Francesco Proto

Francesco Marzio Proto Carafa Pallavicino, Duke of Maddaloni (22 March 1822 – 25 April 1892) was an Italian writer and politician.

Biography

Francesco Proto was born in Naples, the son of Donato, Duke of Albaneta and Clorinda Carafa, from whom he inherited the title of Duke of Maddaloni by which he later became known later in life.

He had a solid classical education, studying under Basilio Puoti among other, and soon became interested in historical research. In his early twenties, he published a History of the Cardinal of Richelieu (1842), and then a translation of Tristano Caracciolo's Vita Serzannis Caraccioli (1843).

In late 1847 Proto took part in street demonstrations calling for a liberal turn in the Neapolitan government, following the example of Pope Pius IX. He wa arrested along with other young aristocrats; they were all soon released. At the beginning of 1848, when Ferdinand II granted the constitution, Proto joined the National Guard with the rank of major, and joined the committee for the "Italian crusade," which aimed to seize the opportunity of the Piedmontese war against Austria in order to unite in a federation the new constitutional states of the peninsula, including the Papal States. On April 17 he followed the ministers sent to Rome to discuss the project, in which he also tried in vain to involve Charles Albert of Sardinia; but the situation precipitated in early May, after Pius IX withdrew from the conflict. Having returned disappointed to Naples, Proto was elected deputy of Casoria.

In early March 1860, on the eve of the fall of the Bourbons and annexation to Piedmont, Proto was involved in a police investigation into an alleged conspiracy in favor of Lucien Murat. Forced to leave Naples, he returned after the entry of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who offered him the post of tax receiver of Nola, which he declined. In early 1861 he was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament in the Casoria constituency, immediately lashing out against Protestant propaganda and the suppression of religious orders.

He proposed to the Count of Cavour that the capital be moved to Naples, even momentarily, to reform the state administration. Cavour's sudden death in June, however, crushed his pretensions, and Proto completely changed course: on November 20, 1861, he presented a violent motion attacking the government's methods, calling for a parliamentary inquiry to address the problems of the hasty annexation of the Neapolitan provinces.

The statesmen of Piedmont and their partisans have corrupted in the Kingdom of Naples whatever moral remained there. They stripped the people of their laws, their bread, their honor... and let justice fall into disrepute... They gave unity to the country, it is true, but they made it a servant, a wretch, a courtier, a coward. Against this state of affairs the country reacted. But terrible and inhuman was the reaction of those who wanted to make believe that they had brought freedom to it... They thought they could win the insurrection with terrorism, but with terrorism the insurrection grew, and civil war prompts incrudescence and indulging in looting and works of vengeance. Pardons were promised to rebels, stragglers, and renegades. Those who showed up were shot without trial. The most ferocious brigands were certainly no less than Pinelli and Cialdini.

This irritated the government and the deputy from Casoria was asked to withdraw his motion and, upon his refusal, the presidency of the House did not authorize its publication in the Acts of Parliament and forbade its discussion in the Chamber. After a week of political and journalistic pressure, Proto resigned on November 27, but the text of the Motion of Inquiry was immediately published throughout Italy (Nice, Naples, Florence, Rome) and also came out translated in Paris, London, Vienna and Brussels.

With his brief parliamentary experience over, Proto tried to re-approach Francis II in exile in Rome.

In October 1875 he lost his son Carlo Alberto, at 29 years of age; and his wife soon afterwards. Left alone with his sister Anna, he embraced the Third Order of Saint Francis. In 1883 Proto was elected on the Catholic list to the Naples City Council. Later, he approach the Roman magazine La Rassegna italiana, which aimed to include Catholics in the national debate.

In 1885 he was best man at the wedding of Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao. In his home in Palazzo Cellamare, a meeting between Benedetto Croce and Salvatore Di Giacomo gave birth to the magazine Napoli nobilissima.

Francesco Proto Carafa died in Naples. At the funeral Achille Torelli said that he had been "truly the last of the Neapolitans."

Private life

In 1845 he married the English noblewoman Harriett Vanneck, the daughter of Gerard Vanneck and Charlotte Lovelace, with whom he had a son the following year. She died on 10 January 1878.

Works

• Storia del cardinale di Richelieu (1842)
• La congiura dei baroni (1848; play)
• La figlia dello Spagnoletto (1855; historical novel)
• Gaspara Stampa (1858; play)
• Alda, la stella di Mantova (1858; play)
• Delle cose di Napoli (1861)
• La mozione d'inchiesta del duca di Maddaloni (1862)
• Il senato cattolico (1862)
• Il conte Durante (1864; short story; under the pen name Ausonio Vero)
• Dei cinque regni d'Italia (1868)
• Agrippina (1877; play)
• La leggenda del poverello di Assisi (1881)
• Il divorzio di Lady Flora (1881)
• Pilato (1883)
• Ruit hora (1889; play)
• Friedemann Bach (1891; play)
• Epigrammi (1894)

External links

• Marzio Francesco Proto Carafa Pallavicino
• La Mozione d'Inchiesta del Duca di Maddaloni