Zanardini, Giovanni Andrea Mattia (Venice, 28 November 1777 – Küstrin, 5 February 1813)
Zanardini was a Venetian cittadino originario, pupil of the Verona school; after an examination on 4 April 1798 he was commissioned as captain 1st class of the engineering corps and professor of fortification at the Modena school. He participated in the campaigns from 1799 to 1801. In 1799 he and Salimbeni had some hand mills built to make up for those damaged by insurgents at Bastiglia, Saliceta, Finale and Forte Franco. Zanardini was promoted to battalion chief on 6 October 1803 and participated in the 1805 campaign. He took part in the expedition to Dalmatia and Turkey in 1807, being decorated as a knight of the iron Crown on 19 December 1807. In the 1809 campaign he was taken prisoner in Istria. He was promoted to colonel on 14 June 1811. He worked essentially at Peschiera and the Rocca d’Anfo, and was summoned, as the sole Italian, to the central Committee of Fortifications in Paris in 1812. He asked to participate in the Russian campaign of 1812, where he was among those who built the Beresina replacement bridge, shortly after which he died of typhus (Cf. MSA, WO 1965, OR 90, Canevazzi, Giovanni. 1914. La Scuola militare di Modena 1756-1914. Modena: Giovanni Ferraguti, vol. 1: 228-229. Crociani, Piero, Virgilio Ilari and Ciro Paoletti. 2004. Storia Militare del Regno Italico (1802-1814), Rome: USSME, vol. I, t. II: 808).