ZUCCHINI, GAETANO. - Politician, b. in Bologna on 6 Aug. 1806, d. there on 1 March 1882.
Having distinguished himself through numerous publications on agricultural, economic and social subjects and through the impetus he gave to Emilian agriculture and industry, he obtained in 1848 the office of senator (that is, mayor) of Bologna. He exercised his functions with profound tact during the difficult period through which the city passed (Austrian occupation, the insurrection of 8 Aug., etc.) and was called to be part of the extraordinary Commissariat for the four Legations set up at that time. He tendered his resignation from the Commissariat itself and from the Supreme Junta of State, in which he had likewise been included, on the morrow of the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi and of the Pontiff's departure for Gaeta, in order not to fail in the oath of fidelity he had sworn to the Sovereign. Restored to his domains, Pius IX expressed his gratitude to him by conferring on him the title of count, and often availed himself of his profound competence for the development of industries in the Papal State. Among other things, he represented the papal government at the international railway congress in Vienna. A man of profound piety, greatly munificent, passionately devoted to the civic problems of his Bologna, he spent the last years of his life in blindness, which he faced with Christian resignation.
Bibliography
Renzo U. Montini