Name Carlo Petitti | Role Economist | |
Died April 10, 1850, Turin, Italy | ||
How to pronounce carlo ilarione petitti di roreto italian italy pronouncenames com
Carlo Ilarione Petitti count of Roreto (21 October 1790 – 10 April 1850) was an Italian economist, academic, writer, counsellor of state, and senator of the Kingdom of Sardinia. He is seen as a prominent figure in the Italian Risorgimento.
Contents
- How to pronounce carlo ilarione petitti di roreto italian italy pronouncenames com
- Life
- Principal writings
- Honours
- References
Life
Carlo Ilarione Petitti di Roreto was born in Turin on 21 October 1790, son of the count Giuseppe Antonio Petitti di Roreto (1729–1795) and of the noblewoman Innocenza Gabriella Ferrero di Ponziglione e Borgo d'Ales (1767–1797).
In 1813 at Alessandria he married the noblewoman Maria Teresa Gabriella Genna of the counts of Cocconato (1791–1826); the marriage produced four children: Alessandro (1813–1841), Agostino (1814–1890), Maurizio (1816–1852), and Giuseppe (1824–1886).
After graduating in law from the University of Genoa in 1816, he entered the administration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, for which he had already worked on an unpaid basis, becoming vice-intendant general of Savoy at Chambéry.
In 1819 he was made intendant general of Asti and in 1826 of Cuneo. In 1831 he was appointed to the newly founded Council of State, an institution whose creation he had promoted to the king; in 1836 he became vice-president of the higher commission of statistics, also established by Charles Albert of Savoy, and in 1839 he was appointed to the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. In 1842 he was a founder member, along with Cavour, of the Associazione Agraria di Torino.
He was identified by Metternich, together with Vincenzo Gioberti, Massimo d'Azeglio and Cesare Balbo as one of the most eminent Piedmontese Liberals of the time and is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals in the cultural and political spheres of the Risogimento and was described by Gian Mario Bravo as one of the few who emerged not so much because of their aristocratic titles or through their political activities (though both did apply in his case), but above all because of his work as an academic, as an economist, and as a commentator and journalist. Thus he came to be considered by many as the major inspirer of the Albertine reform programme. His 1845 essay on the advantages to be gained by the development of railways received great attention in political circles both at home and abroad.
In 1848 he was made a senator of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Carlo Ilarione Petitti died two years later, on 10 April 1850, in Turin. His death was brought about by podagra, a painful disease from which he had suffered for many years.
Principal writings
Honours
Petitti was made Commendatore dell'Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro in 1836 and Cavaliere dell'Ordine civile di Savoia in 1837.