thumb|Giuseppe Montanelli
Giuseppe Montanelli (21 January 1813 – 17 June 1862) was an Italian statesman and writer.
thumb | 220x124px | right |Statue in Fucecchio
Biography
Montanelli was born at Fucecchio, then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As a boy he was an organist and composer. In 1840, he was appointed law professor at Pisa after graduating law school when he was 18.
After being liberated, Montanelli returned to Tuscany, and the grand duke Leopold II, knowing that he was popular with the masses, sent him to Livorno to quell the disturbances. In October, Leopold, much against his inclinations, asked him to form a ministry. He accepted, and on January 10, 1849, induced the grand duke to establish a national constituent assembly. But Leopold, alarmed at the turn affairs were taking, fled from Florence, and Montanelli, Guerrazzi and Mazzini were elected "triumvirs" of Tuscany. Like Mazzini, Montanelli advocated the union of Tuscany with Rome.
On the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, he returned to Tuscany and was elected a member of parliament.