Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Conte di Cavour " I am the son of liberty, and to you all that I am "
Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count
of Cavour of Isolabella and Leri ( Torino , August 10 1810 - Turin, June 6 1861) was a statesman Italian first President of the Council of Ministers of Kingdom of Italy.
Aristocrat [1] Piedmont ideas liberal in his youth he attended the 5th course of the Royal Military Academy (completed in 1825) and winter 1826 -27 courses at the School of Application of the Royal Corps of Geniocompilando an accomplished display in memory called the origin, theory, practice and effects of the shot bounce both on land and water [2] becoming Journal of Genius . Later abandoned 's army and began to travel abroad studying the economic development of industrialized countries, largely as France el' England . At the age of twenty-two
Camillo Benso was appointed mayor of Grinzane , where the family had possessions, and held that office for 17 years. In this 
long run, than to establish it as efficient and capable administrator, he was also an innovator in agriculture and wine: it is attributed to Cavour the invention of Barolo , understood as a process of aging wine Nebbiolo . In 1916
[3] Grinzane changed his name in Grinzane Cavour in honor of the great statesman.
At birth, in 1847 , the Moderate Party as an alternative to the reformist movements inspired Democratic and insurgency had also contributed to the political thought of the young Cavour in 1846 he wrote:
"In Italy a democratic revolution has no chance of success [...] The party supports the new policy does not meet [...] great support among the masses ... usually very attached to old institutions of the country. Its strength lies in the middle classes and a part of the upper class. [...] So strongly about these classes interested in the maintenance of social doctrines subversive of Young Italy did not participate. So with the exception of the young [inexperienced and naive] we can say that there is in Italy but a small number of people seriously willing to put into practice the principles of a sect enhanced exacerbated by the disaster. "
(A.Gacino-Canina, Economists of the Risorgimento, UTET. Torino, 1953)
A lucid political analysis, this, on the weakness of action Mazzini also due to cultural aversion to the educated classes and the peasant masses reserved to the Catholic idea of \u200b\u200bMazzini's democratic progress and popular involvement in the process unit. To put
according to a definition of Massimo D'Azeglio even among the moderates formed'opinione The Italian national team. Always
Cavour in 1846 clung to the idea (inspired by Gioberti ) of an alloy Customs as a premise of a future federation policy of the various states Italian. Contrary to many courtiers of Savoy , fearful of new policies and technological , he thought, expressing the needs of the entrepreneurial class and the aristocracy lit that the construction of railways in Italy would be the premise of our political emancipation because in this way the country would enter into relationship with the economies and with the ideas of the most advanced European countries.
admirer of liberalism and economic liberalism English politician, he was convinced that with the method of timely reforms would have avoided any disruption Socialist .
noted in this connection:
"Mankind is directed toward two goals, one political, the other Economic . Political order, it tends to change their institutions to call a growing number of citizen participation in political power. Economic order, it is apparently intended to improve the lower classes, and a better allocation of the land and the capital . "
(from C. Cavour, parliamentary speeches, Florence, 1932-1973) A realistic
reformism necessity rather than for his conviction: the reforms should be done when you no longer do without, when a policy insisting the risk of a reactionary revolution is real so the resulting loss of power hitherto maintained. One way of thinking that recalls the political economy: if I want to buy something, in the clash between the demand and supply, will eventually have to accept the price or lose the auction or sell it. In 1847
made its official appearance on the political scene as founder of the "Risorgimento". He was elected to Parliament in June 1848.
became part of the government D'Azeglio the April 15 of 1851 as Minister of 'Agriculture of Commerce and Marina ; the April 19 the same year completed its review of the economic life of the country by adding to its existing powers of the ministry of Finance . In defending the Senate Subalpine liberal economic policy of the government and commercial treaties with France the Belgium el ' England, Cavour said that those who supported the protectionism were the natural allies of the Socialists. Protectionism, advocating state intervention in private, was "the cornerstone on which socialism raises the batteries with which the state intends to demolish the old building." (C. Cavour, Parliamentary Speeches op.cit.) An original thesis that he wanted to scare uniting the reactionary subversives. Those who defended the freedom of the individual could not accept the principle of free competition . In 1852 gave birth to the so-called "marriage": a form of coalition between the programmatic components more moderate right-wing liberal (whose members were the most representative and the same Cavour D ' Azeglio ) and Piedmont left (led by Urbano Rattazzi ), which led him in November of that year to become Prime Ministers .
The union was intended first of all reduce to impotence the opposition represented by the old landed aristocracy and clerical who had fought in 1850 against Siccardi laws and by the few representatives of the Democratic Left led by Angelo Brofferio , Giuseppe Saracco and Agostino Depretis .
Cavour wrote some years later:
"I think I made it with a service to our country, because I estimate to have raised such a barrier high enough so the reaction is never to exceed it. "
In fact the union represented what was even then called a dictatorship parliamentary result of a policy that, by excluding any real opposition to the formation of the contribution laws, aimed at a sort of personal rule. A policy of not running away from using the same tool Left Agostino Depretis in 1882, may be considered, in some ways, the forerunner of the infamous transformism (see Denis Mack Smith, Cavour. The great weaver unit of Italy, Bompiani, 2001).
This view may be tempered if we consider that in the opinion of other historians, however, as Louis Salvatorelli , Cavour always had great respect for the freedom and Albertine Statute in whose name it even inconsistent with King Vittorio Emanuele II not always willing to play the role of constitutional monarch. Nevertheless, according to historian Denis Mack Smith, that the members knew they must do what he wanted.
This political attitude was also due to his character that told us Petruccelli della Gattina in "The Palazzo Carignano of dying "(Milan 1862) was such that
" You know the people around him, just an estimate, and perhaps point the mistake of showing it. It does not tolerate the same, not being used to meet many. "
Reached this office Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour gave the strengthening of economic and industrial Kingdom of Sardinia favoring the building of railways and roads (in 1859, Piedmont had 807 km of railways, more than any other Italian state .) enlarged the port of Genoa . He gave new life to agriculture by introducing new crops and abolishing the duty on grain, and do works of reclamation and construction of irrigation channels. He favored the creation of a ' steel industry and the strengthening of' textile industry. This will involve a high financial cost that Cavour faced heavy contracting loans with France el ' England whose repayments were covered with heavy taxation that did not spare even the food with severe discomfort the weaker. Between business and politics, is the participation Cavour to the creation of the first modern banks in Genoa and Turin, intended to be incorporated into the States National Bank Sardi which later became Bank of Italy .
Since 1850 had been carried out in a work of Piedmont secularization of the state all the more necessary for a country where residues survived medieval as the asylum for churches and convents that Siccardi laws finally managed to erase the face of opposition clerical led by the ' archbishop of Turin Louis Fransoni arrested and sentenced to one month in jail. As late as 1852 they failed to push through a bill imposing a civil marriage the opposition of the Senate and the King [5] Even Cavour in 1855 faced opposition Catholic in relation to a bill for the abolition of religious orders dedicated to teaching and not to the sick and the confiscation of their property to the state. The strong parliamentary majority Cavour had to surrender before the opposition of the clergy and a part of 'public opinion , but especially for the intervention of King Cavour resigned opening a constitutional crisis call crisis Calabiana the name of the Bishop of Casale Luigi Nazari of Calabiana opponent of the bill. The confrontation was resolved with a compromise. Cavour resigned and withdrew the bill was reintroduced in a much more moderate than its predecessor.
The problem of relations between church and state appeared again after the unification exacerbated by the strong intransigence Pope Pius IX against the Italian state which had declared Rome the capital of the new kingdom. Following the diplomatic method, Cavour had opened secret negotiations with Napoleon III , guardian of the Catholic Church and the Papacy [6] offering the abandonment of any pretense giurisdizionalistica control gifts [7] on the Church by the Italian state in exchange for resist the temporal power of the Popes . It was the famous formula of "Free Church in a Free State" that Cavour had no way to practice for his sudden death.
The refusal of Pope Pius IX caused the reaction of 'anticlericalism Liberal Democrats Mazzini and Garibaldi convinced that the problem of Rome as the capital could be resolved only with revolutionary method. [8] Cavour's political program on the Italian problem does not, as he was led to believe by ' hagiography Risorgimento after the unification, [9] to unify Italy. For example, during the Paris Congress in 1856, after meeting with Daniele Manin , a leader of the Italian National Society , Manin Cavour wrote that he had spoken "the unification of Italy and other nonsense. " [10] Cavour's goal was to create a strong state in the north under the crown of Savoy, with the annexation of Lombardy and Veneto . This project, on the other hand, corresponded to the traditional aspirations of the unification of Savoy Po Valley interrupted the river Ticino by the presence of Austria in Lombardy . To get a similar result, which would alter the European policy framework, the Piedmont alone could not achieve it without the consent and help of European powers. The
Crimean War broke out in 1854 Cavour was for the opportunity to present the Italian Question to the attention of European public opinion, warns of the danger in this revolutionary Italy for the many initiatives democratic-republican Mazzini. The incident was part of the troubled war Eastern Question : France and Britain Allied fighting against Russia, which tried to expand their damage in the Balkan peninsula . Cavour Piemonte offered the alliance of the great powers, sending in a Crimean Army Corps of 18000 men.
Peace was signed in 1856 the Paris Congress with the presence of the representative of ' Austria . Cavour did not ask for any compensation for participation in the war, but won a seat that was dedicated specifically to discuss the Italian problem: he could therefore be argued publicly that the repression of the reactionary governments of Austria and politics were the real culprits revolutionary brooding disquiet in the peninsula and could pose a threat to governments throughout Europe .
"Testament of Felice Orsini." Leaflets matching.
attracted the attention of European powers on the Italian question, it was necessary to resolve the military support of France, where strong opposition from the Catholics, however, was anxious for the future of the Roman Church. On the other hand England, backed by the government Prussian , work towards a diplomatic solution to avoid a war that would alter the balance in favor of France in Europe. It was so convincing in every way Napoleon III, in conservative but a supporter of a foreign policy of "grandeur" based on the principle Napoleonic France bearer of freedom to the oppressed peoples protected and subordinated to the interests of France.
After a long series of negotiations, fostered by agreements double , [11] works by seduction, [12] favorite and, paradoxically, even by the attack of the Republican ex Mazzini Felice Orsini who wanted to avenge the 1849 intervention in of France against the Roman Republic , [13] it finally came in 1858 agreements secrets Plombières . He concluded a treaty against the defensive-offensive ' Hapsburg Empire (which will be ratified next year), according to which in case of military attack caused of these, the France intervened in defense of the Kingdom of Sardinia with the task of liberating the domain Austrian Alps to Ticino from the provinces, receiving as compensation offered, territories Nice and Savoy, the cradle of the Savoy dynasty, which Cavour, down from Vittorio Emanuele II, which threatened to blow up everything, tried in vain to prevent it became French.
Prince Napoleon, called Plon Plon, son of Jerome Bonaparte The Italian peninsula was geographically and politically divided into four states, tied in a future federal presided over by the pontiff:
the Kingdom of Upper Italy, with its capital Turin , to be established by extending the Kingdom of Sardinia , devoid of the two provinces of Savoy and Nice promise to France, Lombardy and the Veneto provinces at least Verona all 'Istria coastal [14] and the Dalmatian coast from Zara to the Bay of Kotor ;
the Kingdom of Central Italy, with its capital Florence , rectum cousin of Emperor Jerome Bonaparte and composed by Tuscany, from the duchies of Parma and Modena and legations from Marche and by ' Umbria subtracted from the papal domains;
the Papal States which remained the only Lazio, with its capital Rome ;
the Kingdom of Southern Italy, with capital Naples , which would continue to be governed by Bourbon or on whose throne would go up another French prince, presumably Lucia Murat, grandson of Joachim already King of Naples . Except for the North, governed by Vittorio Emanuele II, which was still subject to its French protectorate, the rest of Italy would have been directly or indirectly, governed by France. This perspective does away all hope of a future national unity. The
January 10 of 1859, in the speech of the crown, Vittorio Emanuele II, in the presence of the ambassadors of several European countries, came up, surprising the Cavour, an 'expression we do not know what wanted, which stated: "We are not insensitive to the cries of pain from many parts of Italy rises towards us." The
wanted mean that the Austrian rule in Italy was a source of pain for the people of this course was administered and considered a serious offense by the government in Vienna, also caused ostentatious recruitment of volunteers in the body Hunters of the Alps under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi . It was finally the longed ultimatum from Vienna who was taking the conditions of the agreements with France.
Napoleon III, who claimed the supreme command of allied forces, which is not very pleasing to Vittorio Emanuele, the war began with a series of victorious battles, but with many species losses for the French soldiers. This caused a stir of ' public opinion in France that he had never fully shared the reasons that led the French youth to fight in Italy. While in northern Italy
Garibaldi with his hunters had arrived with a winning streak near the Veneto, Emilia Romagna in the duchies , in the papal legations in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany large popular demonstrations to hunt for pro-Austrian governments, calling for the dispatch of commissioners Royal House of Savoy. This
scupper the division Italy provided by the shareholders of Plombières; this reason, as well as internal opposition, who persuaded the emperor to sign a unilateral act armistice with Austria. The clauses of the Treaty provides that Vittorio Emanuele II is the only way for the rest of Lombardy and that everything would return to the status quo ante. But the provisional governments of filosabaudi Florence, Parma , Modena, Bologna , rejected any attempt to restoration . England was now in favor of a solution that estromettesse France from any interference in Italy. At this point the
political genius of Cavour was able to occur with a solution that guaranteed the interests of Piedmont and at the same time save face the Emperor, who did not observe the agreements Plombières if they would have to return to France empty-handed. Cavour, on behalf of the king, he said, not willing to cede the territories due to the Nice and Savoy in exchange for French recognition of the annexation, through plebiscites , Piedmont regions freed. This is what happened. From now on the plans of the Piedmontese beginning to be taken into consideration the idea of \u200b\u200ba complete Italian unification, reversing the situation created by the Peace of Zurich .
With the clash between the statesman Cavour and Garibaldi general, the two projects, the Savoy, politician and diplomat, and the Revolutionary People eventually went to one single purpose: the 'unity of Italy .
was time for the adventurous expedition of the Thousand that Cavour had opposed without being able to stop during the preparation phase. Indeed, he feared, contrary to the King ready to take, without compromise, all the good that could come by the firm, the reaction of the European powers, first of France disappointed by the war in Italy and anxious about the fate of the pope threatened by Mason Garibaldi and Republican Mazzini .
Cavour and then tried to block the advance of the victorious partisans who were preparing to go on the continent Piedmont secretly organizing the transport vessel in the Abruzzi and Calabria of arms to the forces Bourbon (see C. Cavour, published and unpublished letters, Torino 1883-87). However, the statesman
thought of not having to openly oppose neither the king nor the "dictator", as stated in a letter dated August 9 1860 to Costantino Nigra :
"If tomorrow came into conflict with Garibaldi, I have in my favor most of the old diplomatic, but European public opinion would be against me and the public would be right, because Garibaldi has made Italy the largest of the services that a man could make: he given to the Italians confidence in themselves. "
(in C. Cavour, Lettere ..., op.cit.)
now faced with a fait accompli that remained was to wait until Cavour conducive to exploit the firm in moderate sense.
That was when fully Cavour demanded that they hastily arrange the immediate annexation of Naples and Sicily ( October 2 1860). He actually feared more than Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini , who stood behind them: [15] "Ask yourself firmly in the revolution Naples and Palermo and soon the authorities and the Empire [The government] pierced by the hands of those who wrote in his glorious banner: "Italy and Victor Emmanuel, in those people who practice this formula replaces the dark and mystical symbol of sectarian :" God and the People ". "Even
Garibaldi in Cavour was convinced to have an enemy, so much to ask the king, of which he knew little sympathy for his prime minister, to replace the government, for conspiring behind him
" I was silent up to now abhorrent to me all the setbacks suffered by Cavour, Farini from etc.. Today, however, that we approach the development of the great Italian drama, I have implore the MV, for the sake of the Holy Cause I serve, the withdrawal of those individuals. "
(in D. Mack Smith, Cavour and Garibaldi in 1860, Torino, 1972). The king of course, turned a deaf ear to the sorrowful appeal)
The challenge between the two ended with the victory of Cavour, with the support of the same sovereign, [16] that sympathy for Garibaldi was dynastic interest prevailed, managed to give a conservative turn in the process unit Italian.
hopes Mazzini were missing and what was the view of Garibaldi was understood when they were refused to be incorporated into the Royal Army. The king attended even their farewell parade.
Just two months after the proclamation of the new kingdom Cavour died in the family palace in Turin on June 6 1861 . He left the Italian political class is a large heritage. As if the serious political problems to be solved were a moral and pedagogical - Cavour, who had understood how the Italian unit had been a "strain", a fortuitous chain of events calculated with diplomats and politicians, wars and dynastic popular uprisings - opposed his concerns considerations: the task of Cavour was to Italy unique. Melt together the elements that compose it, give North and South, this has the same difficulties of a war with Austria and the struggle with Rome.
In 1914, participated in a demonstration interventionist to Milan, where he met by chance Benito Mussolini . Balbo divennne bodyguard of Cesare Battisti during rallies held by him in favor of intervention in the war. 
