CARLO EMANUELE MUZZARELLI, Count. — Scholar and statesman, born in Bologna to a noble Ferrarese family on 3 April 1797, died on 10 April 1856. At eighteen he enrolled in the city’s civic militia, later turning to an ecclesiastical career. He earned a law degree in Rome in 1820, served as deputy for Ferrara at the Roman court, and on 12 January 1824 became an auditor of the Rota and a domestic prelate.
He belonged to several literary academies, published eulogies and poetry in journals and pamphlets, and his *Inni sacri* went through multiple editions, appearing in Pisa in 1833 alongside those of Manzoni, Arici, and others. He maintained ties with leading literary figures of his time, especially those of the classical school (Strocchi, Muzzi, Costa, etc.). For many years he collected autobiographical notes on his contemporaries, planning to publish them under the title *Biografie degli illustri italiani viventi*. The material was later used in the *Dizionario biografico* by De Tipaldo and various periodicals. It was ultimately compiled and published by D. Diamilla Müller (see bibliography), forming a useful compendium of information on many individuals now largely forgotten.
Muzzarelli’s name is chiefly associated with the political events in Rome during 1848–49. After Pius IX granted a constitution establishing a High Council to be appointed by sovereign authority, Muzzarelli—who had become dean of the Sacred Rota in 1847—was elected its first president in June 1848, reportedly on the suggestion of L. C. Farini. When, following the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi, Abbot Rosmini declined the presidency, Pius IX—beset by immense difficulties—was compelled to entrust the high office to Muzzarelli, despite knowing his opinions were dangerously radical. The pope even reprimanded him for the cynicism with which, in his presence, he spoke of the murder of the Carrara statesman (G. Pasolini, *Memorie raccolte dal figlio*, I, Turin 1915, p. 217). This first Muzzarelli-Galletti ministry lasted from 17 November to 22 December 1848 and left moderates deeply disappointed.
When Pius IX left Rome on 24 November for Gaeta, a Supreme State Junta assumed power and reconstituted the government, placing Muzzarelli once more at its head. He retained the portfolio of Public Instruction and served as interim Minister of Foreign Affairs. The new cabinet’s task was to prepare for the Roman Constituent Assembly, for which elections were set for 22 January 1849. Muzzarelli was elected deputy for Rome and its district with an impressive vote. Following the Constituent Assembly’s vote declaring the papal temporal power forfeited both in law and fact and proclaiming the Republic, Muzzarelli announced the event to the citizens in a proclamation, extolling popular sovereignty.
Another significant act of Muzzarelli’s tenure as Foreign Minister was his rejection of an invitation from V. Gioberti, minister of Charles Albert, to recognize the constitutional rights of the Holy Father and summon him back to Rome. He replied that the people abhorred papal rule and demanded a clear separation of the two powers. This was the last notable act of the cabinet he presided over before currents of a more radical stripe took over, leading on 8 March 1849 to a new government under Aurelio Saffi, composed of ministers of the same persuasion, and thence to the Triumvirate.
During the final months of the Republic, Muzzarelli remained in the background. On 4 July he left Rome and, banished from Tuscany, took refuge in Corsica, then in Genoa, Turin, and Voltri on the Ligurian coast. Blind, impoverished, and with his mind clouded, he ended his days in a sanatorium at Villa Cristina near Turin.