Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla (4 December 1799, Turin, Italy - December 1885, Turin), was a liberal Italian journalist, foreign honorary member of the Romanian Academy, and secretary to the Subalpine Agrarian Association. He traveled to Transylvania and Banat on a study trip in 1830 and was an honorary citizen as a Romanian diplomat. He translated poems of the Romanian poet and playwright Vasile Alecsandri and taught a history course and Romanian literature at the University of Turin. At the Congress of Paris 1856 Vegezzi Ruscalla successfully debated in favour of Romanian independence (out of Moldavia and Wallachia).[1]