Luigi Carlo Farini (October 22, 1812 – August 1, 1866) was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
statesmanA statesman or stateswoman or statesperson is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
.
Farini was born at
RussiRussi is a comune in the Province of Ravenna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 60 km east of Bologna and about 14 km southwest of Ravenna.-External links:*
...
, near
RavennaRavenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire till 476. It was later the capital ofKingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna till 751...
. After completing a brilliant university course at
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, which he interrupted to take part in the
revolution of 1831The Carbonari were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. Their goals were patriotic and liberal and they played an important role in the Risorgimento and the early years of Italian nationalism....
, he practised as a physician at Russi and at Ravenna. He acquired a considerable reputation, but in 1843 his political opinions brought him under the suspicion of the police and caused his expulsion from the papal states.
Luigi Carlo Farini (October 22, 1812 – August 1, 1866) was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
statesmanA statesman or stateswoman or statesperson is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
.
Biography
Farini was born at
RussiRussi is a comune in the Province of Ravenna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 60 km east of Bologna and about 14 km southwest of Ravenna.-External links:*
...
, near
RavennaRavenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire till 476. It was later the capital ofKingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna till 751...
. After completing a brilliant university course at
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, which he interrupted to take part in the
revolution of 1831The Carbonari were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. Their goals were patriotic and liberal and they played an important role in the Risorgimento and the early years of Italian nationalism....
, he practised as a physician at Russi and at Ravenna. He acquired a considerable reputation, but in 1843 his political opinions brought him under the suspicion of the police and caused his expulsion from the papal states. He resided successively in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
and
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and travelled about Europe as private physician to
Prince Jerome BonaparteJérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
, but when
Pius IXPope Blessed Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed Papal infallibility...
was elected to the Holy See and began his reign with apparently Liberal and nationalist tendencies, Farini returned to Italy and was appointed secretary-general to G Recchi, the minister of the interior (March 1848).
But he held office for little more than a month, since like all the other Italian Liberals he disapproved of the popes change of front in refusing to allow his troops to fight against Austria, and resigned with the rest of the ministry on April 29. Pius, wishing to counteract the effect of this policy, sent Farini to
Charles Albert, king of SardiniaCharles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
, to hand over the command of the papal contingent to him. Elected member of parliament for Faenza, he was again appointed secretary to the ministry of the interior in the
MamianiTerenzio, Count Mamiani della Rovere was an Italian writer and statesman.He was born in Pesaro. He took part in the outbreaks at Bologna arising out of the accession of Pope Gregory XVI, and was elected deputy for Pesaro to the assembly, and subsequently appointed minister of the interior; but on...
cabinet, and later director-general of the public health department.
He resigned office on the proclamation of the republic after the flight of the pope to
GaetaGaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
in 1849, resumed it for a while when Pius returned to Rome with the protection of French arms, but when a reactionary and priestly policy was instituted, he went into exile and took up his residence at
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
. There he became convinced that it was only through the
House of SavoyThe House of Savoy was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Second World War...
that Italy could be liberated, and he expounded his views in Cavour's paper
Il Risorgimento, in
La Frusta and
Il Piemonte, of which latter he was at one time editor. He also wrote his chief historical work,
Lo Stato Romano dal 1815 al 1850, in four volumes (Turin, 1850).
In 1851 he was appointed minister of public instruction in the
D'AzeglioMassimo Taparelli, marquis d'Azeglio was an Italian statesman, novelist and painter.-Biography:Marquis d'Azeglio was born at Turin, descended from an ancient and noble Piedmontese family...
cabinet, an office which he held till May 1852. As a member of the Sardinian parliament and as a journalist Farini was one of the staunchest supporters of Cavour, and strongly favoured the proposal that Piedmont should participate in the
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, if indeed he was not actually the first to suggest that policy (see GB Ercolani's letter in E Parri's memoir of Farini). In 1856 and 1857 he published two letters to
Mr GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone was a British Liberal Party statesman and four times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
on Italian affairs, which created a sensation, while he continued to propagate his views in the Italian press.
When on the outbreak of the war of 1859
Francis V, duke of ModenaFrancis V of Modena was Duke of Modena from 1846 to 1875. He was the eldest son of Francis IV of Modena and of Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy....
, was expelled and a provisional government set up, Farini was sent as Piedmontese commissioner to that city; but although recalled after the peace of Villafranca he was determined on the annexation of central Italy to Piedmont and remained behind, becoming a Modenese citizen and dictator of the state. He negotiated an alliance with
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
,
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
and Tuscany, when other provisional governments had been established, and entrusted the task of organizing an army for this central Italian league to
General FantiManfredo Fanti was an Italian general.-Biography:Manfredo Fanti was born at Carpi and educated at the military college of Modena....
.
Annexation to Piedmont having been voted by plebiscite and the opposition of Napoleon III having been overcome, Farini returned to Turin, when the king conferred on him the order of the Annunziata and Cavour appointed him minister of the interior (June 1860), and subsequently viceroy of Naples; but he soon resigned on the score of ill-health. Cavour died in 1861, and the following year, Farini succeeded
RattazziUrbano Rattazzi was an Italian statesman.-Biography:Born in Alessandria , in 1808 Rattazzi was sent to the chamber of deputies in Turin as representative of his native town...
as premier, in which office he endeavoured to carry out Cavour's policy. Over-exertion, however, brought on softening of the brain, which compelled him to resign office on March 24, 1863, and ultimately resulted in his death. He was buried at Turin, but in 1878 his remains were removed to his native village of Russi.
His son Domenico Farini had a distinguished political career and was at one time president of the chamber.
External links