FOSCOLO, UGO (1778-1827), Italian writer, was born at Zante in the Ionian Isles on Jan. 26, 1778. At the university of Padua one of his teachers was the abbe Cesarotti, author of a version of Ossian, who had some influence on Foscolo's literary tastes; his own early knowledge of modern Greek aided his studies in ancient Greek. Foscolo soon began to take an active part in the stormy political discussions provoked by the fall of the republic of Venice. He was a prominent member of the national com mittees, and addressed an ode to Napoleon the liberator, expect ing the overthrow of the effete Venetian oligarchy, and the estab lishment of a free republican government.
The treaty of Campo Formio (Oct. 17, 1797), by which Napo leon handed Venice over to the Austrians, gave Foscolo a rude shock, reflected in the Letters of Jacopo Ortis (1798), a species of political Werther—for the hero of Foscolo embodies the mental sufferings and suicide of a disillusioned Italian patriot. Still hop ing that his country would be freed by Napoleon, he served as a volunteer in the French army, took part in the battle of the Trebbia and the siege of Genoa, was wounded and made prisoner. When released he returned to Milan, and there gave the last touches to his Ortis, published a translation of and commentary upon Callimachus, commenced a version of the Iliad, and began his translation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey. In 1807 appeared his Carme sui sepolcri; the mighty dead are summoned from their tombs, as ages before they had been in the masterpieces of Greek oratory, to fight again the battles of their country. The apos trophe to Florence in this poem is among the famous passages in Italian poetry. In his inaugural lecture on the origin and duty of literature, delivered in Jan. 1809 when he was appointed to the chair of Italian eloquence at Pavia, Foscolo urged his young countrymen to study letters, not in obedience to academic tradi tions, but in their relation to individual and national life and growth. Soon afterward Napoleon decreed the abolition of the chair of national eloquence in all the Italian universities. The supposed allusions to Napoleon in his tragedy of Aiace brought suspicion on the author; and he removed for safety to Florence. There he wrote the faultlessly constructed tragedy of Ricciarda, the Ode to the Graces, left unfinished, and completed his version of the Sentimental Journey (1813). He returned to Milan in 1813, until the entry of the Austrians; thence he passed into Switzerland, where he wrote a fierce satire in Latin on his polit ical and literary opponents; and finally he sought refuge in England at the close of 1816.
During the eleven years passed by Foscolo in London, he con tributed to the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, wrote disserta tions in Italian on the text of Dante and Boccaccio, and English essays on Petrarch. He was at one time in prison for debt in London, and the experience embittered him. He died at Turnham Green, London, on Oct. to, 182 7. Forty-four years after his death, in 1871, his remains were removed to Florence, and re interred, with much ceremony in the church of Santa Croce. To that solemn national tribute Foscolo was fully entitled. For the originality of his thoughts and the splendour of his diction his country honours him as a great classic author. With all his defects of character, and through all his vicissitudes of fortune, he was always a sincere and .courageous patriot.
His works were edited by F. Le Monnier (Florence 1854-1862) . For detailed bibliography of his works see A. Ottolini, Bibliografia Foscoliana (Florence 1921). For his life see biographies by G. Chiarini (Florence, 191o), and by E. Donadoni (Milan, 191o) ; also A. Graf, Foscolo, Mazoni, Leopardi (1898, new ed. 1924-25).