the territory of Modena, on the right bank of the River Po, stands an ancient town formerly called Brixellum or Brexillum, hodie Brescello. Father Bardetti (Lingua dei primi abitatori d’Italia) informs us that the name of “Brescello” is derived from the remote Gallo-Germanic words Brig, a bridge, and sella, to observe. With all due respect to the learned father, to his skill in philology, and to his knowledge of the Gallo-Germanic dialect, our opinion is that the names Brixellum and Brescello are simply the common diminutives of Brixia and Brescia respectively, a town not one hundred miles from Brescello.
However that may be, it is certain that Brescello is a place of most respectable antiquity, for according to Pliny the younger it was a Roman colony, founded during the period of the Republic. It is equally certain that Brescello has, from the time of its foundation, undergone as many of the vicissitudes of fortune, and suffered as much from the horrors of war, as many towns of far greater size and importance in the eyes of the world. A brief notice of its history will, however, cause our readers to marvel, not so much at the ruin and destruction which has fallen with such persistent recurrence upon Brescello as at the almost miraculous power possessed by this phœnix among cities of straightway rising again from its own ashes.
The first event of local historical importance which strikes us is the suicide (A.D. 69) of the Emperor Otho, which took place while he was encamped here, on receiving the news of the total defeat of his army by Vitellius. A tomb erected in the town to the memory of the unfortunate Emperor, for whom we have always entertained a certain amount of sympathy, possibly arising in a great measure from our contempt of his rival, is mentioned by Plutarch as having been seen by himself.
From A.D. 69 to A.D. 388 nothing is known of the history of Brescello. This interval, however, seems to have been one rather of obscurity than of quiet; for the name next occurs in a letter of St. Ambrose, of the last-mentioned date, wherein he speaks of the place as amongst one of the many ruined cities, and ranks it with the equally oppressed towns of Bologna, Modena, Reggio, and Piacenza. It may be conjectured that by the year 452 Brescello must have been wholly rebuilt; for in a letter of Eusebius to Leo I. (St. Leo), commencing “Ciprianus Episcopus Ecclesie Brixellensis,” it is stated that the town not only gave name to a see, but was the dwelling place of a bishop.
In the troubled times of the Longobardi it was destroyed by King Autharis, circa. A.D. 585, but even then gave promise of future vitality; for again it was rebuilt, and a monastery existed there in the tenth century. In the year 1099, for the first time, the Castle of Brescello comes to our knowledge, with the addition of fortifications to the town.
It is needless to follow the fortunes of Brescello throughout the wars between the Cremonese and Parmese, of the many horrors of which, and notably those which occurred in the year 1121, it was the scene. The following brief statement of facts will probably supply as much of the history of this much-suffering place as may be desired.
In 1247, while Frederick II. Emperor of Germany was besieging Parma, his ally Ezzellino IV., the Tyrant, took possession of Brescello and Guastalla, in order to deprive the inhabitants of Parma of all means of subsistence, and thus reduce them to submission by famine. During this campaign the first-named town was partially destroyed; but Frederick and Ezzellino made up to a considerable extent for the damage inflicted on the Brescellese by building for them a bridge over the Po.
The Parmese, always the bitter foes of Frederick, retook Brescello two years later—i.e., in the year 1249—and erected important fortifications, which, however, were destroyed in 1251 by the Cremonese, under the leadership of Uberto Pallavicino.
Peace was declared two years afterwards, and the conquered town became a portion of Parmese territory. A congress took place here between the Parmese and the Cremonese in 1295, and in 1303 Giberto of Correggio was made Lord of Brescello. This nobleman at once fortified his new possession so strongly that the Cremonese, after a most furious attack, were obliged to beat a hasty retreat. A second bridge was constructed during the same year, but it was soon destroyed by the strong currents of the river.
Twelve months had hardly elapsed when the Cremonese, undaunted by their previous defeat, again attacked Brescello, and this time with such success that the town was set on fire and utterly destroyed; only, however, to be rebuilt by the determined citizens, who soon afterwards were under the dominion of the Marquis Obizzo III., of Este, at whose death, in 1352, the government of the town passed into the hands of the Visconti, and continued so up to 1421. In 1425 the Venetians took possession of Brescello, and held it until 1432, when it was captured by the Duke of Milan, who, in the years 1442–3, gave it to Erasmo Trivulzio.
In 1479 Brescello passed into the possession of the Duke Galeazzo Maria, Ercole I., and in 1512 and 1551 was under the yoke of foreign troops. In 1552, Ercole II., re-fortified the town with very strong forts, which were, however, totally destroyed in 1704 by Gallispani.
Here, on the 16th September, 1797, was born the subject of our memoir, Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi; a great portion of whose chequered life seemed, in its changes and chances, to reflect the early fortunes of his birth-place.
The similarity in the unsettled state of both is striking, and it is a source of gratification to watch, how, in progress of time, Panizzi was enabled to surmount misfortune, and, freed from private as well as political trouble, to end his life in assured peace and security. His father, Luigi Panizzi, was the son of Dottor Antonio Panizzi, a lawyer. His mother, Caterina Gruppi, was descended from a respectable line of ancestors, many of whom had earned for themselves honourable distinction chiefly in the profession of the law.
At an early age Antonio Panizzi was sent to a school of the better class at Reggio, where he was placed under the care of the Abbate Fratuzzi, Professor of Rhetoric and Director of the Lyceum, with whom, as stated by a contemporary, Dr. Zatti, he soon became a special favourite. Of this school Panizzi seems always to have cherished happy memories, and the author remembers hearing him narrate a rather amusing incident of his school-days.
This anecdote is presented to our readers with some apology, and with the recommendation, after the manner of facetious novelists when about to introduce a more than ordinarily racy chapter, to use their own discretion as to its perusal.
It is the custom at schools in Italy, even at the present day, for one of the pupils to be chosen to serve at mass. For this office the Abbate Fratuzzi on one occasion selected Panizzi. It so happened that the priest was administering the sacrament to a man, whose head was of conspicuous uncleanliness, and was uttering the usual sentence, “Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam æternam.” Young Antonio, interrupting the priest at the word “custodiat,” murmured to himself “pediculos tuos,” then looked at the priest, who omitting the “animam,” in a great hurry concluded the sentence, perhaps unconsciously, “in vitam æternam. Amen.”
Surely never yet had man and his tormentors in combination so rich a blessing invoked on them.
Having finished his first course of studies at the Lyceum, early in the year 1814 Panizzi entered the University of Parma, where he kept the terms necessary to qualify him for the legal profession. In August, 1818, he obtained the Baccalaureat, with the title of “Dottor” Panizzi. The original certificate conferring this degree was taken away from him when subsequently he became involved in political troubles; but a second fully certified copy was sent to him on the 22nd of May, 1827, most probably at his own request, for about this period there was a possibility of his appointment to the chair of Italian professor at the London University.
As every detail is important to our subject, it may be mentioned here that, within a month of his obtaining his degree, he was attacked so violently by typhoid fever, that his life was for awhile despaired of.
It was Panizzi’s
