Pellico, Silvio

POET, DRAMATIST, PATRIOT (ITALY)
BORN 24 Jun 1789, Saluzzo, Piemonte - DIED 1 Feb 1854, Torino, Piemonte
GRAVE LOCATION Torino, Piemonte: Cimitero Monumentale, Corso Novara (A 25 (Ampliazione Primitivo Nicchione 266) (Fossa))

Silvio Pellico was educated by the priest Manavella. He composed a tragedy when he was only ten years old. When his sister married in Lyon he moved to that city and he stayed there for four years to study French literature. In 1810 he returned to Italy and he became a professor of French in Milan at the Collegio degli Orfani Militari. He also worked as a private tutor.

In 1818 his tragedy Francesca da Rimini was staged with great success in Milan. Carlotta Marchionni was Francesca. He had an affair with Carlotta's cousin Teresa Marchionni that ended when in 1820 he was arrested for his support of the carbonari and locked up in San Margherita prison. He was transferred to the Piombi prisonin Venice in February 1821. In 1822 he was sentenced to death, but his sentence was changed in fifteen years of imprisonment. He was moved to Spielberg Castle in Brno. During his imprisonment he created the tragedy "Leoniero da Dertona" for which he had to rely completely on his memory. In 1830 he was released.

"Le mie prigioni" (1832) was an account of his time in prison and it gained him international fame as well as the friendship of Marchesa Juliette Colbert de Barolo, who granted him a pension in 1834. After that he supported her in her charities and mostly wrote on religious themes. He died in 1854 in Turin.

Related persons
• has a connection with Marchionni, Carlotta

Images

The grave of Silvio Pellico at the Cimitero Monumentale, Turin.
Picture by Androom (28 Feb 2014)

 

Sources
Silvio Pellico - Wikipedia


Pepöck, August

Published: 02 May 2021
Last update: 27 Apr 2024