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The Carbonari ("coal-burners") were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th century Italy, and instrumental in organising revolution in Italy in 1820 and 1848.
They were organised in the fashion of Freemasonry, broken into small cells scattered across Italy. Idealistically, they sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy through spontaneous rebellion by the working class, led by university students and intellectuals. Silvio Pellico(1788-1854) and Pietro Maroncelli (1795 - 1846) were prominent members of the Carbonari; both were imprisoned by Austrians for long years, many of which they spent in Spielberg fortress in Brno, Southern Moravia. After his release, Pellico wrote a book Le mie prigioni, describing in detail his ten years long ordeal. Maroncelli lost one leg in prison and was instrumental in translating and editing of Pellico's book in Paris (1833). The revolutions were put down by the French under Louis Napoleon III and by the Austrian Hapsburgs, who sought to maintain their significant power in Italy (Venice and Milan were both part of the Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was ruled by a Bourbon monarch much influenced by the French government). The failure of the revolutions showed that unification would not be achieved by idealism but by realpolitik. In 1867 the unification of Italy was completed under Count Cavour of Piedmont-Sardinia.
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