Annibale Santorre di Rossi de Pomarolo, Count of Santarosa

Santorre Annibale di Rossi de Pomarolo, Count of Santa Rosa (born 18 November 1783, Saviglianodied 8 May 1825, Sphacteria) was an Italian insurgent and leader in Italy's revival (Risorgimento).

Early life He was born at Savigliano, near Cuneo, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. He was the son of a general officer in the Sardinian (Piedmontese) army who was killed at the battle of Mondovì in 1796. The family had been recently ennobled and was not rich.

Career Santarosa entered the service of Napoleon during the annexation of Piedmont to France, and was sub-prefect of La Spezia from 1812–1814. He remained loyal to the house of Savoy, and, after the restoration of the king of Sardinia in 1814, he continued in public service.

During the Sardinian army campaign on the southeastern frontier of France in 1815, he served as captain of grenadiers, and was afterwards employed in the ministry of war. The revolutionary and imperial epoch stimulated Italian patriotism, and Santarosa was aggrieved by the extension given to the Austrian power in Italy in 1815, which reduced his country to a position of inferiority. The revolutionary outbreak of 1820, which extended from Spain to Naples, seemed to afford the patriots an opportunity to secure Italian independence.