Costruire e ricostruire una carriera attraverso le cesure politiche: Carlo Camillo Trompeo

This paper examines the career of the Piedmontese sub-prefect Carlo Camillo Trompeo, who was dismissed for supporting Napoleon during the Hundred Days. After participating in the Piedmontese uprisings of 1821, Trompeo became a political exile, joining the Spanish liberal movement before his eventual return to France after the 1830 July Revolution. Analysing Trompeo’s employment applications, this study reveals both typical and atypical elements of post-Napoleonic careers. On one hand, his case illustrates how political allegiances profoundly impacted professional trajectories. On the other hand, Trompeo’s 1830s applications are notable for a subtle yet significant shift in discourse: moving from a humble tone to asserting a ‘right’ to his former post, revealing an emerging change in the rhetoric of public employment.