Accursi, Michelangelo

ACCRUSI, MICHELANGELO. — Also called Michele, conspirator, born in Rome in 1802. An Innocentian curial official of the tribunal of the Segnatura di giustizia, he was a Carbonaro and after 1830 maintained correspondence with Mazzini and became part of the Roman congregation of «Giovine Italia», directed by Enrico Mayer. Secretary to General Sercognani, A. took part in the uprisings of 1831 and was arrested in Rome in November 1832. He declared himself a federate, but confessed that he regretted his recent attitude, promising, if his freedom were restored, to inform the papal government of the plans of «Giovine Italia». Gregory XVI believed these words and had him released in March 1833. After going to Paris and Geneva, he informed the Roman government of the various Mazzinian attempts. In 1836 Mazzini began to suspect him, but nothing positive could be found, and relations between A. and Mazzini once again became cordial. In the spring of 1848 he returned to Rome and was appointed assessor general, but Pellegrino Rossi, who disliked his relations with the Mazzinian party, sent him abroad on a mission to study the penitentiary system of the other European states. Elected deputy to the Roman Constituent Assembly in the supplementary elections of 24 February 1849, together with Mazzini, Saliceti, Cernuschi, Dall'Ongaro, and others, after the fall of the republic he took refuge in France and Switzerland.