CALLIGARI, ERNESTO (MIKRÒS). - Journalist, b.
at Bonassola (Spezia) on 7 March 1858, d. at Carrodano
(Spezia) on 19 Aug. 1929. Having graduated in law, he became
an editor in 1882 at the Cittadino of Genoa, to which
he had contributed since 1878, adopting the pseudonym
Mikròs, with which he thereafter always signed his
writings.
He became director of the Cittadino in 1889 and made it
a platform for the defence of Christian principles, for polit-
ical-religious conciliation, and for the winning of positions
of responsibility in the Genoese public administration;
indeed, he succeeded in driving the anticlericals out of the
civic administration, and for approximately 30 years the
municipality of Genoa was in the hands of a moderate Catholic
administration, of which C. was councillor and alderman for
several years. In 1917 Benedict XV called him to direct the
Unità cattolica of Florence which, after the death of don
Cavallanti, had been reduced to a poor sheet, heir to a great
tradition but possessed of limited means. He made it a post of
high responsibility from which to address all Italians in a
semi-official tone, and his articles had wide resonance. For
some time he also directed the Italia of Milan, though he
confined himself to sending articles.