SPAVENTA, SILVIO. - Patriot and jurist, born in Bomba (Chieti) on 10 May 1822, died in Rome on 21 June 1893, brother of the idealist philosopher Bernardo, whose influence he felt deeply.
He studied in Chieti, then at Montecassino and Naples, where he began his legal studies. Hostile to the Bourbon government, he advocated through his newspaper *Il Nazionale* and *Una settimana*, from Monday to Friday, as a first step toward Italian unity. For this activity he was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. After seven years at the penal colony of Ventotene (1848), he was exiled. In London he aroused among liberal leaders a lively interest in Italian affairs. Returning to Italy after the union of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with Italy, he was entrusted with directing the police in Naples (1860–61). Elected deputy to Parliament, his thought contributed to strengthening the position of the Historical Right. He held important government posts, including that of Secretary-General of the Interior (1864), Councillor of State, and Minister of Public Works (1876).
Appointed by F. Crispi, an exponent of the Left, president of the 4th Section of the Council of State, whose creation he had helped shape through his ideas on administrative justice, he advocated the establishment of judicial defense for the vast number of rights and interests allegedly violated by government acts deemed illegitimate by the aggrieved parties, which had remained without any such protection following the reform enacted by the law of 20 March 1865. He cited the example of other countries, which had found protection in special administrative courts. Thus was created the 4th Section of the Council of State with judicial functions; a Section which, through his efforts, gained great prestige and on which the structure of administrative justice still in force is based. He was appointed senator on 15 December 1889.