A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Bellini, Guisepa, Countess
BELLINI, GUISEPA, COUNTESS,
Was born at Novara in 1776, of one of the most noble families of Italy. She was endowed with a good understanding and great benevolence of character, which a strong sentiment of piety guided and maintained. She was married in the bloom of youth to the Count Marco Bellini, whose character and disposition entirely assimilated with hers. Crowned with all worldly advantages, they were doomed to the affliction of losing their only son. This blow was sensibly felt by the bereaved parents, who thenceforth, unable to enjoy the pleasures of society and idle diversions, resolved to seek alleviation by devoting themselves to works of beneficent utility. Already extremely opulent, a large accession of fortune enabled them to mature an idea they had planned for the public benefit; when, in 1831, death removed from the poor their friend and benefactor, the Count Bellini.
The widowed countess, remembering her husband's maxim that "the best way of assisting the poor population was by giving them the abilities to maintain themselves," took counsel with the most intelligent and experienced of her fellow-citizens, and, with the assistance of able and practical heads, planned and founded a gratuitous school for arts and trades, for the benefit of the children of both sexes of the Novarese poor. This foundation she endowed with the sum of 100,000 francs. The good work was regularly established by royal permission, and concurrence of the municipal authorities, February 9th., 1838.
The countess Bellini died in 1837.