Page "Giuseppe Verdi" Paragraph 5

Verdi was born the son of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, then in the Département Taro which was a part of the First French Empire after the annexation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza.

The baptismal register, on 11 October lists him as being " born yesterday ", but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October.

The next day, he was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin as Joseph Fortuninus Franciscus.

The day after that ( Tuesday ), Verdi's father took his newborn the three miles to Busseto, where the baby was recorded as Joseph Fortunin François ; the clerk wrote in French.

" So it happened that for the civil and temporal world Verdi was born a Frenchman.