Showing posts with label Caltagirone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caltagirone. Show all posts

29 December 2022

The Battle of San Mauro

Defeat that ended Sicily’s separatist ambitions  

Concetto Gallo, who was captured during the fight
Concetto Gallo, who was
captured during the fight
Soldiers from the Italian army, bolstered by Carabinieri officers, decisively defeated the paramilitaries of the clandestine Volunteer Army for the Independence of Sicily at what became known as the Battle of San Mauro on this day in 1945.

The confrontation, which took place in the hills above the city of Caltagirone in southeast Sicily, concluded with the arrest of Concetto Gallo, commander of the paramilitary group, and the effective end of the movement for Sicilian independence that grew during the Allied military occupation of the island in World War Two.

The Volunteer Army (EVIS) had formed in February 1945 as a clandestine paramilitary wing of the Movimento per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia (MIS), a political party launched in 1943 with the aim of achieving independence for the island.

The party brought together individuals from across the political spectrum in Sicily under the leadership of Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile, including the revolutionary socialist Antonio Canepa, the social-democrat Giovanni Guarino Amella, local aristocratic land owners and even Mafia figures, such as the powerful Calogero Vizzini.

Canepa was a key figure in EVIS, which he modelled along the lines of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, led by the future president of communist Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, a partisan army that fought against the occupying AXIS forces in World War Two.

The battle took place in the hills around the city of Caltagirone in southeastern Sicily
The battle took place in the hills around the
city of Caltagirone in southeastern Sicily
However, he was killed in June 1945 during a firefight with Carabinieri soldiers near Catania, after which EVIS never developed into the force he had hoped it would become.

Command passed briefly to Attilio Castrogiovanni, an MIS leader, and after his arrest to Gallo. 

Vizzini had some success when he recruited Rosario Avila, a bandit involved in brigandry around the town of Niscemi, south of Caltagirone, to organise guerilla attacks on Carabinieri patrols. The involvement of another brigand, Salvatore Giuliano, had a major impact, such that the mainland government sent hundreds of reinforcements to the island in an effort to suppress his activity.

There was cross-party opposition to Sicilian independence in Italy's postwar government in Rome, which perhaps explains why the fighters of EVIS were ultimately overwhelmed by the numbers deployed against them.

When Gallo’s group of between 50 and 60 militants clashed with Carabinieri at San Mauro, they found they were also up against a battalion of the internal security division of the Italian Army as well, effectively outnumbering them ten to one.

The firefight was mercifully short-lived, with minimal casualties. Gallo and other separatist leaders were captured and taken into custody.

EVIS effectively disbanded early in 1946, but their struggle had not been in vain. MIS won four seats in the 1946 Italian elections and in May of that year, King Umberto II issued the Statute of Sicily, which made the island an autonomous region within the Italian State.

The ceramic steps of the Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte attract many visitors to Caltagirone
The ceramic steps of the Staircase of Santa Maria
del Monte attract many visitors to Caltagirone
Travel tip:

The city of Caltagirone in southeastern Sicily falls within the metropolitan area of Catania, which lies some 70km (43 miles) to the northeast. It is well known as a centre for the production of pottery, particularly maiolica and terracotta. The city’s main attraction for visitors is the 142-step monumental Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte, built from 1608 in the oldest part of the town. Each step is decorated with different hand-decorated ceramics and once a year in July, to commemorate the day of the city's patron saint, James, the staircase is illuminated with candles of different colours. 



The sprawling city of Catania sits in the shadow of Mount Etna, Italy's most active volcano
The sprawling city of Catania sits in the shadow
of Mount Etna, Italy's most active volcano
Travel tip:

The city of Catania, which is located on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, is one of the ten biggest cities in Italy, and the seventh largest metropolitan area in the country, with a population including the environs of 1.12 million. Twice destroyed by earthquakes, in 1169 and 1693, it can be compared in some respects with Naples, which sits in the shadow of Vesuvius, in that it lives with the constant threat of a natural catastrophe.  Eruptions of Etna are commonplace.  As such it has always been a city for living life to the full. In the Renaissance, it was one of Italy's most important cultural, artistic and political centres and enjoys a rich cultural legacy today, with numerous museums and churches, theatres and parks and many restaurants.  It is also notable for many fine examples of the Sicilian Baroque style of architecture, including the beautiful Basilica della Collegiata, with its six stone columns and the concave curve of its façade.

Also on this day:

1720: Venice’s historic Caffè Florian opens its doors for the first time

1847: The birth of sculptor Gaetano Russo

1891: The birth of WW1 flying ace Luigi Olivari

1941: The birth of mathematician Tullio Levi-Civita

1966: The birth of footballer Stefano Eranio


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5 September 2019

Mario Scelba – Prime Minister of Italy

Tough interior minister worked for social and economic reform


The Christian Democrat Mario Scelba became Italy's 33rd Prime Minister in February 1954
The Christian Democrat Mario Scelba became Italy's
33rd Prime Minister in February 1954
Mario Scelba, a Christian Democrat who would become Italy’s 33rd Prime Minister, was born on this day in 1901 in Caltagirone in Sicily.

He earned the nickname ‘the Iron Sicilian’ while serving as Interior Minister because of his repression of both left-wing protests and Neo-Fascist rallies.

Scelba had been born into a poor family that worked on land owned by the priest Don Luigi Sturzo, who was to become one of the founders of the Italian People’s Party (PPI).

As his godfather, Sturzo paid for Scelba to study law in Rome. When the Fascists suppressed the PPI and forced Sturzo into exile, Scelba remained in Rome as his agent.

He wrote for the underground newspaper, Il Popolo, during the Second World War. He was once arrested by the Germans but freed after three days as he was considered to be ‘a worthless catch’.

After Rome’s liberation by the Allied Forces, Scelba joined the new Christian Democrats, reborn out of the PPI.

Scelba (right) served in two governments under Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi (left)
Scelba (right) served in two governments under Prime
Minister Alcide De Gasperi (left)
The Christian Democrats started organising post-Fascist Italy in competition with the centre and left parties, but also at times in coalition with them.

Scelba was Minister of Post and Telecommunications in Ferruccio Parri’s anti-Fascist government and in the two successive Governments of Alcide de Gasperi.

In 1947 as Interior Minister in De Gasperi’s third government, he became infamous for his hard line against the Communists and labour unions. He expelled former partisans from the police and cracked down on left-wing demonstrations, often using violence.

He thought the police were so ineffective at that time he once said if he were a Communist he would start a revolution the next day.

An Italian statute defining and banning fascism is known as the Scelba Law, but he wrote it to restrain the activities of the Communists as well.

Scelba increased police numbers and armed and equipped them with cars and jeeps to deal with riots. He made enemies because of his harsh methods and his concern for law and order but he also favoured social reforms and public works and attacked speculators for pushing up prices.

The bandit Salvatore Giuliano was blamed for the Portella della Ginestra massacre
The bandit Salvatore Giuliano was blamed
for the Portella della Ginestra massacre
He thought it was possible to undermine the Communists with social and economic improvement, particularly in southern Italy.

Scelba was involved in setting up the Gladio network, the clandestine NATO stay behind operation in Italy after the Second World War to organise resistance against an invasion of Europe.

In 1947, a few days after a victory for the left in local elections in Sicily, a Labour Day parade in Portella della Ginestra was attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of more than 30.

The attack was attributed to the bandit leader, Salvatore Giuliano, and was thought to be punishment for the local election results.

Scelba reported to Parliament the next day that the police believed the massacre to be non-political.

But the Communist deputy, Girolamo Li Causi, claimed the Mafia had ordered the attack, working with landowners and monarchists.

In the summer of 1950 the men responsible for the attack went on trial in Viterbo. Scelba was accused of involvement in the plot to carry out the massacre but at the end of the trial the judge concluded that no higher authority had ordered the massacre and that Guiliano had acted autonomously.

Communist deputy Girolamo Li Causi claimed the massacre was ordered by the Mafia
Communist deputy Girolamo Li Causi claimed
the massacre was ordered by the Mafia
The 1948 elections in Italy were overshadowed by the Cold War confrontations between the Soviet Union and the US and Scelba announced that the Government had 330,000 men ready to take on the Communists if they tried to make trouble on election day.

As Prime Minister of Italy between 1954 and 1955, Scelba tried to steer a middle course between the left and the right.

He worked for strong relations with the US and resolved outstanding wartime issues, such as the recovery of Trieste for Italy. In 1954 his Government passed a law introducing an investment plan for the public construction of economic housing.

Scelba was one of the last influential Christian Democrats to oppose the inclusion of left-wing Socialists in Government coalitions. In 1962 he was eventually dropped from Amintore Fanfani’s cabinet for that reason.

He was elected a senator in 1968 and served until his resignation in 1979. He was president of the European parliament from 1969 to 1971.

Scelba died of thrombosis at his home in Rome in October 1991, aged 90.

The city of Caltagirone in Sicily, where Prime Minister Mario Scelba was born in 1901
The city of Caltagirone in Sicily, where Prime Minister
Mario Scelba was born in 1901
Travel tip:

Caltagirone, where Mario Scelba was born, is a municipality about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Catania in Sicily. In 1987 Caltagirone was given the title of city. It is well-known for the production of pottery, maiolica and terracotta wares. Its main attraction for visitors is the 142-step Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, which dates back to 1608. Each step is decorated with different hand painted ceramics using ancient designs. Every year on 25 July, the Feast Day of Caltagirone’s patron saint, St James, the staircase is illuminated with candles in different colours, arranged to look like a large work of art.

The jagged upright stones that mark the bleak site of the Porta della Ginestra Massacre
The jagged upright stones that mark the bleak site
of the Porta della Ginestra Massacre
Travel tip:

The site of the Porta della Ginestra Massacre, which is about 4km (2.5 miles) southwest of Piana degli Albanesi and about 30 km (19 miles) from Palermo, is marked with 11 jagged upright stones, one for each of the victims, on the spot where they fell. May Day celebrations have been held there every year since 1893.

More reading:

The Porta della Ginestra Massacre

How novelist Leonardo Sciascia exposed the links between Italian politics and the Mafia

Francesco Cossiga's bid to keep the Communists out of power

Also on this day:

1533: The birth of philosopher Giacomo Zabarella

1568: The birth of Tommaso Campanella

1970: The birth of Paralympian Francesca Porcellato


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