When the order for Mossotti to go to the police headquarters to be questioned
arrived to Brera Observatoire, on the 24 March 1823
, he
was not there. He had left to go to Carpignano on 16 March,
telling the observatoire that he had to recover from a seasonal illness by
spending a few days in the fresh countryside air. The passport he used to
cross the Piedmont border was the same one he had used on the occasion of the
Christmas holidays, so it was an expired one; nonetheless he managed to leave
Lombardy without problems. He was expected back to work on the 24 March.
According to M10 and M24 he came back some day around the 24 March, stayed for
a couple of hours in the Observatoire without meeting anybody, picked up a few
books and clothes and left again. There is no mention about this short visit
to Milan in M25 (by de Cesaris, who also wrote M10 and M24). Before the end of
March a friend of Mossotti came from Carpignano to the Observatoire to inform
the Astronomers that Mossotti hadn't recovered yet and that he needed some more
time. On 1 April Mossotti sent a letter to de Cesaris asking formally for more
time off, enclosing a medical certificate. On 2 May the Government
sent a short letter to Brera Observatoire asking news about Mossotti, saying
that the only information the Government had was that Mossotti left Lombardy
without a valid passport, went to Novara and then to Geneva. The reply by
Brera (M10, of which M24 is the rough copy) dates 3 May and among other
things, de Cesaris protested not knowing anything about Geneva. On 6 May de
Cesaris sent another letter to the Government (M25), enclosing the medical
certificate Mossotti had sent on the 1 April. The Government replied on 16 May
saying that the medical certificate was without vidimation and date, and could
not therefore be taken into consideration. The news of his escapade travelled
rapidly throughout Italy. On 31 May 1823 Giuseppe Bianchi wrote to Giuseppe
Piola ``Why didn't you tell me anything about the rumours concerning
Mossotti's escape from Milan?", but the Government could
not take any action against Mossotti because the whole thing ``remained in the
limits of a simple suspicion".