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AZEGLIO, MASSIMO TAPARELLI, MARQUIS
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See also:AZEGLIO, See also:MASSIMO TAPARELLI, See also:MARQUIS D' (1798-1866), See also:Italian statesman and author, was See also:born at See also:Turin in See also:October 1798, descended from an See also:ancient and See also:noble Piedmontese See also:family. His See also:father, Cesare d'Azeglio, was an officer in the Piedmontese See also:army and held a high position at See also:court; on the return of See also:Pope See also:Pius VII. to See also:Rome after the fall of See also:Napoleon, Cesare d'Azeglio was sent as See also:special See also:envoy to the Vatican, and he took his son, then sixteen years of See also:age, with him as an extra attache. See also:Young Massimo was given a See also:commission in a See also:cavalry See also:regiment, which he soon relinquished on See also:account of his See also:health. During his See also:residence in Rome he had acquired a love for See also:art. and See also:music, and he now determined to become a painter, to the horror of his family, who belonged to the stiff and narrow Piedmontese See also:aristocracy. His father reluctantly consented, and Massimo settled in Rome, devoting himself to art. He led an abstemious See also:life, maintaining himself by his See also:painting for several years. But he was constantly meditating on the See also:political See also:state of See also:Italy. In 183o he returned to Turin, and after his father's See also:death in 1831 removed to See also:Milan. There he remained for twelve years, moving in the See also:literary and See also:artistic circles of the See also:city. He became the intimate of Alessandro See also:Manzoni the novelist, whose daughter he married; thenceforth literature became his See also:chief occupation instead of art, and he produced two See also:historical novels, Niccolb dei Lapi and Ettore Fie'-amosca, in See also:imitation of Manzoni, and with pronounced political tendencies, his See also:object being to point out the evils of See also:foreign domination in Italy and to reawaken See also:national feeling. In 1845 he visited Romagna as an unauthorized political envoy, to See also:report on its conditions and the troubles which he foresaw would break out on the death of Pope See also:Gregory XVI. The following See also:year he published his famous pamphlet Degli ultimi casi di Romagna at See also:Florence, in consequence of which he was expelled from See also:Tuscany. He spent the next few months in Rome, sharing the See also:general See also:enthusiasm over the supposed liberalism of the new pope, Pius IX.; like V. See also:Gioberti and See also:Balbo he believed in an Italian See also:confederation under papal auspices, and was opposed to the See also:Radical wing of the Liberal party. His political activity increased, and he wrote various other See also:pamphlets, among which was I lutti di Lombardia (1848).
On the outbreak of the first See also:war of See also:independence, d'Azeglio donned the papal See also:uniform and took See also:part under General See also:Durando in the See also:defence of See also:Vicenza, where he was severely wounded. He retired to Florence to recover, but as he opposed the democrats who ruled in Tuscany, he was expelled from that See also:country for the second See also:time. He was now a famous See also:man, and See also:early in 1849 See also: D'Azeglio conducted the affairs of the country with tact and ability, improving its See also:diplomatic relations, and opposing the claims of the See also:Roman See also:Curia. He invited See also:Count See also:Cavour, then a rising young politician, to enter the See also:ministry in 1850. Cavour and See also:Farini, also a member of the cabinet, made certain declarations in the Chamber (May 1852) which led the ministry in the direction of an See also:alliance with Rattazzi and the See also:Left. Of this d'Azeglio disapproved, and therefore resigned office, but on the king's See also:request he formed a new ministry, excluding both Cavour and Farini. In October, however, owing to See also:ill-health and dissatisfaction with some of his colleagues, as well as for other reasons not quite clear, he resigned once more and retired into private life, suggesting Cavour to the king as his successor. For the next four years he lived modestly at Turin, devoting himself once more to art, although he also continued to take an active See also:interest in politics, Cavour always consulting him on matters of moment. In 1855 he was appointed director of the Turin art See also:gallery. In 1859 he was given various political See also:missions, including one to See also:Paris and See also:London to prepare the basis for ageneral See also:congress of the See also:powers on the Italian question. When war between Piedmont and Austria appeared inevitable he re-turned to Italy, and was sent as royal See also:commissioner by Cavour to Romagna, whence the papal troops had been expelled. After the peace of Villafranca, d'Azeglio was recalled with orders to withdraw the Piedmontese garrisons; but he saw the danger of allowing the papal troops to reoccupy the See also:province, and after a severe inner struggle left See also:Bologna without the troops, and interviewed the king. The latter approved of his See also:action, and said that his orders had not been accurately expressed; thus Romagna was saved. That same year he published a pamphlet in See also:French entitled De la Politique et du See also:droit chretien au point de vue de la question italienne, with the object of inducing Napoleon III. to continue his See also:pro-Italian policy. Early in s86o Cavour appointed him See also:governor of Milan, evacuated by the Austrians after the See also:battle of See also:Magenta, a position which he held with See also:great ability. But, disapproving of the See also:government's policy with regard to See also:Garibaldi's Sicilian expedition and the occupation by Piedmont of the See also:kingdom of See also:Naples as inopportune, he resigned office. The death of his two See also:brothers in 1862 arid of Cavour in 1861 caused Massimo great grief, and he subsequently led a comparatively retired life. But he took part in politics, both as a See also:deputy and a writer, his two chief subjects of interest being the Roman question and the relations of Piedmont (now the kingdom of Italy) with Mazzini and the other revolutionists. In his See also:opinion Italy must be unified by means of the Franco-Piedrnohtese army alone, all connexion with the conspirators being eschewed, while the pope should enjoy nominal See also:sovereignty over Rome, with full spiritual independence, the See also:capital of Italy being established elsewhere, but the See also:Romans being Italian citizens (see his letters to E. Rendu and his pamphlet Le question urgenti). He strongly disapproved of the See also:convention of 1864 between the Italian government and the pope. The last few years of d'Azeglio's life were spent chiefly at his See also:villa of Cannero, where he set to See also:work to write his own See also:memoirs. He died of See also:fever on the 15th of See also:January 1866. Massimo d'Azeglio was a very attractive See also:personality, as well as an absolutely honest patriot, and a characteristic example of the best type of Piedmontese aristocrat. He was cautious and conservative; in his general ideas on the liberation of Italy he was wrong, and to some extent he was an See also:amateur in politics, but of his'sincerity there is no doubt. As an author his political writings are trenchant and clear, but his novels are somewhat heavy and old-fashioned, and are interesting only if one reads the political allusions between the lines. Besides a variety of newspaper articles and pamphlets, d'Azeglio's chief See also:works are the two novels Ettore Fieramosca(1833)and Niccolb dei Lapi(1841), and a See also:volume of autobiographical memoirs entitled I Miei Ricordi, a most charming work published after his death, in 1866, but unfortunately incomplete. See in addition to the Ricordi, L. See also:Carpi's Il Risorgiinento Italiano,vol. i. pp. 288 sq. and the Souvenirs historiques of See also:Constance d'Azeglio, Massimo's niece (Turin, 1884). (L. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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