Brave and beautiful noblewoman who fought for a free Italy
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| Teresa Casati was inspired by her husband to fight for a united Italy |
She was the older sister of Gabrio Casati, who was a Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia and twice served as President of the Italian Senate.
She married the revolutionary Federico Confalonieri, who became one of the leaders of the Italian National Party. Eventually she had to plead with Empress Carolina Augusta of Bavaria to spare her husband’s life, after he had been sentenced to death for his part in the Risorgimento, the 19th century political and social movement formed with the goal of creating a united, independent Italy.
Teresa was the eldest daughter of Count Gaspare Casati and his wife Maria Orrigoni of Ello. Her mother died when she was six, and her father married again. Although she was described as ‘withdrawn’ as a child, Teresa grew up to be very beautiful.
Her looks were praised by the poet Ugo Foscolo who wrote that she was a ‘young, holy and beautiful girl.’ The politician Giovanni Arravabene described her as ‘a woman in whom beauty, grace and gentle manners harmonised wonderfully together.’
Teresa received a proposal from the Duke of Pasquier, a French statesman, but her father talked her out of marrying him. However, after she met Confalonieri at a ball, and fell in love with him, her father agreed to let them marry. The couple had one child, who died when he was six years old.
Teresa often acted as Confalonieri’s go-between with other revolutionaries when her husband was away from Milan, passing on information to them from the letters he sent to her. She also became part of the Carbonari, a secret society associated with the Risorgimento.
Anonymous informants told the Austrians that she had offered to kill one of their high-ranking officers with her own stiletto, but this was never proved against her.
When Confalonieri was eventually arrested and imprisoned by the Austrians, Teresa was not allowed to see him for a year and she would often be seen wearing mourning dress.
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| Federico Confalonieri spent many years in a remote prison in Moravia |
Teresa did not give up. She went to the Empress Carolina and convinced her to help them. The Empress tried to change her husband’s mind and eventually he agreed to have the sentence suspended.
Confalonieri was imprisoned in Spilberk Castle in Southern Moravia and before he was sent away he was allowed to embrace his wife for one last time.
Teresa asked Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma if she could intercede with Emperor Francis I, who was the Duchess’s father, to give her permission to live in Brunn near the prison, but her request was turned down.
Occasionally, plans were made by revolutionaries for Confalonieri’s escape from the prison, but none of them succeeded and so he remained behind bars.
Teresa Casati Confalonieri died of consumption - now known as tuberculosis - in September 1830, while in Erba near Lake Como in Lombardy. Unaware of her death, Confalonieri continued to send her letters for another four and a half months.
Teresa was buried in the Casati family tomb and Alessandro Manzoni, the Milanese author of the classic novel, I Promessi Sposi, who was a supporter of Teresa and her husband, wrote the epitaph inscribed on it.
In 2011, there was an exhibition at the Spazio Oberdan in Milan called Rose d'Italia: "Il Risorgimento invisibile" lombardo (Roses of Italy: The invisible Risorgimento in Lombardy), which celebrated the contribution of Teresa Casati Confalonieri.
The City of Muggio Theatre Competition created an award named after Teresa Casati Confalonieri in 2024.
A film, Loyalty of Love, was made about Teresa’s life in 1934. Another, Il conte Aquila, a title Federico Confalonieri was also known by, was made about her husband’s life in 1955.
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| Palazzo Confalonieri, where Teresa and Federico lived in Milan |
Teresa Casati and Federico Confalonieri lived at Palazzo Confalonieri, in Via Monte di Pietà 14 in Milan. There is a plaque on the facade of the palazzo recording their patriotic activity in the cause of the independence of Lombardy-Veneto from the Austrian Empire. Federico was arrested at the house in 1821 and was at first condemned to death, but was later sentenced to life imprisonment in Spilberk Castle in Southern Moravia, which was used as a prison by the Austrian Empire. Via Monte di Pietà is located on the edge of Milan’s fashionable Brera district and just minutes away from some of the city’s most iconic cultural and historical landmarks. Within a short walk are the Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery, the Brera Botanical Garden, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and the Teatro alla Scala opera house. One of Italy's premier art galleries, housed in a grand palace, the Pinacoteca di Brera has masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Mantegna among others.
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| The 11th century bell tower at the church of Sant'Eufemia |
Erba, where Teresa Casati Confalonieri died, is a comune - municipality - in the province of Como located about 40 kilometres, 25 miles, north of Milan and to the southeast of Lake Como. It has a Romanesque church, Sant’Eufemia, which has an 11th century bell tower. There are also remains of a medieval castle there. Things to see around Erba include the Eremo San Salvatore, an historic hillside hermitage offering panoramic views of the surrounding Brianza landscape, Borgo di Villincino, a well-preserved medieval hamlet featuring ancient stone walls and narrow cobblestone alleys, and Teatro Licinium, an outdoor open-air stone theatre built into a natural green amphitheatre, hosting performances in the summer months.
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More reading:
How the poet Lord Byron helped the Carbonari in Ravenna
The revolutionary who became an English knight
The story of Gabriele Rossetti, poet and revolutionary
Also on this day:
1630: The birth of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma
1688: The birth of Maria Luisa of Savoy
1944: The birth of mountaineer Reinhold Messner
1961: The birth of mountaineer Nives Meroi