Early life and career He was born in
Novara on 15 December 1889, the son of Cesare Marenco di Moriondo and Lydia Arborio di Gattinara. In 1907 he entered the
Royal Naval Academy of
Livorno, graduating with the rank of
ensign in 1911, participating in the
Italo-Turkish War aboard the
battleship Benedetto Brin. During the course of the
First World War he mainly served on submarines; he was awarded a
Bronze Medal of Military Valor while serving as
executive officer of
Zoea, and later assumed command of
F 12, earning a
Silver Medal of Military Valor for the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian submarine
U 20. In 1918 he was promoted to
lieutenant commander for war merit and from 1919 to 1923 he served as
aide-de-camp to King
Victor Emmanuel III. He then resumed service at sea aboard
torpedo boats; in 1924 he was promoted to
commander, and between 1927 and 1929 he was deputy commander of the submarine flotilla. On July 16, 1930, he was promoted to
captain, then assuming the position of
Chief of Staff of the Northern
Tyrrhenian Naval Department. Between 10 October 1933 and 5 April 1935 he was
commanding officer of the
heavy cruiser Gorizia, and on 25 September 1935 he was promoted to
rear admiral; during the
Spanish Civil War he was in command of the Italian naval group supporting the
Francoists, with the
scout cruiser Quarto as
flagship. On January 1, 1938, he was promoted to
vice admiral and assumed command of the 1st Naval Division, raising his flag on the heavy cruiser
Zara. Having returned to Italy to take up the post of president of the Superior Council of the Navy in
Rome, he was surprised in the capital by the proclamation of the
Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943. He refused any collaboration with the authorities of the newly established
Italian Social Republic and reached his native
Piedmont, where he joined the ranks of the
Resistance. He fought as a partisan in the
Langhe, taking part in numerous war actions with
Enrico Martini's
1° Gruppo Divisioni Alpine, for which after the end of the war he would be awarded a second silver medal for military valor. In April 1945 he resumed active service in the Navy, assigned to the Ministry as a member of the Special Commission of Inquiry, where he served until March 4, 1946, when he retired from active service. He died in Turin on March 27, 1958. ==References==