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

risorgimento The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

, 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 writ ...

'', 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) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

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

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

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

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

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

Liceo The Gran Teatre del Liceu (; ; ), or simply Liceu, is a theater in Barcelona, Spain. Situated on La Rambla, it is the city's oldest theater building still in use for its original purpose. Founded in 1837 at another location, the Liceu ope ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, 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 Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

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 1788 births 1855 deaths Writers from Brescia Deaths from cholera 19th-century Italian translators {{Italy-writer-stub