Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta (22 January 182924 November 1914) was an Italian statesman. He is one of the longest-serving Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the history of Italy. Biography Visconti-Venosta was born at Milan, in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. He studied jurisprudence in Pavia's university. A disciple of Mazzini, he took part in all the anti-Austrian conspiracies until the ineffectual rising at Milan on 6 February 1853, of which he had foretold the failure, induced him to renounce his Mazzinian allegiance. Continuing, nevertheless, his anti-Austrian propaganda, he rendered good service to the national cause, but being molested by the Austrian police, was obliged in 1859 to escape to Turin, and during the war with Austria of that year was appointed by Cavour royal commissioner with the Garibaldian forces. Elected deputy in 1860, he accompanied Luigi Carlo Farini on diplomatic missions to Modena and Naples, and was subsequently despatched to London and Paris to acquaint the British and French governments with the course of events in Italy. As a recompense for the tact displayed on this occasion, he was given by Cavour a permanent appointment in the Italian foreign office, and was subsequently appointed under-secretary of state by Count Pasolini. Upon the latter's death he became minister of foreign affairs (March 24, 1863) in the Minghetti cabinet, in which capacity he negotiated the September Convention for the evacuation of Rome by the French troops. Resigning office with Minghetti in the autumn of 1864, he was in March 1866 sent by la Marmora as minister to Constantinople, but was almost immediately recalled and reappointed foreign minister by Ricasoli. Assuming office on the morrow of the Italian defeat at Custoza, he succeeded in preventing Austria from burdening Italy with a proportion of the Austrian imperial debt, in addition to the Venetian debt proper. The fall of Ricasoli in February 1867 deprived him for a time of his office, but in December 1869 he entered the Lanza-Sella cabinet as foreign minister, and retained his portfolio in the succeeding Minghetti cabinet until the fall of the Right in 1876. During this long period he was called upon to conduct the delicate negotiations connected with the Franco-German War, the occupation of Rome by the Italians, and the consequent destruction of the temporal power of the Pope, the Law of Guarantees and the visits of Victor Emmanuel II to Vienna and Berlin. Upon the occasion of his marriage