Urbano Rattazzi

Urbano Rattazzi

Urbano Rattazzi (born June 20, 1808 in Alessandria , † June 5, 1873 in Frosinone ) was a Piedmontese and later Italian politician.

Life

After studying law in Turin, Rattazzi worked for a short time as a lawyer in Casale Monferrato , but turned to politics in 1848. In April 1848 he was elected to the parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont as a member of the constituency of Alessandria and remained a member for eleven terms (from 1861 in the Italian Chamber of Deputies ).

He was appointed minister of culture in the Casati government (July – August 1848) and also served as minister for industry and agriculture for a few days, and then in the ministry of trade. After the crisis in 1848 and Vincenzo Gioberti's rise to power in December , he was Minister of Mercy and Justice until February 1849. He was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Chiodo cabinet .

His task was to inform the House of Representatives about the renewed fight against Austria and the defeat in the Battle of Novara . Precisely because of the disappointing events of 1849, he left the extreme left and founded the moderate left, which in 1852, together with the moderate right - the latter headed by Cavour , ensured the stability of the government.

Urbano Rattazzi was appointed President of the Chamber of Deputies on May 11, 1852. In October 1853 he became Minister of Justice in the Cavour I cabinet , and from May 1855 to January 1858 he was Minister of the Interior. He introduced numerous reforms, including the prohibition of some monastic orders , a partial secularization of church property and the restriction of the influence of religious associations. This earned him the hostility of the clergy , whereupon he spontaneously resigned as minister in 1858.

In 1859 he was re-elected President of Parliament, but left this office immediately to join the government of La Marmora , where he led the Ministry of the Interior. In January 1860 he resigned from the cabinet after he had vainly opposed the surrender of Savoy and the county of Nice to the second French empire .

As a result, Rattazzi changed his foreign policy position and after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy he became the very first President of the Chamber of Deputies in Turin on March 7, 1861 . After the fall of the government of Ricasòli on March 4, 1862, he himself took over the position of Prime Minister and additionally the office of Minister of the Interior and Foreign Minister. But his resolute action against Giuseppe Garibaldi earned him many enemies and after the battle of Aspromonte , although victorious, he was ousted from office. From April to October 1867 he was again prime minister, but stumbled again after the battle of Mentana because of his open hostility towards Garibaldi. Although he was still considered an important political representative of the left, he was not later given a higher political office.

Urbano Rattazzi married Marie-Lætitia Bonaparte-Wyse (1831-1902), the daughter of the British Army Officer Captain Studholm John Hodgson and his lover Lætitia Bonaparte (1804-1871), who was a niece of Napoleon Bonaparte , in 1863 .

Web links

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