TORELLI, GIUSEPPE
Journalist and political figure, born at Recetto Novarese on 13 December 1816, died at Turin on 25 April 1866.
He began his literary career by polemicizing with Felice Romani, who then dominated the literary world of Turin. He participated, with Giacomo Durando, in the founding of *L'Opinione* and directed in Milan, in 1848, the *Gazzetta ufficiale 22 Marzo*. He then published, under the pseudonym Ciro d'Arco, the *Lettere politiche*, aimed at combating the democratic party. These appeared in *Il Risorgimento*, of which T. later assumed the direction; in 1852 he moved on to direct the *Gazzetta ufficiale*. A declared opponent of Cavour’s connubio with the left-center, he left the *Gazzetta* when Rattazzi became Minister of the Interior. He then launched a new weekly, *Il Cronista*, to which d’Azeglio, Collegno, and Galeotti contributed. Elected three times as deputy in the constituencies of Intra and Correggio, he sat in Parliament among the moderates and in 1861, against Cavour, defended the ideas expressed in d’Azeglio’s pamphlet *Questioni urgenti*. He began the reorganization of d’Azeglio’s *Miei ricordi*, of which he was a collaborator and friend.
Among his writings are to be noted: *Ruperto d’Isola*, *Soliloquio d’una mosca*, *Lettere politiche*, *Paesaggi e profili*, *Ricordi politici*, and the novel *Ettore Santo*.