ITALY 1053 



in consequence at the Congress of Reggio d'Emilia in June. The result was a definite 

 split up of the party into two separate organisations. Signer Giolitti continued to exer- 

 cise great authority, although with the conclusion of peace a revival of Opposition activ- 

 ity was to be expected. 



OBITUARY. Among prominent Italians who have died since December 1909 the fol- 

 lowing may be noted. 



ALESSANDRO FORTIS, the statesman (see E. B. xv, 820); born 1841, died December 4, 



1909. In 1866 he joined Garibaldi as a volunteer and fought under him in the Trentino, 

 in 1867 at Mentana and in 1870 in France. Under the influence of Aurelio Saffi he became 

 a republican, and was arrested as a Mazzinian conspirator in 1874. I n 1876 he abandoned 

 the Republican Party, although still adhering to democratic ideals. Elected deputy for 

 his native town of Forli in 1880, he helped the Royal visit to Romagna, hitherto regarded 

 as a hotbed of anti-monarchical views. He made a reputation as a Parliamentary debater, 

 but lost favour with his constituents who were largely republican, and only held his seat with 

 the help of Livio Quartaroli, Mayor of Forli, and Saffi; when they died his position became 

 untenable and he was not re-elected. He then won a seat at Poggio Mirteto, which he 

 continued to represent until his death. He became Minister of Agriculture in the Pelloux 

 Cabinet (1898-99), and in 1905, on the fall of the Giolitti Cabinet, became Premier. But 

 his administration fell after seven months over the commercial treaty with Spain, which 

 aroused the violent opposition of the Italian vine-growers. He reconstructed the Ministry, 

 but was beaten at once and had to resign. 



VITTORIA AGANOOR, the poetess (see E. B. xiv, 9i2c); died on May 7, 1910. Al- 

 though of Armenian extraction she was thoroughly Italian in spirit, and from her master, 

 the Abate Zanelli, she imbibed a genuine classical elegance and culture. Her first volume 

 of verse was entitled Nuove liriche; Leggenda eterna followed, and after her death a complete 

 edition of her poems was published. She married Guido Pompili, deputy for Perugia and 

 sometime Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who after her death under an opera- 

 tion committed suicide. 



ANGELO MAIORANA, the statesman; b. at Catania in 1865; d. at Catania on February 9, 



1910. Graduating in law when only 16 years old, at twenty he was already well known as a 

 writer on constitutional questions, and two years later he was appointed professor at the 

 university of his native town, of which he eventually became rector. He was elected deputy 

 for Catania in 1895, and at once took an active part in politics. A follower of Signer Giolitti, 

 he became Under-Secretary for Finance in 1903, and in the following year was promoted to 

 Ministerial rank. In 1906 he was appointed Minister of the Treasury, and Sig. Giolitti 

 publicly designed him as his successor for the premiership. But his health broke down and 

 he was forced to retire. In 1909 he was Vice-President of the Chamber. His chief works 

 are: Parlimenterismo, II Principio sovrano delta costituzione degli Stati, and La Teoria costi- 

 tuzionale delle entrate e della spesse. 



ANDREA COSTA, the Socialist leader; b. at Tinola in 1851; d. at Tinola January 19, 1910. 

 The son of a small shop-keeper, at an early age he joined the extreme revolutionary party in 

 Romagna, becoming a prominent member of the "International." He was arrested more 

 than once, but gradually modified his views, and was elected Socialist deputy for Ravenna 

 in 1882. He was again implicated in revolutionary agitations and arrested, but eventually 

 he came to represent the more moderate section of his party, and was regarded almost as a 

 reactionary by the extremists. 



ANTONIO FOGAZZARO, the novelist; b. at Vicenza 1842; d. at Vicenza March %, 1911 

 (see E. B. x, 590). His last novel Leila is in a sense a sequel of // Santo, for it breathes the 

 spirit of the latter's dead hero Benedetto throughout, and shows us the effect of his teaching 

 on his followers. The whole course of Fogazzaro's literary career is a struggle between spirit 

 and matter, the object aimed at being the purity of the soul. In his earlier works from 

 Miranda to // mistero d'un poeta it is love, as represented by various charming pictures of 

 women, which can save the soul when conscience is not enough. In his later phase the soul 

 is led onward no longer by the redeeming hand of woman but by religious faith. 



PRINCESS MARIA CLOTILDE OF SAVOY, widow of Prince Napoleon (E.B. iv, 1973); b. in 

 1842; d. on June 25, 1911. She was the daughter of Victor Emmanuel II, and her marriage 

 in 1859 to "Plon-Plon" was part of the consideration for the Franco-Sardinian alliance 

 which resulted in the war against Austria. In Paris she led a very secluded life, devoting 

 herself to the education of her children, Princess Laetitia (who married the Duke of Aosta), 

 Prince Victor .and Prince Louis Napoleon; and after 1870 she retired to the castle of Moca- 

 lieri near Turin, where she died. 



MARIO RAPISARDI, the poet (E. B. xiv, 9i2c); b. in Sicily 1844; d. January 4, 1912. At 

 the age of 24 he published Palingenesi, a pompous epical history of humanity, but his Lucifer 

 (1877), a philosophical poem of atheistic tendencies describing the struggle between free 

 thought and religion, showed genuine literary talent. In his Poemetti,a volume of Lyrics, 

 he reached a higher level ; and Giustizia, a collection of political poems exalting every form 

 of rebellion, contains some excellent verse. 



