Intrigue international...

It seems that A. G. Bell had payed a visit to our inventor who, finding out about the American patent, remembered to have received him in his laboratory: "I seem Mr. Bell has passed to me while I was doing my first experiments. I should have his visiting card, yet.". In effect, Bell's family (Alexander, father's and grandfather's) was very interested to the experiments that, in that years, were done about mechanical phonetic devices. Besides, Bell's father was engaged to show all over the world his complex phonetic device ("the visible speech"). Probably recalled by the amazing news about Manzetti's automaton which was equiped with an artificial mouth (the prototype of telephone), he arrived in Aosta to visit the marvellous "talking machine".
Manzetti died in 1877, few months later the news about Bell's patent (14th February, 1876) spread all over the world. In following years, many scientific, cultural and politic personalities engaged themselves to claim the Manzetti's paternity of telephone. Among most illustrious, let's remember the scientist Padre Denza (the first director of the meteorological observatory of Vatican), Genala (minister of public works of the Italian kingdom) and even the American Tanner (patent attorney of Washington). The latter, in an interesting letter made in November 1885, clearly affirmed the possibility to made Manzetti declared the first inventor of telephone!!!
Intentions keeped like these because suffocated by the increasing weight of the Bell's empire who, in following years, refused by every means - not always legitimate - every attempt to make clarity about the circumstances he obtained the patent. The processes against Meucci are memorable. The latter was defeated in front of a supreme court worried to don't damage the American image. Abuses of power that deserve justice, even if posthumous...