Giuseppe Maffei (Rovereto, 29 November 1773 – Padua 1859)
Maffei graduated as a civil engineer at Innsbruck. He joined the Lombard sappers as a volunteer at the end of 1796, being promoted to sergeant a few days later. Promoted to second lieutenant, then to captain 1st class in the military engineers after an examination on 4 April 1798, he participated in the Italian campaigns from 1797 to 1799, being taken prisoner at Pizzighettone on 9 May 1799. After his return on 6 November 1800, he was despatched urgently to Pavia to choose accommodation for 2,000 patients, in which he liaised with the town council, administrators, the civil hospital and the war commission. On 6 May 1801 he was sent as an accounting officer for building the part of the Sempione road belonging to the Cisalpine Republic. In September he was chosen as professor of fortifications at the Modena school, a task he refused at first: «My skills and knowledge were not worthy of such an honour … I really cannot accept the post. I also lack the knowledge to train young scholars in the hard and broad-ranging subject of fortification; instead of teaching, I feel I need to learn». He was a member of the consulta of Lyon in 1802, representing the school, and afterwards was elected to the collegio dei dotti of the Panaro. On 15 May 1808 he was promoted to battalion chief subdirector. He retired from Austrian service in 1815, then moved to Padua, where he devoted himself to studying literature, being a member of a group who published their own edition of the Divine Comedy in 1822. In 1840 he was a member of the commission which designed the Milan-Venice railroad (Cf. MSA, WO 1638, 544. Rosi, Michele (ed.). 1933. Dizionario del Risorgimento nazionale. Dalle origini a Roma capitale. Fatti e persone, vol. III. Milan: Vallardi: 412-413. Canevazzi, Giovanni. 1914. La Scuola militare di Modena 1756-1914, I vol., Modena: Giovanni Ferraguti).