Pier Alessandro Paravia was born in Zara, Dalmatia on July 15, 1797 and was a

Dalmatian Italian Dalmatian Italians are the historical Italian national minority living in the region of Dalmatia, now part of Croatia and Montenegro. Since the middle of the 19th century, the community, counting according to some sources nearly 20% of all Dalma ...

writer, scholar, philanthropist and professor of Italian eloquence at 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 ...

Biography

Early years

Son of Giovanni, colonel of the ''Oltremarini'' (or '' Schiavoni''), an elite infantry division of the Navy of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, and grandson of

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, also a naval officer of the Venetian Republic, he was born in Zara (present-day Zadar) two months after the fall of the Republic. As a child he moved to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

,Jacopo Bernardi,
Vita e documenti letterari di Pier Alessandro Paravia
', vol 1, G. Marietti, 1863 - Harvard University where he studied at the ''

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

of Santa Caterina.'' He graduated in law at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in 1818, and served in Venice as a state

functionary An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

for twelve years, until - in 1832 - he was called to the chair of Eloquence of the Faculty of Philosophy at the

. He had already published several studies: mostly biographies of writers and artists, but also a popular translation of the ''Letters'' of

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

In Turin

On taking up his new post, he commenced a prolific period of production, in which he ranged from

Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italian people, Italians or in Languages of Italy, other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely re ...

(studies on

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

and

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

) to

Provençal literature Occitan literature (referred to in older texts as Provençal literature) is a body of texts written in Occitan, mostly in the south of France. It was the first literature in a Romance language and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throug ...

and even Chinese novels (which he was one of the first to study in Italy). In addition to literature, he was also interested in history and politics, to which he dedicated an essay significantly entitled ''Del Sentimento Patrio'' ("On Patriotic Feeling"). He purchased a villa near

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

(in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, then part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

), which he frequented. Although politically conservative, he was constantly monitored by the

Austro-Hungarians Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

, owing to his adherence to Italian patriotic ideals He was a friend of and corresponded with many illustrious Italians - from

Niccolò Tommaseo Niccolò Tommaseo (; 9 October 1802 – 1 May 1874) was a Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a ''Dizionario della Lingua Italiana'' in eight volumes (1861–74), of a dictionary of synonyms (1830) and other works. He is ...

Silvio Pellico Silvio Pellico (; 24 June 1789 – 31 January 1854) was an Italian writer, poet, dramatist and patriot active in the Italian unification. Biography Silvio Pellico was born in Saluzzo (Piedmont). He spent the earlier portion of his life at Pin ...

, from King

Charles Albert of Sardinia Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 until 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Albertine Statute, and with the First Italian War of Independence ...

Vincenzo Gioberti Vincenzo Gioberti (; 5 April 180126 October 1852) was an Italian Catholic priest, philosopher, publicist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Sardinia from 1848 to 1849. He was a prominent spokesman for liberal Catholicism. Biogr ...

- and had a sincere and lifelong affection for

Antonio Rosmini Blessed Antonio Francesco Davide Ambrogio Rosmini-Serbati (; Rovereto, 25 March 1797 Stresa, 1 July 1855) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and philosopher. He founded the Rosminians, officially the Institute of Charity or , pioneered th ...

, whom he had known since his days at the University of Padua. Greatly interested in the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

, he wrote important essays about it which earned him a nomination to the

Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language ...

. He died in Turin on March 18, 1857. In his honor a

herma A herma ( grc, ἑρμῆς, pl. ''hermai''), commonly herm in English, is a sculpture with a head and perhaps a torso above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. Hermae we ...

was erected at the University of Turin, where is also preserved a large and valuable collection of manuscripts that had belonged to his uncle Antonio.

Relationship with Zadar

Paravia never forgot his native town of Zara, and after a visit in 1850, he donated his private library of over ten thousand volumes in 1855 to create a public library, which was later named in his honor ''Municipal Library Paravia''. Its purpose was not simply philanthropic. Paravia pleaded: "Study your language, because in it lies your future greatness; it is a merit which nobody can deny you, and it is great honor." Paravia clearly meant, through his donation, to send a strong message to the Dalmatians, so much so that he invited the leaders of contemporary Italian culture, with whom he maintained a very active correspondence, to also offer books. This library, which was housed in the ancient Venetian

Loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

of Zara/Zadar until 1938, was from its opening on August 18, 1857 the largest in the whole of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

. Closed during World War II, it was reopened on October 14, 1945 with the new name ''Narodna Biblioteka'' (National Library).

National identification

Given Paravia's personal history, his enthusiastic adhesion to the sentiments of the Italian

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 ...

and his explicit affirmations of nationality (he wrote "No one can be a great writer without being a national writer, without representing, that is, in his writings his proper nation, his proper era."), until recently his nationality was not in question. In present-day

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, however, his surname is occasionally found transliterated as Paravija, his explicit choice of nationality is regularly omitted, and he is simply indicated as having been born in Zara.Research Library, Zadar
While there is no doubt that Pier Alessandro Paravia was an Italian by nationality, the demarcation line of his class ancestry as stipulated by the Republic of Venice, links to the Schiavoni regiment and the 19th century society, suggests a family connection to an untitled commoner merchant class, which was a status above normal commoners. In today's Dalmatia, people of mixed Northern Italian and Croatian ancestry whose families were tied to the merchant classes (both titled and untitled) are sometimes referred to as Lombard Dalmatian (Lombardsko Dalmatinski) indicating affiliation to the Dalmatian commonwealth and culture. This may be the source of the confusion in question. Further to that, the

Croatisation Croatisation or Croatization ( hr, kroatizacija, or ''pohrvaćenje''; it, croatizzazione; sr, хрватизација / ''hrvatizacija'' or похрваћење / ''pohrvaćenje'') is a process of cultural assimilation, and its consequences, ...

of Latin/Italian surnames and

Italianization Italianization ( it, italianizzazione; hr, talijanizacija; french: italianisation; sl, poitaljančevanje; german: Italianisierung; el, Ιταλοποίηση) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or a ...

of Slavic surnames was an age-old tradition in

Venetian Dalmatia Venetian Dalmatia ( la, Dalmatia Veneta) refers to parts of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated f ...

and the Republic of Ragusa that simply translates a given name into dual language formats as means to acceptance and/or trade branding. While it does not imply a current shift in self identity, the collusion could, in theory, create perplexity (and to some degree bewilderment), from a historical point of view.

Works

* ''News about the life of Antonio Canova'', Venice 1822 - complete work availabl
here
* ''Versi'', Venice 1825 * ''Traduzione delle lettere di Plinio il Giovane'', Venice 1830-1832 (3 volumes) * ''Lettere inedite di illustri italiani'', Venice 1833 * ''Delle relazioni del Cristianesimo con la letteratura'', Turin 1837 * ''Notizie intorno ai Generali della Repubblica Veneta'', Turin 1837 * ''Sistema mitologico di Dante'', Turin 1837-1839 * ''Orazione per l'onomastico di Carlo Alberto'', Turin 1838 - complete work availabl
here
* ''Del sentimento patrio nelle sue relazioni con la letteratura'', Turin 1839 * ''Biografie degli Italiani illustri'', Venice 1840 * ''Prolusioni e discorsi'', Parma 1845 * ''Antologia italiana'', Turin 1847 * ''Canzoniere nazionale scelto e annotato'', Turin 1849 * ''Memorie veneziane di letteratura e di storia'', Turin 1850 - complete work availabl
here
* ''Lezioni accademiche e altre prose'', Zara 1851 * ''Lezioni di letteratura'', Turin 1852 (second edition in 1856) * ''Carlo Alberto e il suo regno. Orazioni'', Voghera 1852 - complete work availabl
here
* ''Vincenzo Gioberti. Prelezione accademica'', Turin 1853 - complete work availabl
here

Notes

References

* J. Bernardi, ''Life and literary documents of Pier Alessandro Paravia''. Marietti, Turin 186

* F. Bosio, ''Pier Alessandro Paravia'', Milan, 1876 * I. Tacconi, "Il centenario della morte di Paravia" in ''La Rivista Dalmata'', 1957 * G. Praga, "Storia della Dalmazia". Padova: CEDAM, 1954 * T. Vallery, "La Scuola dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone". Treviso: Alcione Ed., 2011 * T. Vallery, "Personaggi dalmati benemeriti, noti e meno noti". Mestre, 2009

External links

Website of ''Znanstvena knjižnica Zadar'' former ''Biblioteca Paravia''

in Paderno del Grappa, Paderno, which belonged to him, from the website of the Italian Technical Institute "Palladio" of Treviso
The Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio e Trifone
A Place for the Dalmatian Community in Venice {{DEFAULTSORT:Paravia, Pier Alessandro 1797 births 1857 deaths Writers from Zadar Italian male writers Italian people of the Italian unification Dalmatian Italians