Giuseppe Mazzini | |
---|---|
Born |
Genoa, Ligurian Republic |
22 June 1805
Died | 10 March 1872 Pisa, Kingdom of Italy |
(aged 66)
Alma mater | University of Genoa |
Era | 19th-century |
School | Romanticism, Providentialism |
Main interests
|
History, theology, politics |
Notable ideas
|
Pan-Europeanism, irridentism, popular democracy, class collaboration |
Signature | |
Giuseppe Mazzini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe matˈtsiːni]; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy and spearheaded the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state.
Mazzini's thoughts had a very considerable influence on the Italian and European republican movements, on the Constitution of Italy, about Europeanism, and, more nuanced, on many politicians of a later period: among them, men like U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (with his Fourteen Points) and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, but also post-colonial leaders such as Gandhi, Savarkar, Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sun Yat-sen.
Mazzini was born in Genoa, then part of the Ligurian Republic, under the rule of the French Empire. His father, Giacomo Mazzini, originally from Chiavari, was a university professor who had adhered to Jacobin ideology; his mother, Maria Drago, was renowned for her beauty and religious (Jansenist) fervour. From a very early age, Mazzini showed good learning qualities (as well as a precocious interest in politics and literature). He was admitted to the University at only 14, graduating in law in 1826, and initially practiced as a "poor man's lawyer". He also hoped to become a historical novelist or a dramatist, and in the same year he wrote his first essay, Dell'amor patrio di Dante ("On Dante's Patriotic Love"), which was published in 1837. In 1828–29 he collaborated with a Genoese newspaper, L'indicatore genovese, which was however soon closed by the Piedmontese authorities. He then became one of the leading authors of L'Indicatore Livornese, published at Livorno by F. D. Guerrazzi, until this paper was closed down by the authorities, too.