Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an
Italian poet and
novelist. He is famous for the novel
The Betrothed (orig. ) (1840), generally ranked among the masterpieces of
world literature. The novel is also a symbol of the Italian
Risorgimento, both for its patriotic message and because it was a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unified
Italian language.