[1] Although he was ambitious and used defamatory methods of personal attack, Cavallotti's eloquent advocacy of democratic reform and apparent generosity of sentiment secured for him a popularity surpassed by that of no Italian political contemporary except Francesco Crispi.

[1] Services rendered in the cholera epidemic of 1885, his numerous lawsuits and thirty-three duels, his bitter campaign against Crispi, and his championship of French interests combined to enhance his notoriety and to increase his political influence.

By skillful alliances with the Marquis Antonio di Rudinì he more than once obtained practical control of the Italian government and exacted notable concessions to Radical demands.

[1] In 1889 he contributed to the erection of the statue of Giordano Bruno in Campo de' Fiori at Rome, a symbol of the lay struggle against the unceasing encroachment of the Holy See in Italian politics.

However, Felice Cavallotti denied being a member of the Italian Freemasonry in a letter addressed on 9 January 1875 to the director of the journal Italia Reale.