Tullio Cianetti

Who was Tullio Cianetti?

Tullio Cianetti was an Italian fascist politician who was well known for his work with the syndicates.

The son of a farmer, Cianetti was conscripted in 1917 and served as a lieutenant in the Italian Army until 1921. Returning to Assisi, he worked as a teacher, whilst also helping to found the fascio in the town, becoming secretary in 1922. He was moved to Terni to organise the syndicate before being appointed regional secretary for syndicates in Umbria in 1924. The same year he stepped away from fascism for a time following the death of Giacomo Matteotti and suspicion began to arise that he was too left-wing. However by 1925 he had returned as secretary of syndicates in Syracuse, before going on to hold similar roles in Carrara, Messina, Matero and Treviso.

In 1931 he was made secretary of the national federation of miners and quarrymen and in this role agitated for higher wages. However, despite his tendency to sometimes clash with the government he continued to rise in influence, serving as secretary of the Fascist Confederation of Industrial Workers' syndicates and Vice-President of the Institute of Social Assurance. As head of the Confederation, Cianetti concluded a deal with Robert Ley in 1937 to allow Italian workers to go to Nazi Germany for employment. Such was the regard with which he was held by the leaders of the German Labour Front that the main Volkswagen factory even had a leisure complex called Cianetti Hall in his honour.