The Rimini Proclamation was a proclamation on 30 March 1815 by

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

, who had been made king of Naples by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. Murat had just declared war on Austria and used the proclamation to call on Italians to revolt against their Austrian occupiers and to show himself as a backer of Italian independence, in an attempt to find allies in his desperate battle to hang onto his throne. It began: The proclamation impressed

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

, who wrote a poem later that year entitled ''Il proclama di Rimini'', but he left it unfinished after Murat's military campaign failed.

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Text of the proclamation
on Italian Wikisource {{Italy-hist-stub Napoleonic Wars Italian unification Proclamations 1815 in Italy 19th century in the Kingdom of Naples March 1815 events 1815 documents Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic) Joachim Murat