Emilio Faà di Bruno

Emilio Faà di Bruno (7 March 1820 – 20 July 1866) was an Italian naval officer. He was born in the Kingdom of Sardinia and was a key figure in the unification of Italy and the creation of the Royal Italian Navy. Between 1863 and 1864 he toured the coast of North America, protecting Italian interests and engaging in naval diplomacy. He died at the Battle of Lissa.

Faà di Bruno was born in Alessandria to Lodovico, Marchese di Bruno, and Carolina Sappa de' Milanesi. His brothers were the missionary Giuseppe and the mathematician Francesco. Emilio entered the naval academy at Genoa as a youth and received his first experience at sea on the frigate Des Geneys. He reached the rank of ensign in 1837 and ensign first class in 1839. As a lieutenant, he participated in the First Italian War of Independence against the Austrian Empire in 1848–49. He served under Admiral Giuseppe Albini aboard the corvette Malfatano and the frigate San Michele in the Adriatic, during the search for the Austrian fleet between the mouths of the rivers Piave and Tagliamento and in the blockade of Trieste.

After the war, Faà di Bruno retired for family reasons, but he was recalled when the Conte di Cavour, then minister of the navy, appointed him naval attaché to the Sardinian embassy in London. There he met and, on 29 October 1851, married Agnes Huddleston. During the Second Italian War of Independence, he distinguished himself at the Siege of Gaeta (1860) and won the knight's cross (croce di cavaliere) of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.

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