REVERE, GIUSEPPE PROSPERO

REVERE, GIUSEPPE PROSPERO (1812–1889), Italian poet and patriot. Born in Trieste, Revere studied in Milan, where he became well known as an active participant in the movement for the unification of Italy and as a follower of Mazzini during the 1848 Revolution. In 1849 he joined Daniele *Manin in Venice but, as a supporter of Mazzini, broke with him after some disagreement and took part in the defense of Rome. For many years he served in the Italian Foreign Office as editor of the Bollettino Consolare, and in 1869 was one of the Italian delegates at the opening of the Suez Canal.

Revere wrote minor historical dramas including Lorenzino de'Medici (1839), I Piagnoni e gli Arrabbiati… (1843), and Sampiero da Bastelica (1846). In his patriotic verse, mostly collections of sonnets – Nuovi sonetti (1846); Persone ed ombre (1862); Osiride (1879); and Sgocciolii (1881) – he gave personal expression to the tastes and poetic tendencies of the second Romantic generation, taking *Heine and Ugo Foscolo as his models. His impressionistic sonnets voice an inner dissatisfaction with contemporary society and a mood of rebellion. Among his outstanding books are some witty travel impressions, Bozzetti alpini (1857) and Marine e paesi (1858), and Variazioni (published only in 1957) which describes the landscape and customs of Piedmont and Liguria. His Opere Complete appeared in 1896–98.

bibliography:

A. Ottolini, Giuseppe Revere (It., 1912); Ortez, in: Nuova antologia, 264 (1915), 21–43; L. Baldacci (ed.), Poeti Minori dell'Ottocento, 1 (1958), 475–7; A.B. Revere (ed.), Giuseppe Revere… (It., 1928).

[Giorgio Romano]