Count Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani ( Chieti, April 30, 1818 – Palena, October 17, 1900) was an Italian diplomat and journalist, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1867–1869) and passionate about

Japanese Culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

Biography

Barbolani diplomat of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and liberal journalist

Descending from a branch of the Tuscan family who moved to

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

, Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani entered the diplomacy of

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

in 1847;E . Michel, '' Barbolani Raffaello Ulisse '', in: '' Rosi Dictionary '', II / 178 at the same time he collaborates for foreign policy news with ''Il Nazionale '', a newspaper founded in February 1848 by Silvio Spaventa. The newspaper represented a point of reference for the liberal bourgeoisie but was also influential among conservatives and pro-Bourbonists.

The diplomatic career for the Kingdom of Italy

At the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860), Barbolani, a charge d'affaires in Rio de Janeiro, was placed at the disposal of the Garibaldi dictatorial government. Later, he is admitted into the diplomacy of Kingdom of Italy and takes up service in Turin, at Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1863 he is in charge of affairs in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. From 1867 to 1869 Ulisse Barbolani was appointed by the prime minister and interim minister

Luigi Federico Menabrea Luigi Federico Menabrea (4 September 1809 – 24 May 1896), later made 1st Count Menabrea and 1st Marquess of Valdora, was an Italian general, statesman and mathematician who served as the seventh prime minister of Italy from 1867 to 1869. B ...

; pp. 48-49 when the third Menabrea Cabinet took office, however, he was alternated in the office by Alberto Blanc. Subsequently Barbolani was extraordinary envoy and plenipotentiary minister to Constantinople and Petersburg (1870–1876). In 1875, in Colledimacine - where his family owns an Ancient palace – marries Sofia Eugenia Giustina Teti. The year before, at his own expense, he had the bell tower of the Church of San Rocco built there, as shown in the appropriate plaque.? idn = 1831 Count Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani to his country AD 1874
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Barbolani in Japan

In 1877, Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani was sent as plenipotentiary minister to Tokyo, where he remained for about four years. Barbolani manages with intelligence and skill the visit of the prince Thomas to the emperor Meiji, winning the trust of the

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

and the sympathy of the imperial court , so much so that, a few years later, a Japanese minister declared that "in classifying the European powers in relation to the sympathy they enjoy in Japan, Italy occupied the first place, Russia the second and Germany the third".A prince of the House of Savoy and a diplomat of the Kingdom of Italy conquer the Meiji Court
nowiki> Ulysses Barbolani is responsible for the preservation of a precious collection of photographs of ancient Japan, discovered a few years ago in Pescara and published by the Japanese publishing house'' Heibonsha '' 平凡社. The collection, found among the diplomat's papers, is presented as a complete photographic record of the whole country. The album collects 1268 photographs, distributed throughout Japan and perfectly ordered by regions, cities and neighborhoods, with the indication written in Japanese and French, for each photograph. The images have effectively returned to a period in which the greatest changes that the Japanese history had known and which, otherwise, would have been without documentation were taking place. Raffaele Ulisse Barbolani'' en''ded his diplomatic career as plenipotentiary minister in Munich.

References

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