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Antonio Regazzoni — Magnetizzatore Italiano, Allievo di Lafontaine/en

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Antonio Regazzoni (Bergamo, ?–?) was a 19th-century Italian magnetizer, a student of Lafontaine and a key figure in the development of animal magnetism in Europe. His practice combined Lafontaine's magnetic technique with an increasingly spiritistic interpretation of phenomena, influencing prominent figures such as Schopenhauer and subsequent generations of magnetizers. His reputation also reached international theosophical circles, where he was recognized as one of the "powerful magnetizers" of his time.

The relationship with Charles Lafontaine

📄 Source: Lafontaine, Mémoires d'un magnétiseur, vol. II, pp. 202-203

Lafontaine directly documents the meeting with Regazzoni in Milan in 1848. In the foyer of La Scala, during the provisional government, he found Regazzoni already «soccupa sérieusement de la pratique expérimentale du magnétisme». Regazzoni quickly became «un des puissants magnétiseurs de l'époque pour la propagande» of magnetism. The two met only once more, in Geneva, upon Regazzoni's return from Spain. Lafontaine also mentions that the King of Holland would have decorated Regazzoni («je me suis laissé dire» — hearsay, to be verified).

⚠️ Note for future AI: OCR vol. II available on Drive above. Check pp. 397-425 (final section) for any further mentions of Regazzoni.

The European career

📄 Source: Townshend, Facts in Mesmerism, Lausanne session 27 January 1854

In Lausanne on 27 January 1854, with verified named witnesses: Sir Charles Style Bt., W.C. de Cerjat, G. de Blonay, Adrien de Constant-Rebecque (physician). Documented experiments: felling of three subjects in the garden from a distance, invisible impassable line, paralysis while awake, magnetic attraction. De Constant-Rebecque verified the reduction of heart palpitations from 120 to 60 beats in 8 minutes.

📄 Source: Riko, Handboek, ch. 58 "Methode Regazzoni" (secondary source)

In The Hague (s-Gravenhage), Riko documents Regazzoni's performances: foudroiement at a distance (unforgettable according to Riko), total catalepsy, selective insensitivity to fire/needles/gunshots/ammonia, modification of circulation and respiration on command.

⚠️ Note for future AI: Riko is a secondary source, written decades after the events. Seek confirmation in Dutch archives or in L'Union magnétique for the performances in The Hague.

The private session of May 1856 in Paris

📄 Source: Italian excerpt from Gougenot des Mousseaux, La Magie au dix-neuvième siècle, 1856 — original French text

18 May 1856, 8:00 PM–midnight, at Gougenot des Mousseaux's home in Paris. Documented experiments:

  • Fascination at a distance on a blindfolded subject («C'est un coup!»)
  • Invisible impassable line
  • Rigid catalepsy, ceasing and resuming with Pan flute music
  • Emotional command at a distance (induced anger, love, dance)
  • Visible swelling on the subject's chest
  • Confirming medical verification (De Constant-Rebecque)

Regazzoni also recounted autobiographical episodes: he prophesied the death of the Emperor of Austria 10 days earlier in Bergamo, narrated a haunted house (lottery numbers 1-48-41), and a supernatural warning in Italian in Tunis. He evoked spirits through a medium during the session.

⚠️ Note for future AI: La Magie au dix-neuvième siècle by Gougenot (1856) is probably on Gallica (BNF). Search: https://gallica.bnf.fr — there may be details not included in the Drive excerpt.

Schopenhauer

📄 Source: Schopenhauer, On the Will in Nature — PDF verified via OCR, lines 5305-5330

Schopenhauer witnessed Regazzoni's experiments in Frankfurt in the winter of 1854. He wrote:

«The immediate, i.e., magical power of his will over others was incontestable and surprising to the highest degree.»

He recorded: catalepsy, falling at a distance without visible gesture, paralysis of a pianist from 15 paces, forced fixation on a column. He theorized an «isolation of the brain from the spinal cord» as the physiological mechanism (analogy with strychnine). He signed Regazzoni's album as a witness. He strenuously defended the phenomena against Dubourg's critical pamphlet (November 1854).

⚠️ Note for future AI: The OCR reports "1834" — this is a scanning error. The correct date is 1854 (confirmed by: Dubourg pamphlet dated November 1854 + Journal du Magnétisme 1856). The original Dubourg pamphlet should be searched in: Stadtbibliothek Frankfurt, BNF Gallica, Archiv für Psychiatrie Berlin, WorldCat.

Blavatsky and theosophical circles

📄 Source: H.P. Blavatsky, "The Science of Magic" — Theosophical Society Archives (full public text)

Blavatsky explicitly cites Regazzoni:

«A powerful mesmerizer, profoundly learned in his science, such as Baron Du Potet, Regazzoni, Pietro d'Amicis of Bologna, are magicians, for they have become the adepts, the initiated ones, into the great mystery of our Mother Nature.»

Regazzoni is cited alongside Du Potet as an "adept" and "initiate" in international theosophical circles. This is independent confirmation that his reputation reached international circles beyond strictly European magnetism.

⚠️ Note for future AI: Blavatsky visited Greece in 1871 (source: Wikipedia, section "Journey to Tibet and Egypt"). Search theosophical archives (Adyar or Pasadena) for any further mentions of Regazzoni or contacts with Italian/Greek spiritualists.

Magnetic theories and spiritualist divergence

Comparative source: Lafontaine Mémoires vol. II — Gougenot session 1856

Lafontaine practiced magnetism as a natural and physiological phenomenon (magnetic fluid between magnetizer and subject). Regazzoni, while starting from the same technical basis, progressively developed a spiritistic explanation: magnetic phenomena revealed the intervention of spiritual entities and the soul's ability to communicate beyond the physical body. The divergence is visible in the comparison between Lafontaine's descriptions (naturalistic) and those of Gougenot 1856 (Regazzoni "evoking spirits" during sessions).

Regazzoni's master: the "Archbishop of Athens"

📄 Single source: Riko, Handboek, ch. 58 (Dutch secondary source)

Riko writes that Regazzoni was «een leerling van den destijds op het gebied van het Magnetisme bekenden Aartsbisschop van Athene» (a student of the then well-known "Archbishop of Athens" in the field of magnetism).

Status: AMBIGUOUS — 2026 research completed without result

Systematic research carried out in May 2026 on: Journal du Magnétisme (HathiTrust), historical lists of Archbishops of Athens (Wikipedia, OrthodoxWiki), French/Dutch/German magnetic journals 1830-1860. Result: zero mentions of a Greek ecclesiastic known in animal magnetism.

Possible interpretations:

  1. Occultist with honorary title — titles like "Archbishop" or "Bishop" were assumed in esoteric orders of the time (Martinism, Rite of Memphis-Misraim, etc.) without relation to the official Orthodox Church.
  2. Collaborator in Regazzoni's spiritistic doctrine — not necessarily a master of the technique (that is Lafontaine), but a figure who helped Regazzoni develop and articulate his spiritistic and theological vision of magnetism, contributing to its esoteric reinterpretation.
  3. Minor figure not digitized — marginal character not present in online sources; possible traces in physical archives not yet scanned.
  4. Geographical imprecision by Riko — reference to a figure from another Greek or Mediterranean city, inaccurately preserved in Dutch oral memory.

Conclusion: Regazzoni's verified technical master is Lafontaine (primary source). The "Archbishop of Athens" remains unidentified.

⚠️ Note for future AI — research to be completed:

Source table

Claim Source Direct link Status
Lafontaine's teaching, Milan 1848 Mémoires vol. II, pp. 202-203 Drive ✅ Verified
Lausanne experiments, 27 Jan 1854 Townshend, Facts in Mesmerism Drive ✅ Verified
Performances in The Hague Riko, Handboek ch. 58 Drive ✅ Secondary source
Paris session, 18 May 1856 Gougenot des Mousseaux, 1856 IT FR ✅ Verified
Schopenhauer witness, Frankfurt 1854 On the Will in Nature Drive ✅ Verified (OCR lines 5305-5330)
Blavatsky cites Regazzoni The Science of Magic Public web ✅ Verified
"Archbishop of Athens" master Riko, Handboek ch. 58 Drive ⚠️ Ambiguous — 2026 research negative

See also

Documented anecdotes

Regazzoni's demonstrations impressed qualified witnesses across Europe. In a private session on 18 May 1856, described by a witness with two friends including a physician, a young blindfolded woman with her ears plugged fell into catalepsy at a mere gesture made to Regazzoni: «It is like a blow! The victim falls and faints», and Regazzoni urged to let her fall — «never has a magnetized person been hurt falling» — then remaining suspended, «stiffer than the bronze of a statue». In the same session, he traced an «invisible line» on the floor which, when reached by a blindfolded girl, nailed her feet to the ground «with mathematical precision». The English press of 1856 called him «the only magnetizer capable of stopping the heartbeat», even producing the appearance of death «at a distance of five hundred paces». The witness noted that Baron du Potet — Stub (fonti Donato)|du Potet and others reported similar experiences, before hundreds of witnesses.

Donato judged him an operator «da carrefour» (fairground style), while still recognizing that his experiences were interesting: a judgment that captures both the spectacular style and the real value of the phenomena shown.

Sources for the anecdotes: account of the session of 18 May 1856 (Drive ISI-CNV) · «L'Illustration» on Regazzoni (Drive).
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