Giuseppe Veronese’s political career started after he came back to Italy from Germany in 1881.
He became a municipal councilor in Chioggia and later in Padua. He expressed his liberal-democratic ideas during official meetings that are recorded as the proceedings of municipal councils, and in the newspaper ‘Eco di Choggia’, the publication of the ‘Society for the public interest’.
From 1887 to 1890 he became a deputy of the municipal committee of Chioggia. Veronese’s political rise culminated when he was appointed Senator of the Kingdom for scientific achievements in 1904.
Social and economic development, both at local and at the national level, were fundamental concerns in Veronese’s political thought. His political vision included the necessity to extend the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of their economic level of prosperity. Also, he was concerned with the defense of women’s rights by expanding the protection guaranteed by a religious marriage to a civil marriage in order to prevent injury to the wife and her children in case of the husband’s death without civil regulation(Eco di Chioggia 1885, n.4).
Veronese thought that education was an essential element in the development of a young generation, and that it was necessary to teach young people the need for earnestness and sacrifice. His educational model was a system of state schools, where at the top was the classic lyceum and – at the same level – a more modern school, organized according to the model of German Realgymnasium. That school centered on scientific discipline. Besides the two main schools, there would be technical Institutes and special schools. It was a school system where all young people could receive an education according to their needs and personal capacities.
On a local level, Veronese was concerned about water problems like the protection of Venice Lagoon; the problem of rivers flooding; the resettlement of Chioggia harbor; the institution of Consorzi di Bonifica; the re-organization of Magistratura alle acque del Veneto; and the foundation of the Hydrotechnic Institute in Stra for hydraulic problems. He reformatted the School of Engineering Science of Padua University and gave a greater emphasis to the water hydraulic section. In addition, Veronese gave his support to the art school Pietro Selvatico, for decorative and industrial art. He also promoted the building of local railways (the train tracks Padova – Chioggia and Padova – Cavarzere – Adria).