Marquis Imperiali

Guglielmo Imperiali was born in Salerno in 1858, graduated in law in Naples, and entered the foreign ministry in 1882. Berlin and Paris assignments preceded his service in Washington from 1890 to 1895. When Minister Saverio Fava was recalled after the New Orleans lynchings in 1891, Imperiali remained as the senior representative conducting business with the State Department. ^{1, 2}

On April 12, 1892, Imperiali notified James G. Blaine that Italy accepted the American indemnity for the victims’ families and considered diplomatic relations restored. Acting on explicit instructions from Prime Minister Antonio di Rudinì, he took charge of the legation pending Fava’s return. The agreement provided financial redress without extinguishing the possibility of judicial action by the affected families. ³

Later postings took Imperiali to Brussels, Berlin, Sofia, and Constantinople. As ambassador in London from 1910, he signed the secret Treaty of London on April 26, 1915, with representatives of Britain, France, and Russia. It committed Italy to enter the war within a month in exchange for territorial and other promises. ^{1, 4}

A senator from 1913, Imperiali participated in postwar diplomacy at Paris, London, and San Remo and became an Italian delegate to the League of Nations. He retired from diplomatic service in 1922 and died in Rome in 1944. The Senate preserves his extensive diaries. ¹