Fernando de Rosa

Who is Fernando de Rosa?

Fernando de Rosa was an Italian student who attempted to assassinate Umberto Prince of Piedmont, later Umberto II of Italy in Brussels on October 24, 1929. De Rosa was born in Milan and studied law in Turin before fleeing Italy for France in order to avoid imprisonment for his political views. He remained in Paris for about a year, studying law at the University of Paris and writing for an anti-fascist journal.

In October 1929, de Rosa traveled to Brussels and fired a shot at Italian Crown Prince Umberto II in an attempted assassination. The shot missed and de Rosa was promptly arrested. His trial became a major political event, and though he was found guilty of attempted murder, he was given a light sentence of five years in prison. This sentence caused a political uproar in Italy and a brief rift in Belgian-Italian relations. In March 1932, de Rosa was pardoned at the request of Prince Umberto and released, having served slightly less than half of his sentence. He announced an intention to return to Paris and continue his legal studies, but ended up in Spain, where he was arrested for taking part in a socialist uprising in 1934.