Contro le «leggi gesuitiche e austriache». Bernardino Zendrini alunno del Ghislieri, l’Apologia e la dissertazione su Religione e Stato

The contribution reconstructs the political and intellectual formation of Bernardino Zendrini (1839-1879) during his university years in Pavia (1857-1861). As a boarder at the Collegio Ghislieri, he played a significant – albeit incidental – role in the institution’s secularisation, which aligned with the early policies of the unified Italian state. Inclined to poetic exaltation of patriotic ideals and of himself, Zendrini was expelled from the College for having openly challenged the authority of its last Habsburg-era rector, Abbot Antonio Leonardi. His Apologia (1860) championed a highly personal vision of liberty, set in opposition to the perceived authoritarianism of «Jesuitical and Austrian» rule. Zendrini’s views on freedom of conscience were further articulated in his graduation dissertation, Religion and the State, which drew inspiration from the ideas of Ausonio Franchi. In it, Zendrini presented religious freedom as the cornerstone of civil progress and, in keeping with contemporary trends, advocated for the separation of Church and State.