Sandro Pertini: the partisan president born a stone's throw from Savona

Savonese Roots: From Chiabrera High School to Law

The formative years in Savona

Pertini grew up in a wealthy family, the fourth of five children. He studied first at the Salesian college in Varazze, then at the "G. Chiabrera" high school in Savona—the same theater that now bears Chiabrera's name, in the heart of the city. In 1923, he earned a degree in law, followed by a degree in political and social sciences, and opened a law firm in Savona.

Anti-fascism that costs dearly

After the war, he joined the Savona branch of the United Socialist Party. But Italy was changing: his lawyer's office in Savona was repeatedly vandalized by fascist squads, and he was beaten by blackshirts for wearing a red tie. In 1925, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for editing and distributing the clandestine newspaper Sotto il barbaro dominio fascista . He benefited from an amnesty, but the persecution continued.

The darkest years: prison, confinement and death sentence

Fourteen years of imprisonment and confinement

His anti-fascist activism cost him fourteen years in prison and exile. In 1926, to escape repression, he fled to France—first to Paris, then to Nice, where he was granted political asylum. He returned clandestinely to Italy in 1929, was arrested, and sentenced to prison. He was then exiled to the islands of Ponza and Ventotene. Released in 1943 with the fall of fascism, he was captured soon after by the SS.

The death sentence and the daring escape

Arrested in Rome in October 1943 and handed over to the German authorities, he was sentenced to death along with Giuseppe Saragat. The sentence was not carried out thanks to a daring action by partisans of the Matteotti Brigades, which, on January 24, 1944, enabled their escape from Regina Coeli prison. It was one of those moments when history twists on the thinnest of threads—and that escape gave Italy back one of its most extraordinary men.

The Resistance: from fugitive to commander

After his escape, Pertini did not go into hiding: he organized and coordinated the armed struggle in the northern regions. He became one of the top leaders of the National Liberation Committee of Northern Italy and among the organizers of the uprising of April 25, 1945 —the date that marked the end of the Nazi-Fascist occupation of Italy.

For his heroic conduct at Porta San Paolo, after the armistice of September 8, 1943, he received the Gold Medal of Military Valor for partisan merit in 1958. The silver medal proposed in 1917 for his valor in war, however, had been denied him for years because he was identified as a socialist sympathizer—and would only be awarded to him in 1985, almost seventy years later.

Political life: from Parliament to the Quirinale

Member of Parliament, Senator, President of the Chamber

After the war, Pertini entered institutional politics. A member of the Constituent Assembly in 1946, and a member of parliament for decades in the Genoa-Imperia-La Spezia-Savona constituency, in 1968 he was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies —a position he held for two consecutive terms, until 1976, with a direct and forthright style that became his recognizable signature.

The president of all Italians

On July 8, 1978, at the age of 81, Sandro Pertini was elected the seventh President of the Italian Republic —the first Socialist and only representative of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) to hold the office. His seven-year term, from 1978 to 1985, is remembered as one of the most intense in the history of the Republic: the Bologna massacre, the Irpinia earthquake, the Moro kidnapping, the 1982 World Cup in Spain—Pertini was always present, always direct, always human. No president before him had embraced the citizens so openly, spoken so unfiltered, wept in public without shame.

"Young people don't need sermons."

The phrase that made him immortal in the Italian imagination is this: "Young people don't need sermons; young people need examples of honesty, consistency, and altruism from their elders." A phrase that, decades later, still resonates as a timely warning.

Pertini and Savona: a bond that never breaks

Chiabrera High School and the Law Firm

Savona is the city where Pertini studied, where he opened his law firm, and where he founded his anti-fascist political consciousness. The Chiabrera Theater , where the prose and opera seasons are held today, is the same high school where the future president was educated.

The Pertini Museum at Priamar

Inside the Priamar Fortress, the Sandro Pertini and Renata Cuneo Museum —accessible with the MUSA cumulative ticket—holds the president's documents, photographs, and personal items, evidence of an extraordinary life that began right here on this earth.

The Monument to the Resistance

In 1974, Pertini—then President of the Chamber of Deputies—unveiled the Monument to the Resistance, created by sculptor Agenore Fabbri, in Savona's Piazza Martiri della Libertà. It was a gesture that sealed the bond between the man, the city, and the memory of the partisan struggle.

How to visit the Pertini places

• His birthplace in Stella San Giovanni: about 20 km from Savona, now home to the Pertini House Museum — check opening hours before visiting
• Pertini Museum at Priamar: included in the 15 euro MUSA cumulative ticket, valid for seven days
• Monument to the Resistance: Piazza Martiri della Libertà, downtown Savona — free admission
• Chiabrera Theater: the high school where Pertini studied, now one of Liguria's most beautiful historic theaters.