Detail of Pietro Verri monument in Milan.

Pietro Verri (December 12, 1728 - June 28, 1797) was an Italian philosopher, economist, historian and writer. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1728 ( MDCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 1797 ( MDCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language An economist is an expert in the Social science of Economics. See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it

Biography

Born in Milan, the under Austrian rule, to a conservative noble family, he received a strongly religious education, from which he began to rebel when he reached his twenties. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. For the history of these states before 1804 see Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, and articles on each of the component countries. Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime He volunteered to serve in the Seven Years' War in order to escape his father's decision to register him for legal studies, but quit after a year. The Seven Years' War (1756&ndash1763 involved all of the major European powers of the period causing 900000 to 1400000 deaths In his early life he translated Destouches' works (1754) and wrote satirical almanacs (Borlanda impasticciata, Gran Zoroastro and Mal di Milza) which scandalized the Milanese society. In 1761, together with his brother Alessandro, he founded a literary association, the Società dei Pugni ("Society of the Fists"), and, from 1764, published the magazine Il Caffè ("The Coffeehouse"), where some 40 articles by him on various subjects appeared and which became an important reference on Enlightenment Milan. Alessandro Verri ( November 9 1741 - September 23 1816) was an Italian author The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Other figures who wrote on it include his brother Alessandro, the famous philosopher Cesare Beccaria, Alfonso Longo and Pietro Secchi. Beccaria redirects here This article is about the philosopher and politician

In 1764 he also entered the public administration, where he distinguished for his reforming attitudes: in particular, he proposed the abolition of the exaction of taxes through intermediaries. After a documented Bilance on the Commerce of the State of Milan, in 1769 Verri published one of his most notable works, the Elementi del Commercio ("Elements of Commerce"), inspired by a wide interpretation of liberalism in commerce. Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal This was followed by the Meditazioni di economia politica ("Meditations on Economic Politics", 1771), where he enunciated the laws regulating supply and demand (also in mathematical form), explained the role of money as "universal good", and supported laissez-faire in trade, arguing that balance of payments equilibrium is achieved by GDP adjustments rather than by exchange rate adjustments; as such, he was a precursor of both Adam Smith and marginalism. Supply and demand is an Economic model describing effects on price and quantity in a Market. Money is anything that is generally accepted as Payment for Goods and services and repayment of Debts. Laissez-faire ( pronunciation: French,; English,) is a French phrase literally meaning Let do (“allow to do” Trade is the willing exchange of goods, services, or both Trade is also called Commerce. In Economics, the balance of payments, (or BOP) measures the Payments that flow between any individual Country and all other countries Adam Smith ( baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of Political economy. Marginalism is the use of Marginal concepts within Economics.

As resistance against his reforming work in administration stiffened, Verri devoted himself increasingly to philosophy. In 1773 he wrote Dell'indole del piacere e del dolore ("Discourse on Pleasure and Pain"), followed in 1777 by Osservazioni sulla tortura ("Observations on Torture"), in which he stressed the uselessness and cruelty of torture. Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally

In 1777 he began the Storia di Milano ("History of Milan", two volumes, 1783 and 1798), a notable example of Enlightenment historiography. The ecclesiastical reforms of Joseph II of Austria inspired him the Dialogo fra Pio VI e Giuseppe II a Vienna ("Dialogue between Pius VI and Joseph II in Vienna", 1782), followed by La Decadenza del Papa ("The Pope's Decay"), marked by his disappointment for the lack of influence of Enlightenment's ideas on the Papacy. Heir and co-regent Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Joseph II's increasing despotism led Verri to abandon any position in the Austrian administration of Lombardy in 1786; ten years later, after the French invasion, he returned as member of the Milanese municipality and was one of the founders of the Cisalpine Republic. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The Cisalpine Republic ( Repubblica Cisalpina) was a French client republic in Northern Italy that lasted from 1797 to 1802. Though disapproving the Jacobin excesses, Verri however welcomed the possibility of moral and economical improvement in the aftermath of the French Revolution, which he considered influenced in turn by the Enlightenment movement. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an

Also notable is his correspondence with his brother Alessandro.

Verri died in Milan in 1797.

The younger brother of Alessandro Verri and Pietro Verri, Giovanni Verri, is supposed to be the natural father of the noted Italian novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni. Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni ( March 7, 1785 May 22, 1873) was an Italian Poet and Novelist. Their other brother, Carlo, was also a politician. Carlo Verri (1743 - 1823 was an Italian politician Born in Milan, he was the brother of literates Alessandro and Pietro Verri.