The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Rossi, Pellegrino Luigi Edoardo, Conte
(pl´´lgr´n lw´jdär´d kôn´t rôs´s) (KEY) , 17871848, Italian political leader and jurist. As a supporter of Joachim Murat, Rossi was obliged to flee Italy (1815) when Murat fell. He went first to Geneva, where he became a noted professor of law and an active politician, then to Paris (1833), where he taught at the Collège de France, became a citizen, and was raised to the peerage. Louis Philippe sent him as ambassador to the Holy See, where he favored the election of Pope Pius IX. After the upheaval (1848) in France, Rossi became president of the council in the popes first constitutional government. A moderate reformer, he was the target of both radicals and reactionaries. He was assassinated by radicals. Rossi wrote treatises on economics.