Bortolo Belotti

Who was Bortolo Belotti?

Bortolo Belotti (1877-1944) was an Italian politician of the first half of 20th century.

Born in Zogno as son of a wealthy family he studied law at University of Pavia, then he become a lawyer. In 1907 he joined the Italian Liberal Party in 1913 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the constituency of his native Val Brembana. In 1919 he was re-elected to the lower house as undersecretary of Economy then he was named minister of Minister of Industry an Commerce in the first Bonomi Cabinet, Belotti took this post for about 7 months and after the collapse of the government he resigned from his post like all the ministers of the Cabinet.

After the March on Rome Belotti supported for a brief time Benito Mussolini because like many Italians he believed in Mussolini as the strong man who was the only person able to defeat the socialist, from 1923 Belotti opposed fascism and he didn't participate in election of 1924 because his party the Liberal Party supported the fascists.

In 1930 he was arrested for 20 days for his anti-fascist activities and then deported for some months in Cava dei Tirreni, after that Belotti retired from politics but in 1943 he was forced to escape in Suisse in order to escape from the Italian Social Republic. He died in exile in 1944.