Adhesion to democratic ideals
Foscolo's adhesion to libertarian views probably dates back to the first years of his stay in Venice; already in 1795 he inserted compositions, which were subsequently lost, that revealed an undeniable interest in political issues, such as Ai Regnanti, La Patria, All’Italia (To the Rulers, The Homeland, To Italy. Letter to Gaetano Fornasini, Venice August 29 1795, Ep. I, p. 16) alongside odd, mundane poems in a booklet of odes that was meant to have been dedicated to Alfieri and was prepared for print but never published. The intervention of the Venetian Inquisition, which recommended various corrections and effectively impeded the booklet's publication, confirms that there were texts with subversive contents.
Foscolo's political choices were also probably influenced by his friendship with the Young Brescians who followed Melchiorre Cesarotti's lectures that were critical of the Aristocratic Venetian government. Furthermore, works such as Jean Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract and texts by authors such as Montesquieu, Alfieri and Raynal addressing political issues were among the readings listed in that period in the Piano di Studi. The tragedy Tieste, represented on January 4 1797, shows a willingness to play a part via a work with strongly libertarian contents in a moment of great international tension.
The descent of the Bonaparte-led French into Italy in 1796 started the Republican Triennium. In the summer of the same year Foscolo, who had come to be suspected by the Venetian Inquisition, was forced to leave Venice and take refuge at Ceriole di Teolo in the Colli Euganei hills. But by that time the advance of the French was unstoppable: when Bologna was liberated, Foscolo went there in April 1797 and enrolled as a volunteer in the Cacciatori a Cavallo (Cavalry) squadron. The most significant political work of this period was published in Bologna, the ode A Bonaparte Liberatore. On May 12 Venice was also occupied by the French and Foscolo returned there to put himself at the service of the democratic forces.
