Editing Alessandro Manzoni (section)

==Early life==
Manzoni was born in [[Milan]], Italy, on 7 March 1785. Pietro, his father, aged about fifty, belonged to an old family of [[Lecco]], originally feudal lords of [[Barzio]], in the [[Valsassina]]. However, his biological father was likely the illuminist [[Giovanni Verri]], brother of the influential writer [[Pietro Verri]]. The poet's maternal grandfather, [[Cesare Beccaria]], was a well-known author and philosopher, and his mother Giulia had literary talent as well.<ref name=EB1911/> The young Alessandro spent his first two years in ''[[Cascina a corte|cascina]] Costa'' in [[Galbiate]] and he was wet-nursed by Caterina Panzeri, as attested by a memorial tablet affixed in the place. In 1792 his parents broke their marriage<ref name="britannica" /> and his mother began a relationship with the writer [[Carlo Imbonati]], moving to England and later to Paris. For this reason, Alessandro was brought up in several religious institutions.

Manzoni was a slow developer, and at the various colleges he attended he was considered a [[dunce]]. At fifteen, however, he developed a passion for poetry and wrote two [[sonnet]]s of considerable merit. Upon the death of his father in 1807, he joined the freethinking household of his mother at [[Auteuil, Seine|Auteuil]], and spent two years mixing with the literary set of the so-called "[[ideologue]]s", philosophers of the 18th-century school, among whom he made many friends, notably [[Claude Charles Fauriel]]. At Auteuil, he developed a lifelong interest in [[liberalism]]. He was even supposed to marry the daughter of [[Antoine Destutt de Tracy]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last=Mingardi|first=Alberto|year=2020|title=A Lesson in Humility, a Lesson for Our Times. Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed|url=https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=1549|journal=The Independent Review|pages=369–384|issn=1086-1653}}</ref> There too he imbibed the anti-Catholic creed of [[Voltaire|Voltairianism]].

In 1806–1807, while at Auteuil, he first appeared before the public as a poet, with two works, one entitled ''Urania'', in the classical style, of which he became later the most conspicuous adversary, the other an elegy in [[blank verse]], on the death of Count Carlo Imbonati, from whom, through his mother, he inherited considerable property, including the villa of Brusuglio, thenceforth his principal residence.