1. Massimo d'Azeglio was Prime Minister of Sardinia for almost three years until succeeded by his rival Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour.
20 Facts About Massimo d'Azeglio
1. 2.
Massimo d'Azeglio was descended from an ancient and noble Piedmontese family.
3.
Young Massimo d'Azeglio was given a commission in a cavalry regiment, which he soon relinquished on account of his health.
4.
Massimo d'Azeglio led an abstemious life in Rome, maintaining himself by painting Romantic landscapes which frequently included historical subjects.
5.
Massimo d'Azeglio resided in Milan for twelve years, moving in the city's literary and artistic circles and, in 1834, helped to organise the Salotto Maffei salon, hosted by Clara Maffei.
6.
Massimo d'Azeglio became an intimate of Alessandro Manzoni the novelist, whose daughter he married.
7.
The novels had a strong political context, with Massimo d'Azeglio aiming to illustrate the evils of foreign domination in Italy and to reawaken national feeling.
8.
In 1845, Massimo d'Azeglio visited Romagna as an unauthorized political envoy, to report on its conditions and the troubles which he foresaw would break out on the death of Pope Gregory XVI.
9.
Massimo d'Azeglio spent the next few months in Rome, sharing the general enthusiasm over the supposed liberalism of the new pope, Pius IX; like Vincenzo Gioberti he believed in an Italian confederation under papal auspices and was opposed to the Radical wing of the Liberal party.
10.
Massimo d'Azeglio retired to Florence to recover, but as he opposed the ruling democrats he was expelled from Tuscany a second time.
11.
Massimo d'Azeglio was now a famous man, and early in 1849 King Charles Albert of Sardinia, invited him to form a cabinet.
12.
The treaty was accepted and Massimo d'Azeglio continued in office for the next three years.
13.
In 1855 Massimo d'Azeglio was appointed director of the Galleria Sabauda.
14.
That same year Massimo d'Azeglio published a pamphlet in French entitled De la Politique et du droit chretien au point de vue de la question italienne, with the object of inducing Napoleon III to continue his pro-Italian policy.
15.
Massimo d'Azeglio continued to hold that the pope should enjoy nominal sovereignty over Rome with full spiritual independence, with the capital of Italy being established elsewhere but the Romans being Italian citizens.
16.
Massimo d'Azeglio strongly disapproved of the September Convention of 1864 between the Italian government and the pope.
17.
The last few years of Massimo d'Azeglio's life were spent chiefly at his villa of Cannero, where he wrote his memoirs.
18.
Massimo d'Azeglio died of fever in Turin on 15 January 1866.
19.
Massimo d'Azeglio convinced the king to accept constitutional government, with the proviso the King could control military and foreign policy without parliamentary interference.
20.
The Liceo classico Massimo d'Azeglio has a notable place in Italian history as the alma mater of author Primo Levi, novelist Cesare Pavese, screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, and anti-fascist intellectuals such as publisher Giulio Einaudi, Norberto Bobbio, and writer and teacher Leone Ginzburg.