Luigi Corti

Luigi Corti, born at Gambarana in 1823, studied mathematics at Pavia before entering Sardinian diplomacy. He served in the Piedmontese army during the 1848 war with Austria and then spent much of his early diplomatic career in London. After several European missions, he became Italy’s minister in Washington in 1870. ¹

Corti served as the jointly selected third commissioner on the American–British claims commission created by the Treaty of Washington. When it organized in September 1871, his fellow commissioners elected him to preside, and he continued in that role throughout its work. The tribunal examined private claims arising from the Civil War period. Its decisions included rejection of all nineteen American claims against Britain. ²

Transferred to Constantinople in 1875, Corti acquired experience of the Eastern Question before becoming foreign minister and Italy’s representative at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. He sought peace and stability rather than territorial compensation, a policy that drew fierce criticism at home when other powers gained advantages. He resigned later that year. ¹

Corti returned to Constantinople and later to London. His final years included work on Mediterranean arrangements, but Crispi recalled him in 1887 and placed him in retirement. He died in Rome the following February. ¹