author
Gabriele Rossetti
1783–1854
An Italian poet and passionate political exile, he carried the turbulence of Naples into a new life in London and turned his lifelong devotion to Dante into influential scholarship. His story also sits at the beginning of one of the most remarkable literary families of the 19th century.
2 Audiobooks
Gabriele Rossetti: A Versified Autobiography
by Gabriele Rossetti
Præraphaelite diaries and letters
by Ford Madox Brown, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Gabriele Rossetti
About the author
Born in Vasto in 1783, Gabriele Rossetti became known as a poet, scholar, and political activist in Naples. He was associated with the Carbonari and supported constitutional reform, a commitment that eventually forced him into exile after the political crackdowns of the early 1820s.
After leaving Italy, he settled in London, where he built a new life as a teacher of Italian and a writer. He devoted much of his later career to studying Dante, developing bold and sometimes controversial interpretations that helped make him a notable literary figure beyond Italy.
Rossetti died in London in 1854, but his influence continued through both his own work and his family. He was the father of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and other gifted children, making him a central figure in a household that would leave a lasting mark on Victorian literature and art.