Emilio Faà di Bruno
Emilio Faà di Bruno (7 March 1820 – 20 July 1866) was an Italian naval officer who helped unite Italy and build the Royal Italian Navy. He was born in Alessandria in the Kingdom of Sardinia into a noble family; his brothers included the missionary Giuseppe and the mathematician Francesco. He joined the Genoa Naval Academy and first sailed on the frigate Des Geneys. He rose through the ranks, becoming ensign in 1837 and ensign first class in 1839.
As a lieutenant, Faà di Bruno fought in the First Italian War of Independence against Austria (1848–49). He served on the corvette Malfatano and the frigate San Michele in the Adriatic, taking part in operations near the Piave and Tagliamento rivers and in the blockade of Trieste. After the war he briefly retired for family reasons, but was recalled as naval attaché to the Sardinian embassy in London. There he met and married Agnes Huddleston on 29 October 1851.
During the Second Italian War of Independence, he distinguished himself at the Siege of Gaeta (1860) and earned the knighthood of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. He was promoted to frigate captain and given command of the steam corvette San Giovanni.
In early 1863 he sailed from Genoa for Philadelphia, arriving in May, where he inspected the ironclad Re d’Italia then being built for the Italian navy. He then went to New Orleans, attempted to navigate the shallow Mississippi, and then continued to Canada, where the San Giovanni became the first Italian ship to enter Baffin Bay. He later journeyed to Rio de Janeiro, staying there for months to support the Italian community. In 1865 he commanded the steam corvette Castelfidardo and worked with Admiral Giovanni Vacca to strengthen the navy. He was sent to Tunisia, where he helped resolve trade disputes between Italian and Tunisian fishermen and earned a decoration from the Bey Muhammad III as-Sadiq.
Faà di Bruno was promoted to captain and was ordered to command the Re d’Italia, the same ship he had inspected in the United States. In May 1866, at the start of the Third Italian War of Independence, he joined the fleet at Taranto and then moved toward Ancona. The Re d’Italia suffered a minor coal fire during the voyage. On 20 July 1866, as the Italian fleet bombarded the forts of Lissa, Admiral Persano transferred his flag to the Affondatore and Faà di Bruno’s unit—the center of the line including the Re d’Italia—came under heavy attack. The Re d’Italia’s rudder was hit and immobilized; it was rammed by the Austrian ship Erzherzog Ferdinand Max and sank quickly. There are conflicting accounts of Faà di Bruno’s death: some say he shot himself, others say he jumped into the sea but was dragged down with the sinking ship. Many historians fault Persano for the wider disaster, but Faà di Bruno’s decision to reverse course at a sight of the enemy also helped seal the ship’s fate.
On 15 August 1867, the Italian government awarded Faà di Bruno a Gold Medal of Military Valour for his conduct at Lissa. In his memory, three vessels later bore his name.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:50 (CET).