Luigi Corti belonged to a noble and ancient Piedmontese family. Early involved with Benedetto Cairoli in anti-Austrian conspiracies, he was exiled to Turin, where he entered the Piedmontese foreign office. After serving as artillery officer through the campaign of 1848, he was in 1850 appointed secretary of legation in London. He held this post until 6 April 1864, when he was appointed resident minister to the King of Sweden and Norway. Three years later, in 1867, he was promoted envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, and went in this capacity to Madrid, where he successfully concluded a treaty with the Queen of Spain for the reciprocal extradition of criminals between the two kingdoms. In 1870 he was transferred to Washington in the same capacity, and during the six years he resided in the United States he did much to render the already amicable relations that existed between Italy and that country closer and more cordial. In recognition of his eminent services, in 1875 he was appointed ambassador to Constantinople, representing Italy at the 1876 Constantinople Conference.[2]
Called by Cairoli to the direction of foreign affairs in 1878, he represented the Kingdom of Italy in the Congress of Berlin, but unwisely declined Lord Derby's offer for an Anglo-Italian agreement in defence of common interests. At Berlin, he sustained the cause of Greek independence, but in all other respects remained isolated, and excited the wrath of his countrymen by returning to Italy with empty hands.
For a time he withdrew from public life, but in 1881 was again sent to Constantinople by Cairoli, where he presided over the futile conference of ambassadors upon the Egyptian question. In 1886, he was transferred to the London embassy but was recalled by Crispi in the following year after a misunderstanding.
^Università degli Studi di Lecce (1987). La formazione della diplomazia nazionale (1861-1915) Repertorio bio-bibliografico dei funzionari del Ministero degli Affari Esteri (in Italian). Roma: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca della Stato. pp. 215-216
Bibliography
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