Giuseppe Nicolini (28 October 1788 – 26 August 1855) was an Italian poet, literary critic, and politician active in the

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 ...

, the nineteenth century nationalist movement that led to the creation of Italy as a unified nation. Nicolini wrote for the progressive periodical ''

Il Conciliatore ''Il Conciliatore'' was a progressive bi-weekly scientific and literary journal, influential in the early Risorgimento. The journal was published in Milan from September 1818 until October 1819 when it was closed by the Austrian censors. Its writer ...

'', composed poetry, and published prose as well. He translated much of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's poetry into Italian and wrote one of the earliest biographies of Byron. He was born in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

, the son of merchant, and after studying philosophy there, went on to study law at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continu ...

, where he graduated in 1807. He preferred teaching to law, however, and after a few years as a lawyer took up an appointment as a professor in the Brescia

Ginnasio ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...

. For a brief period he was also a professor of history at the principal Liceo in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. When his political activities cost him his teaching job in 1821, writing became his main profession. He lived the rest of his life in Brescia, where he married in 1840 and became the father of seven children. Giuseppe Nicolini died in the cholera epidemic that struck the city in 1855.

Sources

*Fabi, M., Introduction to Giuseppe Nicolini
''Vita di Giorgio Lord Byron''
Alessandro Lombardi, 1855, pp. i-viii. Italian male writers Italian translators 1788 births 1855 deaths Writers from Brescia Deaths from cholera 19th-century translators {{Italy-writer-stub