Carlo Cattaneo | |
|---|---|
 Young Carlo Cattaneo in an 1887woodcut byEdoardo Matania | |
| President ofProvisional Government of Milan | |
| In office 18 March 1848 – 5 August 1848 | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1801-06-15)15 June 1801 |
| Died | 6 February 1869(1869-02-06) (aged 67) |
| Resting place | Cimitero Monumentale di Milano, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Domestic partner | Anna Woodcock (1835–1869; his death) |
| Alma mater | University of Pavia |
Carlo Cattaneo (Italian:[ˈkarlokatˈtaːneo]; 15 June 1801 – 6 February 1869) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and activist, famous for his role in theFive Days of Milan in March 1848, when he led thecity council during the rebellion.
Cattaneo was born inMilan on 15 June 1801. He was the son of Melchiorre Cattaneo, agoldsmith, and Maria Antonia Sangiorgi.[1] After attending school in Milan he studied law at theUniversity of Pavia, graduating in 1824.[1]
A republican in his convictions, during his youth Cattaneo had taken part in theCarbonari movement inLombardy. He devoted himself to the study of philosophy, with the hope of regenerating Italian people by withdrawing them from romanticism and rhetoric, and turning their attention to the positivesciences.[2] In this period, Cattaneo met philosopherGiandomenico Romagnosi and he "was especially attracted by Romagnosi's emphasis onpractical solutions andinterdisciplinary work".[3] Cattaneo expounded hisideas in areview initiated by him in Milan in 1839, calledIl Politecnico. He resided at thePalazzo Gavazzi from 1840 until 1848.[4] In 1835 married his longtime fiancé Anne Pyne Woodcock (Limerick 1793 - Lugano 1869), a noblewoman.[5]
Cattaneo was a moderate Italian patriot. He supported therevolutions of 1848 and moved toLombardy where a revolutionary council took control of the city administration.[6] Cattaneo became one of the leaders of the insurrection against theAustrian Empire, known as theFive Days of Milan (18-22 March 1848). Together with the young democratsEnrico Cernuschi,Giulio Terzaghi, andGiorgio Clerici he formed a council of war which, having its headquarters at Palazzo Taverna in via Bigli, directed the operations of the insurgents.[7]
When on March 18 Field MarshalRadetzky, feeling that the position of the Austrian garrison was untenable, sounded the rebels as to their terms, some of the leaders were inclined to agree to an armistice which would give time for the Piedmontese troops to arrive (Piedmont had just declared war), but Cattaneo insisted on the complete evacuation of Lombardy. Again, on 21 March, Radetzky tried to obtain an armistice, and Durini and Borromeo were ready to grant it, for it would have enabled them to reorganize the defences and replenish the supplies of food and ammunition, which could only last another day.[8] However, Cattaneo replied:
The enemy having furnished us with munitions thus far, will continue to do so. Twenty-four hours of victuals and twenty-four hours of hunger will be many more hours than we shall need. This evening, if the plans we have just arranged should succeed, the line of the bastions will be broken. At any rate, even though we should lack bread, it is better to die of hunger than on the gallows.
On the expulsion of the Austrians the question arose as to the future government of Milan and Italy. Cattaneo was an uncompromising republican and a federalist; so violent was his dislike of the Piedmontese monarchy that when he heard that KingCharles Albert had been defeated by the Austrians, and that Radetzky was marching back to reoccupyMilan,[9] he exclaimed:
Good news, the Piedmontese have been beaten. Now we shall be our own masters; we shall fight a people's war, we shall chase the Austrians out of Italy, and set up a Federal Republic.
When the Austrians returned, in August 1848, Cattaneo fled Milan and took refuge in thecanton of Ticino, Switzerland. In 1852 he became a professor of philosophy at the newlyceum ofLugano, where he taught until 1865, and played a decisive role in defining the institution's pedagogy.[1]
He wrote hisStoria della Rivoluzione del 1848 (History of the 1848 Revolution), theArchivio triennale delle cose d'Italia (3 vols., 1850–1855), then, early in 1860, he started publishing thePolitecnico once more. In 1858, theGrand Council of Ticino awarded Cattaneo an honorarySwiss bourgeoisie.[1]
Whiled exiled in Switzerland, Cattaneo continued to follow the events ofItalian unification.[1] He strongly opposed theCamillo Benso di Cavour for his unitarian views and for thecession of Nice and Savoy to France in theTreaty of Turin. In 1860,Giuseppe Garibaldi summoned him toNaples to take part in the government of the Neapolitan provinces, but he would not agree to the union with Piedmont without local autonomy. After the establishment of theKingdom of Italy he was frequently asked to stand for theChamber of Deputies, but always refused because he could not conscientiously take theoath of allegiance to the monarchy. In 1868 the pressure of friends overcame his resistance, and he agreed to stand, but at the last moment he drew back, still unable to take the oath, and returned to Switzerland.[9] He died on 6 February 1869 inCastagnola, Switzerland.[1]
As a writer, Cattaneo was learned and brilliant, but some view him as being too bitter a partisan to be judicious, owing to his narrowly republican views. His ideas on localautonomy were wise, but, at a moment when unity was regarded as an absolute requisite, they were deemed inopportune.[9]Gaetano Salvemini considered him one of 19th-century Italy's men of genius along withGiacomo Leopardi,Camillo Benso di Cavour, andFrancesco de Sanctis.[10]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cattaneo, Carlo".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 537–538.| International | |
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