Early Life: I was born into a wealthy, landowning merchant family on October 17th 1816 in a town called Fabriano in Northern Italy. I was home schooled until the age of 13. I was taught with my younger sister by my mother in my family’s fields. We used to learn math, writing and reading while my older brothers tended the sheep and worked the land. When I was 15 my father was killed in a market fire. My brothers always talked about how the fire was started on purpose, with the intentions of killing my father and his business. Two years later, on an early spring morning I walked into my mother's room to find nothing but a small note on an empty oak table. The first thing I remember noticing on the note was smudged ink where tear drops had dried. The note was only one page long and seemed to have been written in a rush. She apologized continuously and she left my siblings and me with a fair amount of money and all of the land but with no reason. She left us. My sister hasn’t forgiven our mother for leaving, she still cries about it at night.
Early-nationalist experiences:
Due to the fact that I was born only one year after Italy's first step toward unification (after Napoleon's rule), I knew I would be affected somehow. I just could not predict how much of a role I would play in Italy's path to statehood. When my parents were around, I rarely heard discussions about unifying the provinces to form a new state. The one discussion that I do recall was when I was 12 years old. One evening, in the autumn of 1828, I was sitting on the back porch. My father came and sat down beside me. His hands were stained green and had the scent of the fresh olives from our garden. My father stared into the setting orange sun. I remember the frustrated look on his face when I mentioned that my eldest brother, Giuseppe had given me a book on the tales of Gioacchino Prati and il Risorgimento. He thought my fascination for the unification of Italy was naive. He told me in his deep and stern voice that ''a unified and central government would be bad for business. We would loose all of the luxuries we have now'' as he pointed to one of our maids carrying us a tray of my favorite tisana. At the time, as the son of a merchant, living my affluent lifestyle, I couldn't have agreed more.
By the young age of 18 I knew that for the rest of my life I would be deeply involved in the nationalist movement. Months passed since my mother's abandonment. My siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves. We had sold most of our land and all of our sheep. To give our life some structure, we had given ourselves certain duties. I was responsible for home schooling my sister as mother once did, and my brothers had built a shop with the money we were left. They sold all of our old farm tools and supplies. We lived fairly comfortably like this for a couple of years.
One weekend, in the summer of 1834, a group of rowdy young men arrived at our shop on horseback. They walked in chanting some of the old nationalist tunes (Giuseppe sang with them). The group told us they were from a political movement that had now spread across the north, fighting to unify the provinces. They were looking for people to join them and promised the pay was high. After one of the guys (one who didn't look much older than 14) dropped off a few pamphlets on our desk. They rode off as quickly as they had arrived.
My brothers didn't want to pass on a chance for money. After about a week of thought and preparation, Giuseppe (age 26) and Giorgio (age 23) were off to join the political group (well, it was more of a militia) that would later be founded as La Giovine Italia. I was now running the shop on my own. My brothers were paid very well, as was promised. They saved themselves a few livres (later to become the lira), enough to pay for the local Peroni beer. The rest of the money they made from the militia was sent back to me and my sister where we had more than enough to survive. I was beginning to really like the idea of unifying Italy.
Early Revolutionary Involvement:
Early-nationalist experiences:
Due to the fact that I was born only one year after Italy's first step toward unification (after Napoleon's rule), I knew I would be affected somehow. I just could not predict how much of a role I would play in Italy's path to statehood. When my parents were around, I rarely heard discussions about unifying the provinces to form a new state. The one discussion that I do recall was when I was 12 years old. One evening, in the autumn of 1828, I was sitting on the back porch. My father came and sat down beside me. His hands were stained green and had the scent of the fresh olives from our garden. My father stared into the setting orange sun. I remember the frustrated look on his face when I mentioned that my eldest brother, Giuseppe had given me a book on the tales of Gioacchino Prati and il Risorgimento. He thought my fascination for the unification of Italy was naive. He told me in his deep and stern voice that ''a unified and central government would be bad for business. We would loose all of the luxuries we have now'' as he pointed to one of our maids carrying us a tray of my favorite tisana. At the time, as the son of a merchant, living my affluent lifestyle, I couldn't have agreed more.
By the young age of 18 I knew that for the rest of my life I would be deeply involved in the nationalist movement. Months passed since my mother's abandonment. My siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves. We had sold most of our land and all of our sheep. To give our life some structure, we had given ourselves certain duties. I was responsible for home schooling my sister as mother once did, and my brothers had built a shop with the money we were left. They sold all of our old farm tools and supplies. We lived fairly comfortably like this for a couple of years.
One weekend, in the summer of 1834, a group of rowdy young men arrived at our shop on horseback. They walked in chanting some of the old nationalist tunes (Giuseppe sang with them). The group told us they were from a political movement that had now spread across the north, fighting to unify the provinces. They were looking for people to join them and promised the pay was high. After one of the guys (one who didn't look much older than 14) dropped off a few pamphlets on our desk. They rode off as quickly as they had arrived.
My brothers didn't want to pass on a chance for money. After about a week of thought and preparation, Giuseppe (age 26) and Giorgio (age 23) were off to join the political group (well, it was more of a militia) that would later be founded as La Giovine Italia. I was now running the shop on my own. My brothers were paid very well, as was promised. They saved themselves a few livres (later to become the lira), enough to pay for the local Peroni beer. The rest of the money they made from the militia was sent back to me and my sister where we had more than enough to survive. I was beginning to really like the idea of unifying Italy.
Early Revolutionary Involvement:
My Family's Estate: We used to farm in the fields , play in the forests and look for fish by the stream.
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http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/
http://janiecornelladventure.blogspot.ca/
http://www.shutterstock.com/