Daniele Manin

Daniele Manin (13 May 1804 – 22 September 1857) was an Italian patriot, statesman and leader of the Risorgimento in Venice.

Early and family life
Daniele Manin was born Daniele Fonseca in Ramo Astori, Venice, where his birthplace is commemorated by a plaque.

His mother, Anna Maria Bellotto, came from Padua, while his father, Pietro Antonio Fonseca (1762–1829), came from a family that was originally from Verona. Daniele's Veronese grandfather, Samuele Medina, was Jewish, but he converted to Christianity in 1759 and took the name Manin because Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice, sponsored his conversion. Daniele Manin's niece was the painter and printmaker Leopoldina Zanetti Borzino.

Manin studied law in Padua.

From an early age, he hated Austria.

Revolutionary leader
The failed attempt of the Bandiera Brothers, Venetians who had served in the Austrian navy, against the Neapolitan Bourbons in 1844, ignited the Venetian patriotism. In 1847, Manin presented a petition to the Venetian congregation, a consultative assembly tolerated by Austria, informing the emperor of the wants of the nation. He was arrested on a charge of high treason on 18 January 1848, although his arrest only served to agitate of the Venetians.

Two months later, the people of Venice forced Count Pallfy (Erdődy Pállfy Alajos gróf), the Austrian governor, to release Manin (17 March). The Austrians soon lost control of the city: the Arsenal was seized by revolutionaries, and, under the direction of Manin, a civic guard and a provisional government were instituted. The Austrians withdrew from Venice on 26 March, and Manin became president of the re-created Republic of San Marco. He was in favour of Italian unity and was not anxious about annexation to Piedmont because he would have liked to enlist French aid. He then resigned his powers to the Piedmontese commissioners on 7 August. But after the Piedmontese defeat at Custoza, and the armistice in which King Charles Albert abandoned Lombardy and Venetia to Austria, the Venetians attempted to lynch the royal commissioners, whose lives Manin saved. An assembly was summoned, and a triumvirate formed with Manin at its head.

Towards the end of 1848, the Austrians reoccupied all of the Venetian mainland. Early in 1849, Manin was again chosen president of the Republic, and conducted the defence of the city, with the citizens fighting back the reoccupation.

After the defeat of Charles Albert's troops at Novara in March, the Venetian assembly voted to grant Manin powers.

Meanwhile, the Austrian forces closed around the city. Manin was seconded by the Neapolitan general, Guglielmo Pepe, who led the Neapolitan army to defend Venice against his king's order. On 26 May, the Venetians were forced to abandon Fort Marghera; food was becoming scarce; on 19 June, the powder magazine blew up; and in July, cholera broke out. The Austrian batteries, subsequently, began to bombard Venice, and when the Sardinian fleet withdrew from the Adriatic, the city was also attacked by sea in demagogues.

On 24 August 1849, Manin succeeded in negotiating amnesty to save Manin himself, Pepe and some others who were to go into exile. On 27 August, Manin left Venice on board a French ship.

Exile and last years
His wife died in Marseille, and he himself reached Paris. In Paris, he became a leader among the Italian exiles. There, he became a convert from republicanism to monarchism, being convinced that only under the auspices of King Victor Emmanuel could Italy be freed, and together with Giorgio Pallavicini and Giuseppe La Farina, he founded the Società Nazionale Italiana, with the object of propagating the idea of unity under the Piedmontese monarchy.

His daughter died in 1854 from her illness. Manin died on 22 September 1857 and was buried in Ary Scheffer's family tomb.

In 1868, two years after the Austrians finally departed from Venice, his remains were brought to his native city and honoured with a public funeral. The gondola carrying his coffin was decorated with a bow "surmounted by the lion of Saint Mark, resplendent with gold", bore "the Venetian standard veiled with black crape", and had "two silver colossal statues waving the national colours of Italy". The statues represented the unification of Italy and Venice. His remains are interred in a sarcophagus, which is located in the Piazzetta dei Leoncini, on the north side of the Basilica San Marco.

Evaluation
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "Manin was a man of the greatest honesty, and possessed genuinely statesmanlike qualities. He believed in Italian unity when most men, even Cavour, regarded it as a vain thing. For example, during the 1856 Congress of Paris, Manin met with Cavour to discuss the unification of Italy. After the meeting, Cavour wrote that Manin had talked about 'l'unità d'Italia ed altre corbellerie' ('the unity of Italy and other nonsense'). Manin's work of propaganda by means of the Italian National Society greatly contributed to the success of the cause."