STERBINI, PIETRO. – Politician, b. at Sigur-gola on 25 Jan. 1793, d. at Naples on 30 Sept. 1863.
A physician and man of letters, an active Carbonaro, he took part in the 1831 uprisings, went into exile in France, and attached himself to Mazzini, with whom he carried on a political activity that presents certain obscure aspects: see, for example, the accusations of Fr. G. Boero in *La rivoluzione romana al giudizio degli imparziali*, Florence 1850, and of Gualtiero in *Gli ultimi rivolgimenti italiani*, 4 vols., ibid. 1850–51, which are certainly not entirely without foundation. Returning to Rome in 1846 after the accession of Pius IX, he became one of the most influential “tribunes,” modern in appearance but an extremist in the clandestine press that he directed. A tenacious opponent of Pellegrino Rossi, he was morally responsible for the tragedy of 15 Nov. 1848, if only for the campaign of hatred waged against the minister. Included in the “democratic” cabinet of Muzzarelli with the portfolio of Public Works, Industry, and Trade, exploited as a demagogue to retain popular favor, he incurred the dislike of both the “constitutionalists” and the republicans, who branded him a dictator. Removed from government in March 1849, he held various offices solely to avoid displeasing the Circolo Popolare, of which S. was a listened-to figure. The circle, which had been unknown as the guardian of museums, director of the public surveillance committee, extraordinary commissioner of the Republic in Frosinone, and charged with organizing popular resistance in the Borghi toward the end of the siege, was always the rabid anticlerical who had incited the mob against Rossi.
After another decade of exile in Switzerland and France, in 1860 he settled in Naples as director of the newspaper *Roma*, advocating there “the agreement of democracy with monarchy and of freedom of religion.” In his final years he returned to the faith of his fathers and died reconciled to II.