Ciro Menotti (22 January 1798 – 23 May 1831) was an Italian patriot.

Biography

Menotti was born in Migliarina, near Carpi, then part of the

Duchy of Modena and Reggio The Duchy of Modena and Reggio ( Emilian: ''Duchêt ed Mòdna e Rèz'', it, Ducato di Modena e Reggio, la, Ducatus Mutinae et Regii) was an Italian state created in 1452 located in Northwestern Italy, in the present day region of Emilia-Romagn ...

. A member of the

Carboneria The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...

since 1817, he was a fervent democratic and patriot. From 1820 he held contacts with French intellectuals, with the goal to free Modena from the Austrian control. Initially, Duke Francis IV declared favorably for Menotti's claim, probably encouraged at the possibility of becoming its king in a future unified Northern Italy. Menotti organized a revolt in Modena for 3 February 1831 but, in a brusque volte-face, Francis denied him his support, and even, from his voluntary exile in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

, called the help of Austria and its allies. Menotti was arrested and, after a summary process, condemned to death by hanging. The sentence was executed in the Citadel of Modena. Afterwards Menotti came to be seen as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

of the Italian

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

. In 1880 the former Garibaldine officer Taddeo Grandi wrote a biography of him. A monument in Modena was built to Menotti in 1879, facing the former Grand Duke's palace. Giuseppe Garibaldi named his first child Menotti after him.

References

External links

Treccani: Dizionario di Storia - Ciro Menotti

Britannica: Ciro Menotti

Bibliography

* A. Solmi, ''Ciro Menotti e l'idea unitaria nell'insurrezione del 1831: con un'appendice di documenti '', Modena, Società tipografica Modenese, 1931. * Atto Vannucc
I martiri della libertà italiana dal 1794 al 1848 - volume terzo e ultimo pag. 8 LIII Ciro Menotti tipografia Bertolotti & C. 1880 sesta edizione Milano
* Roberto Vaccari, ''La capitale dei sogni. Il romanzo di Ciro Menotti '', Modena, Colombini, 2016, * 1798 births 1831 deaths People from Carpi, Emilia-Romagna Italian people of the Italian unification People executed by hanging Executed Italian people People executed by the Duchy of Modena and Reggio 19th-century executions by Italy Carbonari {{Italy-bio-stub