Antonio Durini

Antonio Durini, 7th Count of Monza (6 June 1770 – 16 April 1850) was an Italian noble and politician. He was born in and was the first mayor of Milan.

Biography

A member of the ancient noble family of Durini, counts of Monza, and son of Gian Giacomo II Durini, IV count of Monza, Antonio was born in Milan on June 6, 1770. Initiated to an ecclesiastical and diplomatic career like several other members of his lineage, he studied in Rome, where he took his vows, and was appointed 26-year-old governor of Città di Castello. Shortly after assuming his office, however, Napoleon's armies invaded the Church State, deposing the old authorities.

Returning then to Milan, with unscrupulous transformism he shed his priestly robes and declared himself a republican. He then began a political career in the Cisalpine Republic so that, the Kingdom of Italy having been proclaimed in the meantime, he was appointed Podestà of Milan in 1807, a position he held until the return of the Austrians in 1814, when he unsuccessfully tried to save the life of his friend Minister Giuseppe Prina, to whom he gave burial.

Antonio was able to skillfully integrate himself within the new Habsburg regime thanks to his influential friendships among the Milanese nobles, who appreciated his stability and efficiency. Thus it was that, in 1827, the new rulers also reappointed him to the office of Podestà, which he held for ten years until 1837, before finally retiring from public life in 1843. Count Antonio Durini had married on March 5, 1808 Donna Giuseppina Casati, sister of Teresa Casati, wife of Count Federico Confalonieri. Before his death, he saw his sons Alessandro and Carlo fight during the Five Days of 1848.

He died on April 16, 1850.

References

• Marchesi, G. B. (1903). "Il Podestà di Milano: Conte Antonio Durini," Archivio storico lombardo, Vol. XX, pp. 138–76.
• Raponi, Nicola (1993). "Durini, Antonio." In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 42. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.

External links

Preceded by New office	Rector of Milan 1807–1814	Succeeded by Giovanni Cesare Giulini Della Porta
Preceded by Carlo Villa	Rector of Milan 1827–1837	Succeeded by Gabrio Casati