Lives in Translation: Giuseppe Compagnoni

Giuseppe Compagnoni (Lugo, 1754 – Milan, 1833) was a clergyman, translator, writer and journalist, civil servant, and the “father of the Italian flag”, as he was the first to propose the use of a green, white, and red national flag for the Italian sovereign state, the Cispadane Republic, in 1797. Nonetheless, this long list of titles does not necessarily help encompass Compagnoni’s prolific and rich life, which led him to travel all over Italy as well as to France, meeting and forming relationships with an astonishing variety of people, from popes to salonnières to Napoleon himself. A colourful (albeit slightly romanticised) account of his is chronicled in the autobiography he left to posterity, his Memorie autobiografiche(Treves: Milan, ed. Angelo Ottolini, 1927), which he began writing in 1825 and kept working on until his death in 1833.

Compagnoni was born into one of the most well-respected noble families of Lugo, Ravenna. A brilliant student of philosophy and theology, his father encouraged him to pursue an ecclesiastical career, despite Compagnoni’s desire to study law. He took his vows in 1778, however he would eventually renounce them in 1794, as a form of protest against the Inquisition’s use of torture inflicted upon detainees. His faithfulness to the Enlightenment principles can be recognised throughout his Memorie, particularly as he details his journalistic and editorial work for different publications, including the Memorie Enciclopediche in Bologna (1783), Notizie del Mondo in Venice (1788), and the Mercurio d’Italia in Venice (which he founded in 1796). His bitter opposition to the Bolognese censorship rules and laws are widely recorded in his autobiography.

In 1786, Compagnoni is able to leave his native Emilia-Romagna and head north, first visiting Turin, Milan, and finally Venice, where he spent a significant part of his life. The Venetian years were essential to his intellectual and political growth, due to the Republic’s cosmopolitan nature and freedom of expression. There he also came in contact with prominent figures of the time, most notably the scientist and revolutionary of Jewish origins Vincenzo Dandolo, who remained a friend and political collaborator for life.

Despite his Enlightened convictions, throughout the years of the Revolution he remained critical of France, attempting to remain objective in his role as editor of the political newspaper Notizie del Mondo. Though he acknowledged the greatness of the events in Paris, he initially advised caution in judging its outcome.

Compagnoni’s literary career did not stop at political writing, as he produced a number of other essays – such as the Saggio sugli Ebrei e sui Greci (1792), which was driven by the principle of religious tolerance, or his La chimica per le donne (1796), a chemistry guide for women – as well as poetry, letters, and translations of the classics.

In 1796, during the Napoleonic invasion, Compagnoni played a key role in the creation of the Cispadane Republic, which is considered the first democratic institution in Italy. He was part of the constituent assembly and later became general secretary of the new Republic. In 1800, due to the Austro-Russian invasion, both Compagnoni and Dandolo fled to Paris. Here, they co-authored the essay Les Hommes Nouveaux, ou solution du problème: Comment, d'après les principes posés dans la nouvelle régénération politique des peuples, peut-on, dans la pratique, opérer, parmi les individus une régénération morale?, where they wrote in support of Napoleon, viewing his government as the manifestation of Enlightenment principles. Paris is also where Compagnoni wrote Le veglie del Tasso, a pre-romantic poetic work that the author attributed to Torquato Tasso, and which then gained a lot of traction in Europe, being translated into multiple languages.

That same year, after the invasion was defeated, Compagnoni returned to Italy, more specifically to Milan, where he resumed his role working for the Republic until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. Retired from politics, Compagnoni continued living in Milan and working as a writer and translator. Notable works from this period of his life are his translation into Italian of Destutt de Tracy’s Éléments d’Idéologie (1817) and a collosal 29-volume History of America (1820-1823).

Despite the withdrawal from active political life in his later years, Compagnoni remained devoted to Enlightenment and republican principles until his death in 1833.

Sources:

https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giuseppe-compagnoni_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Compagnoni

Giuseppe Compagnoni, Memorie Autobiografiche, ed. by Angelo Ottolini, (Treves: Milan, 1927).