PELLICO, SILVIO (1788-1854), Italian dramatist, was born at Saluzzo, Piedmont, on June 24, 1788. At the age of ten he composed a tragedy under the inspiration of Caesarotti's trans lation of Ossian. His tragedy Francesca da Rimini, was brought out with success by Carlotta Marchionni at Milan in 1818 (Eng. trs. 1915). The representation of his next tragedy Eufemio da Messina, was forbidden. Pellico attempted to weaken the hold of the Austrian despotism by indirect educational means. He acted as secretary to the powerful literary executive which gath ered about Counts Porro and Confalonieri, the management of the Conciliatore, which appeared in 1818-19 as the organ of the association, resting largely upon him. In 1820 Pellico was arrested on the charge of carbonarism and after his removal to the Piombi at Venice in 1821, he composed several Cantiche and the tragedies Ester d'Engaddi (Eng. trs. 1836) and Iginia d'Asti. The sentence of death pronounced on him in Feb. 1822 was commuted to fif teen years carcere duro, and in the following April he was placed in the Spielberg at Briinn. Here he composed the tragedy Leoniero
da Dertona, for the preservation of which he was compelled to rely on his memory. After his release in 1830 Ester was played at Turin in 1831, but immediately suppressed. In 1832 appeared his Tre nuovi tragedie, and the famous Le Mie prigioni (Eng. trs. 1915), an account of his sufferings in prison. In 1834 the Marchesa di Barolo, the reformer of the Turin prisons, bestowed on him a yearly pension of 1200 francs and in 1838 gave him a home in her palace. His tragedy Tommaso Moro appeared in 1833 and his Opere in 1837. He died on Jan. 31, 1854. The simple and naïve egotism of Le Mie prigioni established his fame.
See Piero Maroncelli, Addizioni alle mie prigioni (1834) ; G. Briano Della Vita e delle Opere di S. Pellico (1854) ; P. Giuria: S. Pellico e it suo tempo (1854) and A. Gustarelli: La Vita, "Le Mie Prigioni" e di Pellico. Saggio Biografico-critico (Florence 1917).