Rava Maurizio (governor)

Rava Maurizio (January 31, 1878, Milan, Italy – 1941, Rome) was the Italian Governor of Italian Somaliland from 1931 to 1935, and was also a politician and general of the Regio Esercito. He was one of the first fascist jews of Italy.

Life

Rava was born in a Jewish family in Milan. He enthusiastically joined the National Fascist Party during World War I: in 1919 he was a cofounder of the "Fascio" of Roma. But in the late 1930s he faced problems within the party because of German [...] influences against Italian Jews.

In the 1920s Rava was "Segretario generale delle Colonie" and in 1930 vice-governor of Italian Tripolitania and a general in the Fascist Militia.

From 1 July 1931 to 6 March 1935 Rava was the Governor of Italian Somaliland. In his time as governor thousands of Italian colonists came to Mogadishu and many Somalis joined the Italian colonial troops as a result of his policy to assimilate the Somalis. Rava promoted the creation of the first postal service stations in all Somalia.

Maurizio Rava had a famous son, Carlo Enrico Rava, who was an important Italian architect of the Gruppo 7.

Works

Maurizio Rava was also a painter and a writer. When young he studied at Rome's "Accademia di Belle Arti" and until 1903 he exposed his paintings with a relative success.

Rava wrote some literary works. In the late 1930s he wrote a famous book about Somalia (titled "Parole ai Coloniali"), that had a preface written by Benito Mussolini.

See also

• Italian Somalia
• Guido Corni
• Cesare Maria De Vecchi

Bibliography

• Bettin, Cristina. Italian Jews from Emancipation to the Racial Laws. Italian and Italian American Studies. Editore Palgrave Macmillan. New York, 2010 ISBN 0230114377