Italian Risorgimento. Collection of poems by Fusinato and letters by Cavour, Mazzini, Battisti and others

ITALIAN RISORGIMENTO

Collection of poems by Fusinato, together with letters by Mazzini, Cavour, Cesare Battisti, Bixio and others

including by three poems by Arnaldo Fusinato, of which two are probably autograph: 'L'ultima ora di libertà' (eleven 8-line stanzas beginning "E' fosco l'aere E' l'ora muta"), together with and 'Le due madri Ballata', and an early copy of 'Brindisi', 8 pages, folio, Lazzaretto Vecchio, 19 August 1849 and later--together with letters and notes by Mazzini (in French, about the "manifeste Sicilien" and Hungary, 1 page, London 17 June 1852), Cavour (to the Chevalier De Bry, about "la supression du bagne de Villefranc[h]e", 2 pages, 8vo, autograph envelope, postmarked [?]1854), Nino Bixio and Cesare Battisti, 15 items, various sizes, 1838 to c.1900

"L'ultima ora di libertà" would appear to be an early title for Arnaldo Fusinato's celebrated poem L'ultima ora di Venezia, (or "La bandiera bianca"), one of the classics of the Italian Risorgimento.  The poem reflects the poet's despair at the fall of the short-lived Repubblica di San Marco in 1849 to the Austrians.  After fighting in defence of Vicenza, Fusinato was stationed as a lieutenant on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio near Venice, where, despite heroic resistance, the Austrians quickly recaptured the city. This manuscript includes the famous lines "Venezia! l'ultima / Ora e venuta: Illustre Martire / Tu sei perduta / Il morbo infuria / il pan ti manca / Sul ponte sventola / Bandiera bianca", which then reappear altered at the end of this manuscript. 

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