The Italian statesman Amintore Fanfani (1908-99) was a major leader of influence on the post-World War II Christian Democratic Party and held many important political offices, including that of prime minister.

Amintore Fanfani was born in Pieve Santo Stefano (Arezzo Province) February 6, 1908, the son of an attorney and supporter of the Partito Popolare, the forerunner of the postwar Christian Democrats. His mother was very religious. At the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan he excelled in mathematics and physics, but later chose to study political economy and earned his doctorate in 1932.

Professor and Politician

Fanfani pursued a dual career of university professor and politician. As a student of economic history he was the author of a number of important works dealing with religion and the development of capitalism in Renaissance and Reformation Europe. His thesis was published in Italian and then in English as Catholicism, Capitalism...