Giovanni Fantoni

[1] Third son of Count Lodovico Antonio Fantoni and the Marquise Anna De Silva della Banditella, and therefore excluded from the hereditary axis in compliance with the law of the majorasco, he was initiated into ecclesiastical life and educated in the Benedictine monastery in Subiaco and, three years later, in the Nazarene College of Piarists in Rome; but his character intolerant of discipline and his anti-clerical spirit were not compatible with monastic life.

His father therefore decided to initiate him into a military career by sending him first among the cadets in Livorno and then in 1775 following his uncle Andrea De Silva in Turin who enrolled him in the Royal Academy and managed to get him a position as an infantry lieutenant.

Perhaps the most significant period of Giovanni Fantoni's political experience is represented by the Republican Triennium when, between 1796 and 1799, the French occupation of the Peninsula led to the formation of the sister Republics.

These new states became the main point of reference for the action of the Italian patriots, so much so that many of them went to the occupied territories to participate in the turmoil and political life of the regions; among these there was also Fantoni.

However, Labindo's involvement was not limited only to direct participation in these events; at the same time, in fact, he also carried out some activities that perhaps most of all return a clear image of his commitment and his political vision.