Eleuterio Felice Foresti (1789September 14, 1858) was an Italian patriot and scholar.

Biography

He was born at Conselice, graduated 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 continuo ...

, practiced law at

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, and in 1816 was made

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

at Crespino and became prominent in politics. In 1816, he also joined the

Carbonari 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 ...

. As a consequence, in 1819 he was arrested. After two years in

Piombi Piombi (''The Leads'' in English) is a former prison in the Doge's Palace in Venice. The name of the prison refers to its position directly under the roof of the palace, which was covered with slabs of lead. In winter, these slabs let the cold pa ...

dungeon, and an unsuccessful attempt to take his own life, he was condemned to die on the public square of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, but when, with others, he was taken out for execution, the sentence was changed to “carcere duro” in

Spielberg fortress Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

for 20 years. In 1836, shortly after the death of Emperor

Francis I of Austria Francis II (german: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (from 1792 to 1806) and the founder and Emperor of Austria, Emperor of the Austrian Empire, from 1804 to 1835. He assumed the title of Emperor of ...

, Foresti and others were liberated, but condemned to perpetual exile in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In the United States, Foresti was for over 20 years professor of Italian in

Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America: Canada * Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary * Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver * Columbia In ...

. During much of this time, he held a similar title at the

University of the City of New York New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He took an interest in Young Italy, and became the official representative of

Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the i ...

in the United States. He took up residence in Italy (

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

) again in 1856. In 1858 he was appointed United States consul at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

, where he died.

Works

He published an edition of

Ollendorff Ollendorff is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Franz Ollendorff (1900–1981), Israeli physicist *Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff (also later known as Henri Godefroy Ollendorff) (1803, Rawicz near Po ...

's Italian grammar (1846), and ''Crestomazia italiana'' (1846). He wrote “Twenty Years in the Dungeons of Austria,” for the ''Watchman and Crusader'' in 1856.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foresti, Eleuterio Felice 1793 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Italian lawyers Carbonari Columbia University faculty New York University faculty University of Bologna alumni