Pompeo Provana del Sabbione

Count Rufo Pompeo Provana del Sabbione (10 April 1816 – 1 January 1884) was an Italian admiral and senator who briefly served as Minister of the Navy in 1867 and 1868.

Early life and career Pompeo was the son of Count Casimiro Provana Del Sabbione and his wife Adelaide Romagnano. He was born into an old and distinguished house of the Piedmontese nobility. One of his uncles, Luigi, was also a senator and a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin; another uncle, Michele, was mayor of Turin, as was his grandfather Francesco.

On 1 September 1828 he enrolled at the Royal Navy School of Genoa from which he graduated and on 13 March 1833 was appointed ensign second class in the general staff corps. In 1859, as commander of the second-rate wheeled pyrofrigate Governolo he transported French troops from Toulon to Genoa to fight in the Second Italian War of Independence.

On 19 June of that same year he joined the naval division in the Adriatic. On 10 July ignoring the armistice agreed two days earlier, he captured four small Austrian merchant units near the Bay of Kotor but had to release them after protests from the Habsburg government. earning the officer's cross of the Military Order of Savoy.

On 1 April 1861 he was promoted to rear admiral and in 1863 he was given command of the first-rate propeller frigate Maria Adelaide. He made a tour of the western Mediterranean, sailed to Portugal and took part in the first naval review in Naples after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. After the defeat at the Battle of Lissa, he was invited to assume command of the fleet but refused.

His brief tenure was marked by three main initiatives. He supported the early phase of Italian colonialism, sending captain Luigi Bertelli to explore the coasts of the Red Sea. He also drafted a bill to create a single institute in Livorno for training Navy officers in the old quarantine hospital, but was opposed by the Ministry of the Interior which wanted to preserve its public health use. Last, he withdrew the bill laid before the chamber by his predecessor Pescetto concerning the reorganization of the Marine infantry.

Later career After resigning as Minister of the Navy, Provana Del Sabbione returned to active service as vice admiral and resuming command of the second Maritime Department. Four days later he was appointed to the Senate. On 25 February 1869 he became a member of the commission for the examination of the maritime penal code. He retired when he reached the age limit for active service on 1 December 1870.

He died in Turin on 2 January 1884.

Honours