born May 13, 1804, Venice
died Sept. 22, 1857, Paris, France
Italian leader of the Risorgimento in Venice.
A lawyer in the Austrian province of Venitia, Manin became a proponent of home rule and was imprisoned in 1848. He was freed following the rebellion that year and became president of the Venetian republic, reluctantly accepting union with the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the name of Italian unification. He led a heroic defense of Venice against an Austrian siege, but he was forced to surrender in 1849. Banished, he lived in Paris the rest of his life, but in 1868 his body was returned to liberated Venice for a state funeral.