Valentino Pittoni

Valentino Pittoni
Valentino Pittoni c. 1907
Member of the Austrian Imperial Council
In office 1907–1918
Constituency	Trieste (Old City and San Giacomo)
Personal details
Born	(1872-05-23)23 May 1872 Brazzano, Cormons
Died	11 April 1933(1933-04-11) (aged 60) Vienna
Political party	Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria
Children	Bianca Pittoni (1904–1993) Nerina Pittoni

Valentino Pittoni (German: Valentin Pittoni; 23 May 1872 – 11 April 1933) was a socialist politician from Trieste, who was mainly active in Austria-Hungary. As a follower of Austromarxism and militant of the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria (SDAPÖ), he came to oppose both Italian irredentism and Slovenian nationalism. In the early 20th century he emerged as the key leader of the socialist movement in the Austrian Littoral region.^[1] Pittoni represented Trieste in the Imperial Council, where he became known as a proponent of electoral democracy, and was additionally a member of Trieste's Municipal Council. He set up a cooperative movement, as one of several ventures ensuring inter-ethnic solidarity in the Littoral.

Increasingly isolated after World War I, Pittoni was uncompromising in demanding Trieste's autonomy within Austria, and eventually its independence from the Kingdom of Italy. He was a noted adversary of Italian fascism, who lived his later life in exile in Vienna. His final contributions were as a newspaper editor and doctrinaire of interwar Austrian socialism.