AIROLDI, CESARE. – Political figure, born in Palermo on 2 November 1774, died in Florence on 28 December 1858. He studied at Pavia, but upon the arrival of the French he returned to Sicily, where he donned the habit of a Knight of Malta in 1796. After the Sicilian Constitution of 1812 came into force, A. was one of the most authoritative members of the constitutional party and was elected president of the Chamber of Commons of Parliament. When the Castelnuovo ministry fell, A. too resigned his high office; shortly afterward, however, he became Minister of the Interior. After royal power was restored in the hands of Ferdinando IV, A. went into exile, residing in Milan, Paris, and Florence.
BIBL.: Obituary by F. Parlatore in the Monitore Toscano of 11 January 1859. Silvio Furlani