He was born in
Traetto, present-day
Minturno, on 15 April 1873, to Ferdinando Fedele, a factory worker, and Angela Conte, a farmer. His elder brother, Salvatore, was a clergyman and sent him to study at the
seminary of
Gaeta; Pietro, however, left it to finish his studies at the
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in
Rome. In 1890, he moved to the
University of Rome, where he attended courses in
Christian archeology,
Romance philology,
paleography,
diplomatics,
ancient history and
medieval history. He finally graduated in
Literature in 1894. He began his career as a teacher in the
middle schools of Rome,
Arpino,
Sezze and
Velletri, and then moved on to the
high schools of
Potenza,
Benevento and
Naples. In 1905, he obtained the chair of
modern history at the Scientific-Literary Academy of
Milan, and from 1910 was professor of modern history at the
University of Turin, then at the University of Rome from 1914, and from 1933, professor of medieval history at the same university. An expert in the history of the
Middle Ages, from 5 June 1933 to his death, he was president of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages, of which he proposed the change of headquarters to the
Oratorio dei Filippini. He was also a member of the
Accademia dei Lincei from 1926. In the 1930s he directed the editing of the Great UTET Encyclopedic Dictionary, one of the most important Italian
encyclopedias. He married Tecla De Fabritiis, from
Itri, and had a daughter with her, Giovanna.
Political career Too old to participate in
World War I, he was an outspoken interventionist. In April 1924, he was elected to the
Italian Chamber of Deputies, and in September of the same year, he joined the
National Fascist Party, later becoming a member of the
Grand Council of Fascism. On 5 January 1925,
Alessandro Casati,
Minister of Public Education, resigned in protest against the speech with which
Benito Mussolini had taken moral responsibility for the murder of
Giacomo Matteotti, and the
Duce chose Fedele as his successor. The choice, opposed by
Giovanni Gentile (who would have preferred
Balbino Giuliano), was due to Fedele's excellent relationship with the
Catholic Church and to his personal friendship with
Pope Pius XI. During his tenure as minister, he committed himself to the complete fascistization of schools, preventing the appointment of teachers not enrolled in the Fascist Party and starting the drafting of a single textbook for the entire nation. He also ordered the resumption of the archaeological excavations of
Herculaneum and
Pompeii, the recovery of the
Nemi ships and the opening of the Directorate General for libraries. In 1926, he organized a meeting in
Assisi with Cardinal
Rafael Merry del Val aimed at improving relations between Italy and the Church in view of the future
Lateran Pacts, the first official meeting between an Italian minister and a papal legate. However, he was often widely criticized by party members for being "too soft"; among his main detractors were
Augusto Turati, Ernesto Codignola, Vittorio Cian,
Bernardo Barbiellini Amidei and, above all, Giovanni Gentile, who wrote about him in an article for ''
Il Popolo d'Italia'', which was never published, "It is clear that he is in the government and among the fascists with the spirit of
Don Abbondio." Also, because of this criticism, on 9 July 1928, he left his post, being replaced by
Giuseppe Belluzzo. On 22 December of the same year, Mussolini appointed him
senator; the appointment was validated on 6 May and Fedele was sworn in on 15 May. Starting from 1930, he held the office of commissioner of the king at the
Heraldic Council, and was also president of the
State Polygraphic Institute and vice-president of the
High Council of Archives of the Kingdom. He died in
Rome after a long illness on 9 January 1943. ==References==