Giuseppe Prina
Giuseppe Prina (
20 July 1766 in
Novara -
20 April 1814) was an
Italian statesman killed in the
Milan riots of
1814.
Giuseppe Prina gave early evidence of his rare talent. After studying at the
University of Pavia, he became a doctor of law in
1789. He worked in his native town,
Novara, for some years as a
lawyer.From
1791 he was appointed with different charges in the piedmontese administration of the
Kingdom of Sardinia.In the first years of the
French invasion of
Piedmont,
Prina refused any collaboration with the French, but after the
battle of Marengo, he returned to public life.
Napoleon Bonaparte appointed
Prina Minister of Finance first in
1802 for the
Italian Republic and then in
1805 for the new
Kingdom of Italy.Genial in private life, he was harsh and unyielding in his official capacity. His singular skill in devising fresh to meet the enormous demands of
Napoleon's government made him the most-hated man in
Lombardy. This was further intensified because he was a
Piedmontese and he was regarded as a foreigner.
|
Prina's murder in a contemporary print |
The news of the emperor's forced abdication on
11 April 1814 reached
Milan on the 16th, and raised hopes of
Italian independence. The
senate assembled on the 19th of April and Prina's party suggested that delegates should be despatched to
Vienna to request that
Eugene Beauharnais be raised to the throne of a free
Italian kingdom. In spite of precautions, the suggestion became public and provoked the formidable riot called the "battle of the umbrellas". A furious mob burst into the
senate on
20 April 1814, pillaged its halls and searched for
Prina. Not finding him there, the rioters rushed to his house, which they wrecked, and seized the doomed minister, who was discovered in a remote chamber donning a disguise. Over the course of four hours, the angry rioters dragged him about the town, until wounded, mutilated, almost torn to pieces,
Prina received his death-blow.
The mob then insulted his miserable remains, stuffing stamped
paper into his mouth. These horrors were enacted by day, in a thoroughfare crowded with
citizens sheltered from the rain by umbrellas. The authorities were passive, and although some courageous persons actually rescued the victim at an early stage and concealed him in a friendly house, the bloodthirsty mob soon discovered his refuge and were about to force an entrance, when the dying man surrendered to save his saviors' property. The riots and murder directly contributed to the re-establishment of
Austrian rule in
Milan.
*
M. Fabi,
Milano ed ii ministro Prina (Novara, 1860);
*
F. Lemmi,
La Restaurazione austriaca a Milano nel 1814 (Bologna, 1902);
*
Ugo Foscolo,
Alcune parole intorno alla fine del Regno d'Italia.
*The story of the murder of
Prina is the subject of a
play by
G. Rovetta, entitled
Principio di secolo.
