Bernardo Mattarella

Bernardo Mattarella was an Italian lawyer and politician from Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily, a founding member of the Christian Democracy party on the island and a member of parliament from 1946 until his death in 1971. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Forests from June to December 1963, one of several cabinet posts he held during the 1950s and 1960s. He was a public opponent of organized crime and of Sicilian separatism, positions he set out in his own letters and articles, and he faced accusations of mafia ties that Italian courts later dismissed as unsubstantiated. He was the father of Sergio Mattarella, later President of the Italian Republic, and of Piersanti Mattarella, President of the Sicilian Regional Government, who was assassinated by the Mafia in 1980.