Vittorio Barzoni (17 December 1767 - 22 April 1843) was an Italian author, mainly of anti-Napoleonic tracts during the French occupation of Northern Italy.

Biography

He was born in

Lonato Lonato del Garda (before 1 July 2007 simply Lonato; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lonad, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy. Lonato is located about halfway between Milan and Venice, on the southwes ...

, province of Brescia, then in 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, ...

. His father was a mushroom merchant, and afforded Vittorio early education in his town, and later in a college of Verona, but finally at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

. Inspired by the new political ideas promulgated by the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, he moved to Venice and published his first work in 1794: ''Il solitario delle Alpi''. Upon the fall of the Republic, he founded on 16 May 1797 a gazette titled ''L'Equatore''. His writings were often sequestered or suppressed by the occupying French authorities. He soon published a tract: ''Rapporto sullo stato attuale degli stati liberi d'Italia e sulla necessità che siano fusi in una sola Repubblica'', in which he challenged the pretensions of Napoleon to be a liberator of Venice or Italy. By 27 September 1797, he was forced to flee the borders of Venice. With the Treaty of Campoformio ceding the Veneto to Austria, he returned to Venice, and soon published ''I Romani nella Grecia'', which was a thinly veiled criticism of the French occupation as equivalent to the past Ancient Roman occupation and suppression of Greek freedoms. This book became available to both English and German readers.''Die Römer in Griechenland'', Übersetzung aus dem Italienischen, Triest, bei Wage, Fleis und Comp., 1798. By 1801, he was forced to abandon Venice for Vienna, but soon also expelled from there by French pressure, and moved to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1804 where he published various anti-French journals (''

L'Argo ''L'Argo'' was a newspaper published in the British protectorate of Malta in 1804. At the time of its issue, it was the only periodical publication in Malta. ''L'Argo'' was preceded by '' Foglio d'Avvisi'' (1803–1804) and it was succeeded by ''I ...

'' and ''

Il Cartaginese ''Il Cartaginese'' was a newspaper published in the British protectorate of Malta between 1804 and 1805. At the time of its issue, it was the only periodical publication in Malta. ''Il Cartaginese'' was preceded by '' L'Argo'' (1804) and it was ...

''). He soon moved to liberated regions of Spain to continue his diatribes against the French occupation of that country. While initially inspired by the French Revolution, he was not entirely democratic, and aspired for the rule of monarchs and an aristocracy. In 1814, he returned to Milan. He published in 1825, a dramatic tragedy ''Narina'', but it soon faced censorship. He died in Naples.

Works

*''Tributo di un solitario alle ceneri di

Angelo Emo Angelo Emo (3 January 1731 – 1 March 1792) was a Venetian noble and admiral, mostly known for being the last admiral of the Republic of Venice to lead the Venetian navy to battle. Distinguished for his seamanship since early in his career, he ...

'', S.n.t. .e. Venezia, F. Andreola, 1792(opera prima). *''Orazione per Verona al generale Buonaparte'', enice dalle stampe del cittadino Francesco Andreola, 1797.
''Descrizioni del Signor Barzoni''
Venice, Francesco Andreola publishers, 1797. * ''Rapporto sullo stato attuale dei paesi liberi d'Italia e sulla necessità ch'essi sieno fusi in una sola repubblica presentato al generale in capo dell'armata francese'', Venice, Francesco Andreola. 1797.
''I Romani nella Grecia''
London i.e. Venice, F. Rivington and G. Robinson .e. F. Andreola originally published 1797, 1849 edition.
''Memorabili avvenimenti successi sotto i tristi auspici della Repubblica francese''
Venice, Francesco Andreola publisher, 1799. * ''Rivoluzioni della Repubblica veneta'', 2nd volume, Venice, presso Francesco Andreola, 1799. *''Colloquj civici'', Venice, 1799.
''Il solitario delle Alpi''
Venice, Francesco Andreola publishers, 1800. * ''Motivi della rottura del trattato d'Amiens. Discussione politica'', Malta, 1804 (later ''Dissertazione politica'', Malta, 1811). * ''Operette'', Malta, 1808. *''Narina. Dramma'', Crema, A. Ronna publisher, 1825. *''Belfonte descritto'', Lodi, tipi di Gio. Battista Orcesi, 1825.

Note

Bibliography

* Andrea Benzoni, ''La vita di Vittorio Barzoni lonatese'', Bobbio, Cella publishers, 1908. *Alberto Lumbroso, ''Gli scritti antinapoleonici di Vittorio Barzoni lonatese'', Modena, tip. lit. Angelo Namias e C., 1895. *Giuseppe Nuzzo,
BARZONI, Vittorio
� in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Volume 7, Rome, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970. *Giambattista Pagani, ''Vittorio Barzoni. Elogio'', Brescia, G. Quadri, 1843. *Ulisse Papa, ''Vittorio Barzoni e i Francesi in Italia'', Venice, stab. tip. f.lli Visentini, 1895. *Giorgio Renucci, ''Profilo di Vittorio Barzoni'', Florence, L.S. Olschki, 1970 (estr. da: «Rivista italiana di studi napoleonici», n. 26, anno IX/ 2, pp. 136–150). *''Vittorio Barzoni da Lonato (1767-1843)'', a cura di Ivano Lorenzoni e Giancarlo Pionna, Lonato del Garda, Fondazione Ugo da Como, 2014. *Riccardo Pasqualin, ''Il Leone di Lonato Saggi su Vittorio Barzoni (1767-1843)'', Padua, Editrice Il Torchio, 2019. *Riccardo Pasqualin, ''L’immagine delle carceri venete in una controversa descrizione di Vittorio Barzoni'', in «Storia Veneta», n. 54, anno XI, novembre 2019, pp. 12–20. *Derived mainly from Italian Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Barzoni Vittorio 1767 births 1843 deaths Writers from Brescia 18th-century Italian writers 18th-century Italian male writers 19th-century Italian writers 19th-century Italian male writers Works about the Napoleonic Wars Italian newspaper editors Republic of Venice writers