Felice Orsini was an Italian revolutionary and leader of the Carbonari who tried to assassinate Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.
Felice Orsini
1850s notice depicting Orsini
The Carbonari was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Although their goals often had a patriotic and liberal basis, they lacked a clear immediate political agenda. They were a focus for those unhappy with the repressive political situation in Italy following 1815, especially in the south of the Italian Peninsula. Members of the Carbonari, and those influenced by them, took part in important events in the process of Italian unification, especially the failed Revolution of 1820, and in the further development of Italian nationalism. The chief purpose was to defeat tyranny and establish a constitutional government. In the north of Italy other groups, such as the Adelfia and the Filadelfia, were associate organizations.
Revolution of 1820 in Palermo against King Ferdinand I
Ciro Menotti, leader of the failed uprising against Austrian dominance in Modena, was executed in 1831
Plaque in memory of Angelo Targhini and Leonida Montanari, sentenced to death by the Pope in 1825
Arrest of Silvio Pellico and Piero Maroncelli by Austrian authorities in Milan in 1820