Quaderni, Vol. XXXVI No. 1, 2025.
Professional paper
TEODORO MAYER. THE PARABLE OF LIFE OF A VIR ILLUSTRIS
Silva Bon
; Centro Isontino di ricerca e documentazione storica e sociale “Leopoldo Gasparini” Gorizia/Gradisca – Italia
Abstract
The author reconstructs the political, entrepreneurial, and personal biography of
Teodoro Mayer based on archival documents kept at the State Archives of Trieste,
the General Archives of the Municipality of Trieste, the Archives of the Jewish
Community of Trieste, and the Private Archives of “Il Piccolo”, as well as on printed
sources and published historical and literary texts contemporary and/or subsequent
to the events in question.
The Trieste daily newspaper “Il Piccolo” was founded back in 1881 by Teodoro Mayer,
then twenty-year-old entrepreneur, very insightful and attentive, as shown by his
innovative organizational skills in journalism. The success of “Il Piccolo” was a solid
foundation for a highly committed career. A few years later, he climbed the ladder of
success and reached the top of the Italian financial and political world. It was the life
of a Vir illustris, whose critical biography follows a distinct, curved trajectory. It opens
with youthful irredentist militancy and reaches the heights of national responsibility,
peaking in the 1930s when Teodoro Mayer was appointed Senator of the Kingdom,
Minister of State, and President of the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano (Italian Securities
Institution). Yet, soon afterwards, in 1938, he would precipitate into anonymity. He was
purged following the implementation of the racial laws. Struck by damnatio memoriae.
Keywords
Trieste, Teodoro Mayer, “Il Piccolo”, Jewish Community
Hrčak ID:
336667
URI
Publication date:
23.10.2025.
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