Gioacchino Prati (1790–1863) was an Italian

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary and

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

, a supporter of the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

who was

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

d for his activities in 1821. He was later a

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

Life

Prati was born in

Tenno The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised pr ...

and educated in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

. He trained in both

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, taking his law degree in Pavia in 1810. He moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to continue his studies where he became a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and a Carbonaro. He practised law in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

and Trento but his clandestine activities came to the attention of the authorities and he fled to the safety of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1816. There he continued his political agitation, largely based in

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg), ...

and

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...

.Fisch (1943) He travelled throughout Europe, maintaining his revolutionary activism,Robson & Robson (1986) before being granted

right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1823. There, he soon established a broad circle of exiled and radical friends including:

Ugo Foscolo Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet. He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''. Early life Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...

, Sir

John Bowring Sir John Bowring , or Phraya Siamanukulkij Siammitrmahayot, , , group=note (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was a ...

Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet * Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor * Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...

Joseph Henry Green Joseph Henry Green (1 November 1791 – 13 December 1863) (72 years) was an English surgeon who became the literary executor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Life Green was the only son of Joseph Green, a prosperous merchant, and was born at the ...

and

Edward Craven Hawtrey Edward Craven Hawtrey (7 May 178927 January 1862) was an English educationalist, headmaster and later provost of Eton College. Life He was born at Burnham, Bucks, the son of the vicar of the parish. He was educated at Eton College and King's Col ...

. Though he claims that Bowring had introduced him to write for the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until ...

'', he managed a meagre living on various failed educational enterprises, and publishing on educational matters and tutoring in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He was imprisoned for

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

in 1829 and took the opportunity to learn English medical terminology under the guidance of Green. On his release from prison in 1830, he visited

Philippe Buonarroti :''See also Filippo Buonarroti (1661–1733).'' Filippo Giuseppe Maria Ludovico Buonarroti, more usually referred to under the French version Philippe Buonarroti (11 November 1761 – 16 September 1837), was an Italian utopian socialist, wri ...

, an old friend, in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

then, after a brief return to England, rushed to France to join in the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...

. Returning to England in 1831 he joined the

Friends of the People Society The Society of the Friends of the People was an organisation in Great Britain that was focused on advocating for Parliamentary Reform. It was founded by the Whig Party in 1792. The Society in England was aristocratic and exclusive, in contrast ...

and professed to be a

. He then took up the practice of medicine, contributing a medical column to the radical '' Penny Satirist'' from 1837 to 1840, in addition to editing the magazine. There was some public alarm at his radical views when he was joined in some public professions of his views by

Gregorio Fontana Gregorio Fontana, born Giovanni Battista Lorenzo Fontana (7 December 1735 – 24 August 1803) was an Italian mathematician and a religious of the Piarist order. He was chair of mathematics at the university of Pavia succeeding Roger Joseph Boscov ...

in 1834.''The Times'', Saturday 30 November 1833, ''p.''2 col.D He repeatedly petitioned the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

authorities of the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...

to allow him to return to Brescia and they relented in 1852. Prati died in Brescia.

References

Sources

* * *Prati, G. (1837–39) "Autobiography", ''Penny Satirist'', reprinted in ''Annuario dell’istituto storico italiano per l’età moderna e contemporanea'', Vols. XVII–XVIII (1965–66) and XIX–XX (1967–68). *Robson, A. P. & Robson, J. M. (eds) (1986) ''The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXIII - Newspaper Writings August 1831 – October 1834 Part II'', Toronto: London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
234. 'Fontana and Prati's St. Simonism in London', ''Examiner'', 2 Feb., 1834, ''pp''68–9
*''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', "St. Simonian Propagandism-Regeneration Of Woman", Wednesday 30 October 1833, ''p.''3 col.F *—, "Dr. Prati, 'Preacher of the St. Simonian religion in England,' delivered a lecture yesterday evening at the ...", Saturday 30 November 1833, ''p.''2 col.D * Jordan, Alexander, '“Be not a copy if thou canst be an original”: German philosophy, republican pedagogy, Benthamism and Saint-Simonism in the political thought of Gioacchino di Prati', in ''History of European Ideas'', 41:2 (2015), pp. 221–240 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prati, Gioacchino 1790 births 1863 deaths People from Trentino Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian revolutionaries 20th-century Italian lawyers Saint-Simonists