Alessandro Gavazzi (21 March 1809 – 9 January 1889) was an Italian preacher and patriot. He at first became a monk (1825), and attached himself to the Barnabites at Naples, where he afterwards (1829) acted as professor of rhetoric. He left the church, and became best known as a provocative speaker against Catholicism, touring Europe and the United States. Protests against him broke out in Canada in 1853, causing numerous deaths in the Gavazzi Riots.