Italian nationalist, soldier and guerilla leader, b. 10 August 1810 (Turin, French Empire), d. 6 June 1861 (Turin, Italy)
Camillo di Cavour belonged to a family of aristocrats who had been in the service of the house of Savoy (the region were France, Switzerland and Italy meet) since the 16th century. He was named after his godfather Prince Camillo Borghese, husband of Napoleon's sister Pauline, who was his godmother.
Being the younger of two sons Camillo could not inherit the family's wealth. Following family tradition for second-borns he entered a military career. His father also secured him the position of personal page to the Prince of Savoy and Piedmont.
Italy, like all other European countries, was under the influence of revolutionary movements that swept through the continent during the decades after the French Revolution. At the military academy Camillo made the acquaintance of young officers who espoused radical liberal ideas. He became interested in republicanism and openly derided the page-boy uniform he had to wear at the prince's court. Banished from the court, he was excluded from official political life for the next 20 years.
Having completed his military education Cavour entered the army in 1826 as an engineer. His work did not give him much satisfaction. He wanted to be able to follow political developments in Europe, so he decided to learn English. In Genoa he attended the meetings of a secret revolutionary society. It did not take long until the authorities placed him under police surveillance, and in 1831 he had to resign from the army.
During the next few years Cavour had the post of mayor of a village, secured for him by his father. He spent most of his time to study and write about social conditions, particularly the situation of the poor and the state of the prisons. He travelled to England and France to study the workings of the parliament, universities, factories, railways, hospitals, schools and prisons. His knowledge and views brought him an offer to give up the provincial prospects of Piedmont and embark on a career in France. But Cavour wanted to help Italy to progress and refused the offer.
Cavour returned to Piedmont in 1835 and spent the next decade as a successful businessman and writer, promoting social and economic measures aimed at the development of a modern industrial society, a task unimaginable in Italy at the time.
In 1848 revolutionary unrest prompted the king to grant limited freedom of the press, and Cavour founded his newspaper Il Risorgimento ("Rising Again"). In the same year he was elected to parliament. He became minister of finance in 1850 and prime minister of Piedmont in 1852.
Although Piedmont was a major kingdom in the politically fractured Italy, it was a small player on the European scene. To create a modern Italy was difficult under all circumstances, and Cavour had decided to stay clear of radical uprisings and follow the "golden mean." But he was a skillful diplomat and exploited wars, alliances and negotiations in Piedmont's favour.
When the revolutionary movement in Italy could no longer be kept under control Cavour adopted a pragmatic position of support for Garibaldi, whose guerilla war added more and more territory to the kingdom of Piedmont. This did not stop him, however, from opposing Garibaldi with military force if he thought that Garibaldi's actions could endanger the existence of the kingdom.
The kingdom of Italy was proclamed in 1861 with Cavour as prime minister. He was in the process of negotiating the separation of church and state and the establishment of Rome as Italy's capital when he fell seriously ill and died. In the span of 10 years he had laid the foundations of the united kingdom and managed to prevent the creation of a modern republic.