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Born in Bergamo, Italy, in 1779, Giacomo Costantino Beltrami rose through the ranks of the Napoleonic judicial system at an unusually quick pace, becoming at the young age of 29 Giudice della Corte del Dipartamento del Musone in 1809. Along the way, he gathered not only a sizable fortune, but also a liberalized view of European politics and decidedly independence-minded beliefs about his native Italy, a hitherto splintered nation bandied about by a succession of empires (including Napoleon himself). With the final fall of Napoleon in 1815, he withdrew from his life as judge and turned to his farm and estate in Le Marche, the Azienda Agricola Beltrami. But Beltrami's activities in the French government administration and his liberal leanings had attracted the attention of the papal government in Rome -- who had newly reacquired Le Marche in 1815 -- and the former judge found himself on the other side of the docket, accused of being a member of the Carbonari, a group of independence seekers grown from Masonic ties which Beltrami himself held dear. For the next two years he fought to clear his name, bringing to bear in his defense not only his legal skills, but also his formidable social connections.