Ercole Ricotti (12 October 1816 – 24 February 1883) was an Italian politician and historian.

Biography

He was born at

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,374 ...

and in 1833 he moved to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, where he frequented the Faculty of Engineering. In 1840 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Turin. In 1846 he was appointed as professor of Military History (later renamed Modern History) in the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...

. He took part in the

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

, during which he was taken prisoner by the

Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...

. He was named to the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

from 1862 until his death. He was also Rector of the University of Turin and member of the National Council of Instruction in the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

, which had been created in 1861. In 1861-1869 he published a ''Storia della Monarchia Piemontese'' ("History of the Piedmontese Monarchy"), at

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, in six volumes. His other works includes studies on the

condottieri ''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other Europ ...

, a ''Breve storia della Costituzione inglese'' ("Brief History of the English Constitution", 1871) and the posthumous ''La Rivoluzione Francese dell'anno 1789'' ("The French Revolution of 1789", 1888). He died at

in 1883.

External links

Page at Torinoscienza website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricotti, Ettore 1816 births 1883 deaths People from Voghera 19th-century Italian historians Engineers from Turin Italian politicians Italian military historians