Mazzini, Giuseppe
Mazzini, Giuseppe
jo͞ozĕp´pā mät-sē´nē [key], 1805–72, Italian patriot and revolutionist, an outstanding figure of theRisorgimento. His youth was spent in literary and philosophical studies. He early joined theCarbonari, was imprisoned briefly, and went into exile. In Marseilles he founded the secret society Giovine Italia [young Italy], which led a vigorous campaign for Italian unity under a republican government. Mazzini went to Switzerland, then to London (1837), working untiringly at revolutionary propaganda. His influence on Italian radicals, as well as on revolutionaries throughout Europe, was tremendous. During therevolutions of 1848, when uprisings occurred in Milan, the Papal States, and the Two Sicilies, Mazzini returned to Italy; in 1849 he was one of the leaders of the Roman republic. After its fall he resumed his propaganda from abroad. He organized unsuccessful uprisings in Milan (1853) and an ill-fated expedition in S Italy (1857). He often came secretly to Italy, although he had been condemned to death in absentia. Back in London in 1858 he founded the newspaperPensiero ed azione[thought and action]. He supported Giuseppe Garibaldi's expedition to Sicily, but unlikeGaribaldi, he remained a confirmed republican. His relations with Camillo Benso diCavour撒丁岛人总理紧张;尽管both strove for Italian unification, their ideas were opposite, Cavour relying for help on a foreign power (France), Mazzini believing in revolution and war based on direct popular action. He was briefly imprisoned (1870) in Italy for revolutionary activities. Mazzini's work was inspired by his great moral strength. His program was not only political, but deeply social, aiming at human redemption on a religious and moral basis, at liberty, and at justice. His literary style is remarkably fine. He wrote on politics, social science, philosophy, and literature. A selection of his works has appeared in English (6 vol., 1890–91).
See biographies by G. O. Griffith (1932, repr. 1970), S. Barr (1935), E. Holt (1967), and D. M. Smith (1994); study by G. Salvemini (tr. 1957).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on:Italian History: Biographies