Ippolito Nievo
“Confessions of an Italian”
The “poet-soldier”, as Ippolito Nievo was described in the 19th century, was born in Padua on 30th November 1831. He lived for the first years of his life in Soave (Verona) and then moved to Udine, following in his father’s footsteps. In 1855 Nievo graduated in Law, at the same time intensifying his performance as a freelance journalist and writer. Four years later he took part in the Second War of Independence as a Garibaldi volunteer, and as an officer in the corps of the “Cacciatori delle Alpi” (Hunters of the Alps). During the Expedition of the Thousand he was on board the “Lombardo” together with Bixio. The great writer of “Confessions of an Italian” (published posthumously) died before his time, just under 31 years of age, swallowed up by the waves of the Tyrrhenian sea, following the shipwreck of the steamship “Ercole”, in 1861, sailing back to Naples from Sicily where he had been sent on a mission by Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Click to read closer examinations:
Dal capitolo VI de “Le Confessioni d’un italiano”
Dal capitolo X de “Le Confessioni d’un italiano”