“The mission”: Quintieri e Mattioli negli Stati Uniti per l’Italia (1944-1945)

The day after his election as head of government, in June 1944, Ivanoe Bonomi tried to raise awareness the Americans about the economic and financial problems of his country. He did because he was convinced that Italy could receive a vital aid from United States. Getting around to this need the support of President Roosevelt, Bonomi asked permission to send a technical commission that could expose to US authorities the serious problems that strangled the Italian population. Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, with which Bonomi had a dense correspondence, from June to August 1944, shared the project, so the mission left Rome at beginning of November 1944. It was headed by bankers Quinto Quintieri and Raffaele Mattioli who arrived to Washington full of hopes, in particular that to resolve, actually, the question of the issue of am-lire and with the hope to gain from the US administration the promise of a lavish loan. The mission remained in Washington until March 1945, and widely discussed, with the Department of State and with the Treasury, all the issues on the agenda. Unfortunately none of the claims were upheld. However, it is to be considered as an important political episode.