Campaigner for Trentino hailed as national hero
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| Cesare Battisti photographed in 1915 |
Cesare Battisti, a politician whose campaign to reclaim Trentino for Italy from Austria-Hungary was to cost him his life, was born on
this day in 1875 in the region’s capital, Trento.
As a member of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party,
Battista was elected to the assembly of South Tyrol and the Austrian Imperial
Council, where he pushed for autonomy for Trentino, an area with a mainly
Italian-speaking population.
When the First World War arrived and Italy decided to side
with the Triple Entente and fight against Austria-Hungary, Battisti decided he
could fight only on the Italian side, joining the Alpini corps.
At this time he was still a member of the Austrian Chamber
of Deputies, so when he was captured wearing Italian uniform during the Battle
of Asiago in 1916 he was charged with high treason and executed.
Italy now looks upon Battisti as a national hero and he is
commemorated in monuments in several places in the country, as well as having
numerous schools, streets and squares named after him.
At the time of his birth, the son of a merchant, also called
Cesare, Trento was part of Tyrol in Austria-Hungary, even though it was a
largely Italian-speaking city. As Battisti became politically active as a young
man, first while studying law in Graz, in Austria, and later literature and
philosophy at the University of Florence, he found himself drawn towards the
Italian irredentism movement, one of whose aims was achieving autonomy for
Trentino as part of a unified Kingdom of Italy.
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| Battisti as a student in Florence, where he became drawn to the irredentist movement |
He began a student movement, the Società degli Studenti
Trentini, and with like-minded fellow students founded a number of magazines
and newspapers to spread the message and rally support for the cause.
In 1911, standing on an SDWP ticket, he was elected to the
Reichsrat, the parliament of Vienna, with the aim of achieving change from
within.
In 1914, with the support of Guido Larcher and Giovanni
Pedrotti, he sent an appeal to the king, Vittorio Emanuele III, exhorting the
monarch to respond to his wishes and unite Italy.
By the time the Austro-Serbian war had broken out, later in
1914, Battisti sensed the possibility of Italy being drawn into the conflict in
opposition to Austria-Hungary and decided to leave Trento to find a safer part
of Italy.
Not long afterwards, Battisti began to campaign for Italy to
join forces with the Triple Entente countries – Russia, France and Great
British – against Austria-Hungary, and when the First World War broke out he
decided he could be true to his principles only by fighting on the side of the
Italian forces.
Battisti volunteered for the Italian army and soon won medals for bravery. He was promoted to lieutenant with the Vicenza Battalion of the 6th Alpine Regiment.
He was captured by Austrian forces during the Battle of
Asiago, which took place about 60km (37 miles) east of Trento and a similar
distance north of Vicenza. When it was realised who he was he was taken to his
home town to face a court martial, at the Castello di Buonconsiglio, at which
his parliamentary immunity was over-ridden and he was sentenced to death.
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| The Mausoleum housing Cesare Battisti's tomb stands on a rocky outcrop overlooking Trento |
His request to face a firing squad so as not to dishonour
the Italian uniform was denied and he was executed by hanging on July 12, 1916,
at the age of 41. The incident damaged support for Austrians in the area,
particularly after photographs of a smiling execution squad posing with
Battisti’s body were published in newspapers. He left a widow, Ernesta, and
three children.
At the conclusion of the conflict, Trento became an Italian
city as part of the settlement. Battisti
was hailed as a hero and monuments to him have been erected in Rome as well as
at the Bolzano Victory Monument in another part of South Tyrol that was
successfully reclaimed from Austria.
With the agreement of his family, his remains were moved in
1935 to a mausoleum built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the city. The
structure, consisting of a circular base supporting 16 columns topped by a
balustrade, was designed by the architect Ettore Faguioli to resemble a
classical temple.
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| The Piazza Duomo in Trento |
Travel tip:
Trento today is a cosmopolitan city considered to be one of
the most desirable places to live in Italy on the basis of job opportunities
and quality of life. With a population of 117,000, it is situated in an Alpine
valley on the Adige river between the northern tip of Lake Garda and the border
city of Bolzano, about 115km (71 miles) north of Verona. Settled by the Romans
in the first century, it changed hands many times before becoming a major city
in the Holy Roman Empire. The Austrians took charge in the 14th
century and it remained under their control, with the exception of a spell of
French domination in the Napoleonic era until the First World War. It is notable in the 16th century
for hosting the Council of Trent, the ecumenical council of the Catholic Church
that gave rise to the resurgence of the church following Protestant Reformation.
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| Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento |
Travel tip:
The Castello del Buonconsiglio, where Battisti was tried and
executed by the Austrians, is a castle next to Trento’s city walls built in the
13th century. It consisted at
first of the building now known as the Castelvecchio, which was the seat of the
Bishopric of Trento until the 18th century, and saw the addition of
several more buildings as various bishops chose to enlarge and reinforce it. Legend
has it that there was a secret tunnel linking it with the city’s cathedral. It
became a military barracks under the Austrians, then a jail, before falling
into disrepair. It was restored after Trento
became part of Italy in the 1920s and now houses a museum and art gallery.
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