Diego Guicciardi

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Diego Guicciardi, painting by Italo Josz

Diego Guicciardi (born February 26, 1756 in Lugano , † April 11, 1837 in Milan ) was a Swiss- Austrian - Italian diplomat and politician .

Live and act

Diego Guicciardi came from a family that has been in the Valtellina since the 12th century and held important positions such as that of the Valtellina valley chancellor and others. The family was connected to the most important noble families in the valley through a clever marriage policy. Representatives of the family were lawyers, churchmen and politicians.

He was married to Eleonora (nee Paravicini) from Ardenno since 1786 ; the marriage resulted in nine children. In 1797 Eleonora Guicciardi died giving birth to her last child. From 1799 Diego Guicciardi was married to Teresa (nee Delfini); from this marriage came another six children, including Enrico Guicciardi (1812–1895). Two of Guicciardi's 14 children served as officers in the imperial army.

Diego Guicciardi studied law at the University of Pavia and graduated in 1777.

Diego Guicciardi grew up under the Graubünden rule (1512–1620 and 1639–1798) in Valtellina and spent his life in the context of the political tensions between Switzerland, Austria, France and other European powers and the attempt at Italian unification ( Risorgimento ). In 1797 the rule of the Three Leagues ended when Napoleon added the Valtellina to the newly founded Cisalpine Republic (1797–1805). Through the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Valtellina was transferred to the newly founded Lombard-Venetian Kingdom , which in turn was linked in personal union with the Austrian Empire . In these upheavals, Diego Guicciardi was a realpolitical defender of local interests in Valtellina. In the Cisalpine Republic he was a minister. During the Congress of Vienna (1815) he also represented the interests of the valley communities with a view to the achievable.

Diego Guicciardi was appointed to the Committee for the Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic. He was Minister of Police and Minister of the Interior, Provisional Prefect of Sondrio and State Secretary in the Italian Republic , then a member of the Council of State. On February 9, 1809, he was elected senator. Between 1809 and 1810 he was a member of an Italian-French border commission, and from April 4 to 20, 1810, he was in Paris on behalf of the Italian Senate to pay homage to the emperor , the new husband of Marie-Louise of Austria . From 1817 he was Vice President of the Government of Lombardy .

Diego Guicciardi had excellent relations with the Graubünden, French and Austrian governments. His political work is viewed differently from a historical perspective. On December 14, 1814, he applied to the Austrian government for an official pension, which Francis I granted him in May 1816 in the amount of 3000 lire . He is also said to have been a confidential informant from Metternich about the situation in Italy for a few years . When he was appointed Vice-President of the Government of Lombardy on February 17, 1818, he received 6,000 guilders a year. On September 24, 1825, he retired and received the title of Privy Councilor of State .

Diego Guicciardi was a member of the Commissione Centrale di Beneficenza ("Central Charity Committee") and then also the first president of the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde (Cariplo; when it was founded on July 1, 1823 , it traded under the name Cassa di Risparmio di Milano ).

Honors

Diego Guicciardi received the Commendation of the Iron Crown (Corona di ferro) , a title of Count from Napoleon (decree of April 12, 1809) and the French Order of Merit Légion d'honneur . In 1816 he received from Francis I the recognition of the old nobility title of the family, but not the title bestowed by Napoleon.

literature

  • Emanuele Pagano:  Guicciardi, Diego. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 61:  Guglielmo Gonzaga-Jacobini. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2003.
  • Dario Benetti, Massimo Guidetti: History of Valtellina and Valchiavenna. Jaca-Buch, Milan 1998, p. 143.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Martin Bundi: Guicciardi. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 7, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Jürg Simonett: Guicciardi, Diego. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 7, 2006 , accessed December 22, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Emanuele Pagano:  Guicciardi, Diego. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 61:  Guglielmo Gonzaga-Jacobini. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2003.
  4. ^ Vienna, Congresso da. Cont Diego Guicciardi. In: Lexicon Istoric Retic (Romansh).
  5. ^ Conte Diego Guicciardi (1756-1837). In: Intesa Sanpaolo website , p. 34 (PDF; 1.04 MB).
  6. ^ Conte Diego Guicciardi (1756-1837). In: Intesa Sanpaolo website, p. 33 (PDF; 1.04 MB).
personal data
SURNAME Guicciardi, Diego
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Politician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1756
PLACE OF BIRTH Lugano
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1837
Place of death Milan