Early Life in Italy
Panizzi was born in Brescello in the province of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and obtained a degree in law from the University of Parma in 1818. In Parma, it is likely that he joined one of the secret patriotic societies which aimed to unite Italy as an independent country. Reggio Emilia was then ruled by Francesco IV, the Duke of Modena. Panizzi then returned to Brescello where he practiced law and in 1821 became inspector of the town's schools.
In 1820, following a short lived revolution in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Francesco IV started to arrest and jail suspected patriots on trumped-up, flimsy charges. When in May 1822 the Duchy's Chief of Police, Giulio Besini, was assassinated, the tempo of arrests picked up, many were convicted, and a priest executed. Panizzi, tipped off that he also faced arrest and trial as a subversive, fled to Switzerland, where in 1823 he wrote and published a book decrying the repressive regime and trials against citizens of the Duchy of Modena. Following the book's publication, he was indicted, tried, and condemned to death in absentia in Modena, and pressure was brought to have him expelled from Switzerland.
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