8 August 2021

Ugo Bassi - priest and patriot

Unarmed chaplain was a follower of Garibaldi

Ugo Bassi travelled widely helping the poor but was also a passionate patriot
Ugo Bassi travelled widely helping the
poor but was also a passionate patriot
Catholic priest Ugo Bassi was executed by firing squad on this day in 1849 in Bologna.

Bassi had been a preacher of eloquent sermons that attracted large crowds and had travelled all over Italy helping the poor, often himself not having enough food to eat.

He was also strongly patriotic and had been a follower of Giuseppe Garibaldi in his fight for a united, independent kingdom of Italy. It was while he was with Garibaldi’s army battling French troops loyal to the Pope in Rome that he was captured and sentenced to death on a false charge of carrying a weapon.

His execution was said to have enraged Liberals all over Europe.

Bassi was born in 1801 in Cento, a small town in the province of Ferrara, in what is now Emilia Romagna. Although he was baptised as Giuseppe Bassi, he later changed his name to Ugo in honour of the patriotic and revolutionary poet, Ugo Foscolo.

An unhappy love affair led to Bassi becoming a novice in the Barnabite order at the age of 18 and, after studying in Rome, he entered the priesthood in 1833.

A lithograph from about 1860 showing Bossi and Count Livraghi being led to their death by firing squad
A lithograph from about 1860 showing Bossi and
Count Livraghi being led to their death by firing squad
In 1848, when the revolutionary movement began in Italy, Pope Pius IX was known to be an Italian nationalist and liberal. Bassi joined General Giovanni Durando’s papal force, which was protecting the frontiers, as an army chaplain.

His speeches helped to draw new recruits into the fight for a united Italy and he exercised great influence over the soldiers. When Pius IX broke all connection with the nationalist movement, it was only Bassi, who lived mainly in Bologna, who was able to calm the Bolognese Liberals in their anger. 

Bassi received three wounds in a battle at Treviso in May 1848, but was taken to Venice, where he recovered. He was later able to march, unarmed, at the head of a group of volunteers to fight in Mestre.

After the Pope had fled from Rome and the Roman Republic was proclaimed in 1849, Bassi joined the group of men fighting under Garibaldi against the French troops in the city, risking his life many times while attending to the wounded under fire.

A statue of Ugo Bossi in Via Ugo Bossi in Bologna
A statue of Ugo Bossi in
Via Ugo Bossi in Bologna
When Garibaldi was forced to leave Rome, his chaplain, Bassi, followed him to San Marino. There the legion broke up and although Garibaldi escaped unharmed, Bassi and a fellow patriot, Count Livraghi, were captured near Comacchio.

On being brought before the Papal Governor, Bassi said: ‘I am guilty of no crime save that of being an Italian like yourself. I have risked my life for Italy, and your duty is to do good to those who have suffered for her.’

The Governor responded by turning over the prisoners to an Austrian officer. They were escorted to Bologna and convicted by a military tribunal of having been caught carrying guns, even though it was known Bassi had never borne arms. They were led out and shot by a firing squad on 8 August 1849. 

Cento has a castle - rocca - built in 1378 and expanded in 1460
Cento has a castle - rocca - built in
1378 and expanded in 1460
Travel tip:

The town of Cento, where Ugo Bassi was born, derives its name from the ‘centuriation’ of the Po Valley, which is also known as the Roman grid, as it was a method of land measurement used by the Romans. The artist Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as il Guercino, was born in the town in 1591. Many of his works can be seen in the civic gallery in Palazzo del Monte di Pieta and the Basilica Collegiata San Biagio, Santa Maria dei Servi, which was also designed by him. Benjamin D’Israeli, the grandfather of the British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, was also born in Cento. The town has a well-preserved rocca - castle - built in the 14th century.

The bridge known as Trepponti is an unusual architectural feature in Comacchio
The bridge known as Trepponti is an unusual
architectural feature in Comacchio
Travel tip:

Comacchio, where Bassi was captured, is a town in Emilia Romagna, 48km (30 miles) from Ferrara. The Duomo di Comacchio, also known as Basilica di San Cassiano, dates back to 708 and has a statue of San Cassiano, the town’s patron saint. Comacchio is known for its Trepponti - literally three bridges - also known as Ponte Pallotta. It is actually a single bridge consisting of five large staircases, which straddles three waterways. It was built in 1638 to connect the town with Canale Pallotta, a navigable canal that links to the sea.

Also on this day:

1919: The birth of film producer Dino De Laurentiis

1920: The birth of songwriter Leo Chiosso

1988: The birth of basketball player Danilo Gallinari


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