Spellanzon, Cesare

Born Feb. 14, 1884, in Venice; died 1957, in Milan. Italian historian and journalist; representative of the progressive wing of Italian historiography of the Risorgimen-to.

Spellanzon’s chief works were The True Secret of Charles Albert (1953) and the five-volume History of the Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy (1933–50), which ends with the Revolution of 1848. The first three volumes of the latter work (1933–38) cover the period from the origins of the Risorgimento in the 18th century to the year 1848. They contain abundant factual material and clearly reflect Spellanzon’s democratic viewpoint. The fourth and fifth volumes (1948–50) provide one of the most complete, thorough, and carefully evaluated accounts of the events of 1848 in Italy. The work as a whole is one of the most fundamental histories of the Risorgimento.

After the overthrow of the Fascist dictatorship in Italy, Spel-lanzon resumed his career as a journalist, which he had been compelled to abandon during the Fascist period, and worked on the Corriere della Sera and other newspapers.