Alberto Niccolai (dates unknown) was a prominent figure in the Fascist movement in Pisa. He was active in journalism and contributed to Il Campano, the newspaper of the Pisan Fascist University Group, from its inception. Until 1943, he directed L’Idea Fascista, the official publication of the Federation of Fasci di Combattimento of Pisa. Niccolai also served as the headmaster of Pisa’s Istituto Magistrale and was president of the Opera della Primaziale Pisana. This organization managed Pisa Cathedral and its surroundings. He held these positions from the 1930s until the fall of Fascism. In 1938, he witnessed the canonical recognition of the relics of Ranieri, Pisa’s patron saint. In 1941, he was appointed Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy.

Niccolai shared a close friendship with Guido Buffarini Guidi (1895–1945), Undersecretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1943, who also hailed from Pisa and was later implicated in the Fosse Ardeatine massacre (1944). He clashed with Minister of Education Giuseppe Bottai, who referred to him as piccolo maramaldo (petty bully) in the influential newspaper Critica Fascista (Bottai 1943).

Niccolai wrote some studies on authors of Italian literature (Niccolai 1906, Niccolai 1909) and on Pisan history (Niccolai 1909b, Niccolai 1917, Niccolai 1926). The only known Latin work is the inscription placed in Piazza dei Miracoli to commemorate the reconstruction and reinstalment of Giovanni Pisano’s pulpit in Pisa Cathedral in 1926.

Marcello Zeni

Bibliography

Other work (selection)

Niccolai, Alberto. 1906. Filippo de’ Nerli, 1485- 1556. Pisa: Tip. Succ. Fratelli Nistri.

———. 1909. Cavalcante e Manfredi: nota dantesca. Pisa: Valenti.

———. 1909. Giuseppe Giusti: note e osservazioni. Pisa: Valenti.

———. 1909b. Pisa in alcuni scrittori stranieri e nazionali: note e appunti. Pisa: Valenti.

———. 1917. Di alcuni documenti intorno alla fondazione della R. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Pisa: Orsolini-Prosperi.

———. 1926. ‘Notizie d’arte pisana’, Pagine d’arte e di storia: inaugurandosi il pergamo di Giovanni Pisano. Pisa: Mariotti-Pacini.

Secondary sources

Bottai, Giuseppe. 1943. ‘Medaglia d’oro al Pisano.’, Critica Fascista 12 (15 April): 146.

Lupo-Berghini, Vincenzo. 1987. A quarant’anni dalla legislazione razziale. Persecuzioni a Pisa. Pisa: Pacini.

Nello, Paolo. 1983. Il Campano : autobiografia politica del fascismo universitario pisano (1926-1944). Pisa: Nistri-Lischi.

Bernardini, Rodolfo. 1979. La Stampa periodica a Pisa “Il Campano”. Pisa: tip. Provinciale.