Gabriele Rossetti
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Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti (28 February 1783 – 24 April 1854) was an Italian poet and scholar who emigrated to England.
Born in Vasto in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, his support for Italian revolutionary nationalism forced him into political exile in 1821, and he lived in Malta for three years before settling in London in 1824. He held the post of Professor of Italian at King's College London from 1831, as well as teaching Italian at King's College School, until failing eyesight led to his retirement in 1847.
His published works include literary criticism, Romantic poetry such as his long poem Il veggente in solitudine of 1846, and his Autobiography.
He is thought to be the basis of the character Pesca in Wilkie Collins' 1860 novel The Woman in White.
He married Frances Polidori, daughter of another Italian exile Gaetano Polidori, and they had four children:
