Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele (1860–1952), an Italian statesman. Orlando was premier of Italy, 1917–19, and was one of the “Big Four,” with Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, and Georges Clemenceau, at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Opposed by Wilson and unwilling to compromise, Orlando was unsuccessful in obtaining all of Italy's territorial demands. This failure was a factor in the fall of his ministry later that year.
Orlando was born in Palermo and graduated from the university there. After teaching law, he served in the Chamber of Deputies, 1897–1925. Orlando resigned from Parliament in 1925 after the Fascists gained control of the government. In 1943 he reentered public life. He was Chamber president, 1944–46, and a member of the Constituent Assembly, 1946–47. An ardent nationalist, Orlando resigned to protest the Italian peace treaty in 1947. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1948. From 1948 until his death, he served in the Senate.