Early career Born in
Milan, Cavallotti fought with the
Garibaldian Corps in their 1860 and 1866 campaigns during the
Italian Wars of Independence. Following his military service he created a series of anti-monarchical lampoons in the
Gazzetta di Milano and in the
Gazzettina Rosa between 1866 and 1872. He also commented on Garibaldi's deeds in the Neapolitan
Indipendente, directed by
Alexandre Dumas, père.
Political career In 1872 Cavallotti was elected to the
Italian Parliament as deputy for
Corteolona. When sworn in Cavallotti took the oath of allegiance, despite having lampooned the oath in his articles. Eloquent and turbulent, his combativeness in and out of Parliament secured for him the leadership of the
Extreme Left on the death of
Agostino Bertani in 1886. During his twelve years' leadership, his party increased in number from twenty to seventy, and at the time of his death his parliamentary influence was greater than ever before. Although he was ambitious and used defamatory methods of personal attack, Cavallotti's eloquent advocacy of democratic reform and apparent generosity of sentiment secured for him a popularity surpassed by that of no Italian political contemporary except
Francesco Crispi. Services rendered in the
cholera epidemic of 1885, his numerous lawsuits and thirty-three
duels, his bitter campaign against Crispi, and his championship of
French interests combined to enhance his notoriety and to increase his political influence. By skillful alliances with the Marquis
Antonio di Rudinì he more than once obtained practical control of the Italian government and exacted notable concessions to Radical demands. In 1889 he contributed to the erection of the statue of
Giordano Bruno in
Campo de' Fiori at
Rome, a symbol of the lay struggle against the unceasing encroachment of the
Holy See in Italian politics.
Death Aged 55, Cavallotti was killed in a duel against Count
Ferruccio Macola, editor of the conservative
Gazzetta di Venezia, whom he had insulted. Poet and Freemason
Giosuè Carducci issued a celebrative discourse for his death. Cavallotti was buried in the cemetery of Dagnente, on the
Lake Maggiore. However, Felice Cavallotti denied being a member of the Italian Freemasonry in a letter addressed on 9 January 1875 to the director of the journal
Italia Reale. With the permission of his political opponent
Francesco Crispi, Cavallotti contributed to the erection of the monument commemorating
Giordano Bruno in Rome, place
Campo de' Fiori, a work of the sculptor
Ettore Ferrari which was Grand Master of the
Grand Orient of Italy. ==Legacy==