GALLETTI, GIUSEPPE. - Statesman, born in Bologna on 11 Aug. 1798, died there on 26 July 1873.
A conspirator in 1821, he made himself known during the uprisings of 1831, thereafter becoming one of the most influential leaders of Emilian liberalism. Arrested and tried in 1844, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The amnesty of ’46 restored him to freedom, and two years later Pio IX summoned him to the Recchi-Antonelli ministry.
Having gained widespread popularity, he took part almost uninterruptedly in the subsequent cabinets, maintaining an uncertain and wavering attitude between the opposing parties, so that he even appeared underhanded in the events that preceded and followed Pio IX’s departure for Gaeta. He presided over the Constituent Assembly of ’49 and was for a short time chief of staff of the Roman Republic, with the rank of general. Nevertheless, Oudinot intended to make use of him, but G. refused and departed into exile for Sardinia, where he concerned himself with mining problems. Distrusted by moderates and radicals alike, he was ostentatiously kept aside until 1866, when the electors of Poggio Mirteto sent him to the Italian Chamber for the very brief duration of the IX legislature. Defeated in the following elections, he spent his last years in Bologna, holding administrative posts of secondary importance.