Carlo Botta

Born in San Giorgio Canavese in 1766, Carlo Botta studied medicine at the University of Turin before becoming known more widely as a writer and historian. He lived through the political upheavals of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and his career was shaped by both public life and periods of exile.

Botta is remembered chiefly for his historical works, especially his writings on Italy and on the American War of Independence. Readers have long valued him for turning major political events into lively narrative history, often with the perspective of someone who had watched revolutionary change unfold in his own lifetime.

He died in 1837. Today he is generally seen as one of the notable Italian historians of his era, a writer whose books connected literary style with a strong interest in national history and political change.