CARCANO, GIULIO. - Writer, born in Milan on 7 Aug. 1812, died at Lesa on 29 Aug. 1884. Having graduated at Pavia, he took part in the political life of 1848 as envoy to Paris of the Milanese provisional government, in order to obtain military assistance from France. When the Austrians regained control of Lombardy, he was forced to remain in exile for two years.
His work as a writer belongs, in a minor key, to the Manzonian milieu, like that of Tommaso Grossi, whose friend he was. In his four novels, Angiola Maria, Il manoscritto di un vice-curato, Damiano, Gabrio e Camilla, the themes of country, family, and religion predominate. In 1847 he began a short poem, S. Paolo, recounting the life of the Apostle; in 1866 he dedicated to Manzoni, his intimate friend, Il Libro di Dio, containing philosophical reflections, religious meditations, and a paraphrase of two entire episodes from the Gospel. He also attempted verse renderings of Holy Scripture: Fiori biblici (Florence, 1881). In opposition to the realist school of Guerrini and Praga, he avowed that he had composed his verse narratives, Dolinda di Montorfano, dedicated to Zanella, I fanciulli di Valmigana, and Gli orfani, in order to show how scenes of misery might be depicted from life “without laying bare what is vicious and ugly in life.” Among his prose works, his commemoration of Manzoni and his correspondence, 1827-84, deserve notice. He was well acquainted with foreign literatures, especially English literature; for some forty years he worked on translating the works of Shakespeare (12 vols., Milan, 1875-1882). The complete edition of his Opere, in 10 vols., was published in Milan (1892-96).