia

[17] I diplomatici italiani internati in Giappone e Cina

[18] La diplomazia italiana dagli "anni del consenso" al crollo del regime

[19] Il ruolo dell'Italia nella politica estera sovietica tra ricerca della sicurezza ed esigenze strategiche (1939-1945)

[20] La diplomazia della "nuova Italia"

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