Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour

Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, of Isolabella and of Leri (August 10, 1810 – June 6, 1861), generally known as Cavour (Italian: [kaˈvur]) was an Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. He was the founder of the original Liberal Party and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a position he maintained (except for a six-month resignation) throughout the Second Italian War of Independence and Garibaldi's campaigns to unite Italy. After the declaration of a united Kingdom of Italy, Cavour took office as Italy's first Prime Minister; he died after only three months in office, and thus did not live to see Venetia or Rome as part of the new Italian nation.…more