O vetusta Signora del mondo:
Sorgi, sorgi dal sonno profondo,
Io son l'alba del nuovo tuo dì.

Saran rotte le vostre catene,
O Fratelli che in ceppi languite;
O Fratelli che il giogo soffrite
Calcherete quel giogo col piè.

The child beside whose cradle the ode was written, was to grow to
manhood while Italy still remained 'the weeping, desolate mother.' The
cry of the poet was not, however, without an echo. In 1831, Romagna,
Parma and Modena rose in rebellion.

Things had been going, without much variation, from bad to worse in
the Roman states, ever since 1815. Pius VII. (Chiaramonti), who died
in 1823, was succeeded by Leo XII. (Genga), an old man who was in such
enfeebled health that his death was expected at the time of his
election, but, like a more famous pontiff, he made a sudden recovery,
which was attributed to the act of a prelate, who, in prayer, offered
his own life for the Pope's, and who died a few days after resolving
on the sacrifice. During this Pope's reign, the smallpox was rife in
Rome, in consequence of the suppression of public vaccination. The
next conclave, held in 1829, resulted in the election of Pius VIII.
(Castiglioni da Cingoli), who died on the 30th of November 1830, and
was followed by Gregory XVI. (Cappellari). In each conclave, Austria
had secured the choice of a 'Zealot,' as the party afterwards called
Ultramontane was then designated. The last traces of reforms
introduced by the French disappeared; criminal justice was again
administered in secret; the police were arbitrary and irresponsible.