disruptions created by industrialization went unaddressed, had narrow appeal. Rossi attempts to mediate reform, were blocked by the reactionary clerical party, and rebuffed as paltry by the rising revolutionary sentiment. In addition, the notion of a united Italy as a federation, kingdom, or republic was proposed by the diverse forces; however some of these ideas clearly threatened the temporal power of various rulers. On 15 November 1848, Rossi was going to preside of the opening of the Parliament in the Palazzo della Cancelleria. After exiting his carriage and walking towards the entrance, he was killed by an assassin who stabbed him in the neck. The pope seeing the inevitable imposition of democracy for his state, fled from Rome, and leading to the proclamation of the Roman Republic. The murderer was said to be Luigi Brunetti, the elder son of Angelo Brunetti (or Ciceruacchio), who acted at the instigation of Pietro Sterbini, and with the cooperation of some veterans or reduci of the conflict in Lombardy. After the murder, the senate adjourned without much sorrow, and little to no attention to the murder victim. That night crowds at the house of Rossi's widow chanted Blessed is the hand that stabbed the Rossi. Sterbini went on to play a prominent role in the Roman Republic in 1849, but fled into exile after its fall, until 1861. In a trial held in 1854, a man by the name of Gabriele Constantini was convicted and executed. The city of Carrara erected a statue in honor of Pellegrino Rossi. Selected works Cours d'économie politique (1838–54) Traité de droit pénal (1829) Cours de droit constitutionnel (1866–67) Melanges d'économie politique, d'histoire et de philosophie (1857, 2 volumes) References Claudio Rendina, Enciclopedia di Roma, Newton Compton, Rome, 1994 1787 births 1848 deaths Deaths by stabbing in Rome People from Carrara University of Pavia alumni University of Bologna alumni Italian economists Italian politicians Italian emigrants to France Naturalized citizens of France Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy People of the Revolutions of 1848 History of the Papal States Italian people of the Italian unification Assassinated Italian politicians Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Burials at San Lorenzo in Damaso