Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (redirected from Francesco Guerrazzi)

Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico 

Born Aug. 12, 1804, in Livorno; died Sept. 23, 1873, near Cecina. Italian romantic novelist, active in the Revolution of 1848-49, and a moderate bourgeois democrat.

During the revolution, Guerrazzi became a minister in the Tuscany government in October 1848. After the overthrow of the monarchy in Tuscany (Feb. 8, 1849) he was a member of the triumvirate (Guerrazzi, Montanelli, and Mazzoni). On Mar. 28, 1849, the constituent assembly of Tuscany proclaimed Guerrazzi a dictator; while in power, he held to a moderate course. Guerrazzi’s government was overthrown following a counterrevolutionary mutiny on Apr. 11-12, 1849. Guerrazzi was imprisoned in a fortress and later banished from Tuscany. On returning home after the victory of the 1859 uprising, Guerrazzi played a prominent role in the Mazzini workers’ societies of Tuscany.

Guerrazzi’s most popular novels were The Battle of Be-nevento (1827-28), The Siege of Florence (1836; Russian translation in two volumes, 1934-35), and Beatrice Cenci (1854; Russian translation, 1863). His historical novel The Siege of Florence played an important role in developing the liberal patriotic Risorgimento ideology. His memoirs (1848) devoted to Mazzini and his Apologia (1851), which expounds his political views, are of considerable interest.

WORKS

Opere, vols. 1-15. Milan, 1859-67.
Lettere, vols. 1-2. Edited by G. Carducci. Livorno, 1880-82.

REFERENCES

Friche, V. Istoriia ital’ianskoiliteratury 19 v., part 1. Moscow, 1916. De Sanctis, F. Saggie scritti critici e vari, 2nd [ed.], vol. 2. Milan [1941].

N. B. TO MASHEVSKII