Antonio Gasparinetti

Antonio Gasparinetti (3 June 1777 – 1824) was an Italian poet, playwright and military officer in Napoleon's Armée d'Italie. Born in the Province of Treviso, he joined a light cavalry regiment as a lieutenant in 1797 and rose to the rank of colonel by the end of his career in 1814. He distinguished himself in several major battles of the Napoleonic wars, including the Battle of Wagram when he was awarded the Legion of Honor by Napoleon. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, he was deeply involved in the Congiura di Brescia-Milano, a plot to overthrow Austrian rule in northern Italy. When the conspiracy was discovered, he was arrested and spent nearly four years in prison. Following his release in 1818 he devoted himself to literary pursuits and collecting military memorabilia. Gasparinetti was married to the opera singer Elisabetta Gafforini from 1812 until his death in Milan at the age of 47.

Biography Early years Gasparinetti was born in Ponte di Piave in the Province of Treviso, the third child of Francesca née Davanzo and Nicolò Gasparinetti. His father was a prosperous rural landholder, while other members of the family had held prominent positions in the local government. As a young boy he was sent to Treviso to be educated by his paternal uncle who taught humanities and rhetoric at the city's seminary. In 1792 he enrolled at the University of Padua, initially intending to study medicine, but later switching to law. He began his literary activity while still a student there, producing a play and a novella in verse and several sonnets and odes. At the university he also formed what would be lifelong friendships with the poets Ugo Foscolo and Giuseppe Giulio Ceroni. (Giuseppe Giulio Ceroni (1774–1813) was a Veronese poet and officer in Napoleon's Armée d'Italie.) An ardent republican who aspired to a united Italy free from foreign domination, at one point he was dismissed from the army and imprisoned because of the sentiments expressed in his poetry. He was ultimately re-admitted to the army by Napoleon and later awarded the Legion of Honor for his valor in the Peninsular War.