GIACOMO

DURANDO (1807-1894)  , Italian general and statesman, was born at Mondovi in Piedmont . He was implicated in the revolutionary movements of 1831 and 1832, after which he was obliged to take refuge abroad . He served in the Belgian army, taking part in the war of 1832, and fought in Portugal in 1833 . The following year he entered the service of Spain, when he fought in various campaigns, and was promoted colonel in 1838 . After a short stay in France he returned to Italy and identified himself with the Liberal movement; he became an active journalist, and founded a newspaper called L' Opinione in 1847 . In 1848 he was one of those who asked King Charles Albert for the constitution . On the outbreak of the war with Austria he took command of the Lombard volunteers as major-general, and in the campaign of 1849 he was aide-de-camp to the king . He was elected member of the first Piedmontese parliament and was a strenuous supporter of Cavour; during the Crimean campaign he took General La Marmora's place as war minister . In 1855 he was nominated senator, lieutenant-general in 1856, ambassador at Constantinople in 1859, and minister for foreign affairs in the Rattazzi cabinet two years later . He was president of the senate from 1884 to 1887, after which year he retired from the army . He died in 1894 . His brother, GIOVANNI DURANDO (1804-1869), was in early life driven into exile on account of his Liberal opinions .

He served in the armies of

Belgium, Portugal and Spain, distinguishing himself in many engagements . Returning to Italy on the out-break of the revolution of 1848, he was appointed commander of a division of the pontifical forces, and fought against the Austrians in Venetia until the fall of Vicenza, when he returned to Piedmont as major-general . In the campaign of 1849 he commanded the first Piedmontese division; he subsequently served in the Crimea, in the war of 1859, and in that of 1866 as commander of the I . Army Corps . In 1867 he was appointed president of the supreme military and naval tribunal .