FABBRI, ODORDO. - Man of letters and patriot, born at Cesena on 13 Oct. 1778, died there on 7 Oct. 1853.
He entered public life under the Cisalpine Republic and later under the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy; he supported Murat in the ill-fated attempt of 1815 and was appointed vice-prefect of Cesena. Accused of conspiring against the papal government, he was involved in the Rivarola trial and sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was later commuted to ten years’ imprisonment and F. was transferred to Civitacastellana, from which he was freed by the insurgents of 1831. Returning to Cesena, he served as vice-prefect until the Austrian intervention, then fled to Ancona and later to San Marino.
After two years he was amnestied and returned to his studies, until Pius IX appointed him in 1848 pro-legate of Pesaro and Urbino and on 2 Aug. entrusted him with forming a ministry, which lasted forty days: on 16 Sept. F. was replaced by Pellegrino Rossi. Sincerely devoted to Pius IX, during his brief tenure he sought to reconcile the rights of the Apostolic See with the new liberal ideas, and the Pope, though much distressed, accepted his resignation when F. realised the futility of his efforts. During the Roman Republic of 1849 he served as a councillor in his native city, where he spent the remaining years of his life in private.
He left a few mediocre tragedies and an interesting diary, of which the period from 15 Dec. 1824, the date of his arrest, to Feb. 1831 was published under the title Sei anni e due mesi della vita (Rome 1915).