Roman jurist who went from papal minister of the interior to triumvir of the Roman Republic with Mazzini and Saffi in 1849

Born in Rome in 1777 into a well-off Roman family, he became a leading lawyer. A moderate, he followed with interest the apparently progressive first years of Pius IX's pontificate; after meeting Mazzini in London he drew close to the ideas of Young Italy and was elected a deputy in 1848. After the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi and the Pope's departure from Rome he became minister of the interior on 23 December 1848 and organised the Constituent Assembly. On 29 March 1849 he joined Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi in the triumvirate of the Roman Republic and helped write its constitution. When the French army brought the republic down he went into exile in Belgium, and he died at Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in 1863.

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