Alessandro Poerio

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Alessandro Poerio (1802 - November 3, 1848), Italian poet and patriot, descended from an old Calabrian family, his father, Baron Giuseppe Poerio, being a distinguished lawyer of Naples. In 1815, he and his brother Carlo accompanied their father, who had been identified with Murat's cause, into exile, and settled at Florence. In 1818, they were allowed to return to Naples, and on the proclamation of the constitution in 1820, the Poerios were among the stoutest defenders of the newly-won freedom. Allessandro fought as a volunteer under General Guglielmo Pepe against the Austrians in 1821, but when the latter reoccupied Naples and the king abolished the constitution, the family was again exiled and settled at Gratz.

Alessandro devoted himself to study in various German universities, and at Weimar, he became the friend of Goethe. In 1835, the Poerios returned to Naples, and Alessandro, while practising law with his father, published a number of lyrics. In 1848, he accompanied Pepe as a volunteer to fight the Austrians in northern Italy, and on the recall of the Neapolitan contingent Alessancho followed Pepe to Venice and displayed great bravery during the siege. Severely wounded in the fighting round Mestre, he died of his injuries.

His poetry reveals the idealism of a tender and delicate mind which was diligent in storing up sensations and images that for others would have been at most the transient impressions of a moment. But he could also sound the clarion note of patriotism, as in his stirring poem Il Risorgimento.