Giuseppe Cesare Abba was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 patriot and writer. As a participant on the expedition of i Mille he fought next to Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 in his conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Expedition of the Thousand

The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...

 in 1860.

Biography

He was born in Cairo Montenotte

Cairo Montenotte

Cairo Montenotte is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 50 km west of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of Savona...

 (Liguria

Liguria

Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...

, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia

Kingdom of Sardinia

The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

/Piedmont)

Abba studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, which he left in 1859 when entered a cavalry regiment in Pinerolo

Pinerolo

Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...

. In 1860 he moved to Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, and then joined Garibaldi's volunteers. He took part in most of the battles which led to the dissolution of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

His literary work is limited to revolutionary memories; after retiring to private life, first at Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

, then in his native town, he attempted to write a romantic poem in five canti

Canto

The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

 by the title Arrigo. A fervent follower of Manzoni

Alessandro Manzoni

Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...

, he then tried to write a historical novel (1875) with Le rive della Bormida nel 1874 ("The Banks of the Bormida in 1874"), with the notes taken in the 1860 expedition, which he did not publish. In 1880 it became Noterelle di uno dei Mille edite dopo vent’anni ("Notes by one of the Thousand twenty years later"), assuming its final title, Da Quarto al Volturno: Noterelle d’uno dei Mille ("From Quarto to Volturno: Notes by one of the Thousand"), only in 1891.

This work was his magnum opus, being released thanks to Giosuè Carducci

Giosuè Carducci

Giosuè Alessandro Michele Carducci was an Italian poet and teacher. He was very influential and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906 he became the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.-Biography:...

, to whom Abba had sent it on the urging of an old revolutionary friend, Sclavo. Carducci was at that time considering writing a work on the life of Garibaldi, and encouraged the survivors of the campaign to give him historical testimonies. When he had read the Noterelle, he appreciated it so much that gave it to the editor Zanichelli to be published, telling the author that now he might never write the biography of the hero.

Abba quickly acquired fame, so much so that he became first teacher at the secondary school at Faenza

Faenza

Faenza is an Italian city and comune, in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna.Faenza is noted for its manufacture of majolica ware glazed earthenware pottery, known from the name of the town as "faience"....

, then principal of the technological institute of Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

, where he worked until his death.

Even though he produced other works based on the expedition, none became as celebrated as the Noterelle. He also wrote poetry and short stories, but without much success.

Works

• Le rive della Bormida nel 1874 (1875)
• Noterelle di uno dei Mille edite dopo vent’anni (1880)
• Da Quarto al Volturno. Noterelle d’uno dei Mille (1880–1891)
• Storia dei Mille ("Story of the Thousand", 1904)
• Vita di Nino Bixio
  Nino Bixio
  Nino Bixio was an Italian soldier and politician, who fought for the Italian unification.Born in Genoa, while still a boy, Bixio was compelled by his parents to embrace a career in the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia...
  
  ("The Life of Nino Bixio", 1905)
• Cose garibaldine ("Garibaldian Things")
• Romagna
• Cose vedute ("Things I Have Seen")

External links

• Biography