First Mayor of Sanremo after the war

Adolfo Siffredi was born in Pompeiana on 27 November 1891 to Sebastiano and Tommasa Clerici. I
n 1906 he joined the Italian Socialist Party, beginning an intense political activity.
After 8 September 1943 he joined the Resistance under the battle name "Fifo", beginning to collaborate with the Matuziano CLN in organising the first GAP (Patriotic Action Groups) in the city from May 1944. In collaboration with Giuseppe Anselmi and through contacts with the CLN of Ospedaletti, he also promoted the establishment of a SAP (Patriotic Action Team), which operated in the Sanremo hills under the command of Aldo Baggioli and Adriano Siffredi.
At the beginning of October 1944 he took part in the preparations for the attack on the barracks in Via Privata (now Via Escoffier), during which some anti-fascist prisoners were released. On 12 November 1944 the CLN of Sanremo entrusted him with the command of the new GAP Brigade "Giuseppe Anselmi". After the reconstitution of the city section of the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity on 15 November 1944, he was appointed provisional secretary pending the deliberations of the assembly of members.

From February 1945 he collaborated with the official organ of the Matuan CLN "La Voce della Democrazia". From January 1945 he had been co-opted into the CLN as a deputy member of the PSIUP and mayor designate of Sanremo.
Two days after the partisans entered the city, on 27 April 1945 the CLN appointed him as the first mayor of Sanremo liberated, flanking him as councillors Marco Donzella, Paolo Manuel Gismondi, Alfredo Cremieux, Pietro Zappa, Giovanni Pigati and Antonio Canessa, assisted by the Popular Council of Administration made up of twenty-six citizens chosen among the main democratic parties and the various professional categories. On the same day, a proclamation was issued to the citizens of Sanremo in which he, addressing the population, urged them to collaborate with the CLN for the moral and material reconstruction of the nation, at the same time urging all citizens to lend their collaboration for the resurrection of the Homeland.

In the meantime, in order to resolve the question of the form to be adopted for the management of the Casino, which had been closed since June 1940, the Siffredi Council appointed a Consultative Commission to give its opinion on the matter, which took office in November 1945. The Commission, chaired by Siffredi himself, was then divided into three sub-committees: legal, administrative and technical-artistic. The first one included, among others, lawyers Nino Bobba, Vincenzo Baudino, Secondo Anfossi, Carlo Bensa; the second one included accountants Enrico Formaggini and Aldo Zoli, while the technical-artistic one consisted of Jean Biancheri, former director of the Montecarlo Casino, Carlo Borga, former inspector of the Sanremo Casino, Maestro Franco Alfano, Alfredo Cremieux and Amilcare Rambaldi.

At the final collegial meeting of the Commission, held in the council chamber of the Palazzo Comunale under the chairmanship of Siffredi, a number of proposals from the technical-artistic sub-committee were approved, including the international bridge tournament and the fashion show, but projects relating to a film festival, which would be held for the first time in Cannes the following year, the establishment of a music conservatory and the organisation of a song festival, which would however take off six years later thanks to the interest of the new managers of the Municipal Casino, were rejected.
In the meantime, in view of the imminent reopening of the Casino, scheduled for 31 December 1945, a tender auction was held on 20 December, with the participation of nine companies, among which the Imperia accountant Gandini was chosen. However, since accountant Gandini was unable to comply with the contractual commitments and since the Casino was to be opened by 31 December of that year, as established by the Allied Government, on the evening of 28 December Siffredi and his Council declared the Gandini company to have lapsed and entrusted the management of the games to the CIRT (Compagnia Italiana di Ricostruzione Turismo).

On New Year's Eve 1945 the Matuziana Gaming House, after more than five years of forced inactivity, reopened under the new management. Siffredi remained in office until March 1946 when a new round of administrative consultations took place, which would lead to the election of engineer Bottini as mayor the following April.

He died in Sanremo on 29 October 1975.

(sources: text by Andrea Gandofo)