Cesare Cantù (1804–95)

Italian historian and poet. Educated in Milan, became a schoolteacher in Sondrio, 1821, and Milan, 1832. Arrested for publishing his liberal opinions and imprisoned, 1833–4; subsequently unable to teach, he became a successful writer. Avoided arrest during the revolution in Milan by escaping to Turin; spent time in exile in Switzerland and Piedmont, 1848. Became a politician in newly independent Italy, 1860–7. Director of the Milan archives, 1873; founded Archivio Storico Lombardo in 1874.