Pino Aprile – journalist

Author wrote about unification from the point of view of the South

Pino Aprile has enjoyed a long
career as a writer and journalist

Writer Pino Aprile, who became internationally famous as the author of Terroni, a book outlining 'all that has been done to ensure that the Italians of the south became Southerners', was born on this day in 1950 in Gioia del Colle, in Puglia.

Terroni was first published in 2010, a year before Italy celebrated the 150th anniversary of becoming a unified country. Over 200,000 copies were sold in Italy and an English version of Terroni, translated by Ilaria Marra Rosiglioni, was published in 2011.

With the stage set for the tricolore to fly proudly over a year of celebrations in Italy, Terroni appeared just before the party started, to provide readers with stark examples of what Aprile claims happened to people living in the south of the country when troops fighting for Victor Emmanuel II arrived in their towns and villages.

The catalogue of alleged massacres, executions, rapes, and torture that Aprile details in Terroni are hard to read about. Aprile himself says that at times he was tempted to walk away from the whole project. But he persevered because he was determined to set out the South’s version of events during the Risorgimento in Italy for readers to consider. 

At the beginning of the book there is a publisher’s note explaining that the singular noun terrone is an offensive term used by people in northern Italy to describe those from southern Italy. The word is from the term terra, meaning dirt or land, and to call someone a terrone implies that they are ignorant, uneducated, lazy, unwilling to work, rude, and of poor hygiene. 

Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose
soldiers stand accused

Italy’s Corte di Cassazione (the equivalent of a Supreme Court) has upheld the decision of a lower court that the term terrone is derogatory and offensive.

Aprile says he grew up not realising what had really happened in the area he was born in during the Risorgimento, because the history was never taught in schools. He had not realised that the people in the South who were labelled as brigands and executed were in fact Bourbon soldiers defending their homeland and that their wives and children were allegedly killed by Giuseppe Garibaldi’s soldiers just because they were considered brigands by association.

He had also never known that the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was one of the most industrialised places in the world, only just behind England and France, before it was invaded by Garibaldi and his men. 

Aprile writes: “The South has been deprived of its institutions; it has been deprived of its industries, its riches and of its ability to react. It has also been deprived of its people, with an emigration that was induced or forced…”

He says that while we think of the North of Italy today as prosperous, and the South as poor, the reverse was the case when Garibaldi set out to unify Italy. And he claims large quantities of money and valuable items were taken from the South to pay off the debts of the North. 

For the reader, references to the war crimes he says were committed during the military campaign to unify Italy are disturbing to say the least. Millions were either killed or wounded and at the very least forced to abandon their homes and land, leading to mass emigration from the south of Italy to the United States and South America.

Terroni sold more
 than 200,000 copies

But Aprile ends Terroni on a hopeful note saying: "I believe that there is no other land in Europe today that has a more promising future, and as many riches to offer than our South."

Aprile is the author of numerous other books, some of which have been translated into English. During his career as a journalist, Aprile was deputy editor of the magazine, Gente, and editor of the magazine, Oggi and he worked for Tg1, the Rai news programme, and TV7.  He also worked with Sergio Zavoli on the investigative series, Journey South.

Although he was born in Gioia del Colle and brought up in the Puglian coastal city of Taranto, Aprile spent many years living and working in Milan. He now lives in the Castelli Romani region of Lazio.

Pino Aprile is celebrating his 75th birthday today.

The well-preserved throne room inside
Gioia del Colle's historic castle

Travel tip:

Gioia del Colle, where Pino Aprile was born, is a comune of Bari in Puglia. It is situated on top of a hill between the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The town’s castle dates from the Byzantine period but it was enlarged by the Normans and Swabians, who successively dominated the area. The main church, initially dedicated to Saint Peter when it was built in the 11th century, but later renamed Madonna della Neve, contains historic frescoes. Gioia del Colle is famous for its production of mozzarella and for its Gioia del Colle Primitivo wine.

Find accommodation in Bari with Expedia

The remains of the Greek
Temple of Poseidon

Travel tip:

The coastal city of Taranto in Puglia, where Pino Aprile grew up, is an important port as well as an Italian naval base. It was founded by the Greeks in the eighth century BC and had become one of the largest cities in the world with a population of about 300,000 by 500 BC. There are several ruined Greek temples, some dating back to the sixth century BC. The old city or Città Vecchia retains the same street layout as when the Byzantines rebuilt it after it had been damaged by the Saracens in 927AD. Taranto has a Big Sea, the natural harbour where the ships are moored, which is separated from its Little Sea, which is actually a lagoon, by a cape. Taranto is famous for its mussels, which are given their distinctive flavour by the special conditions of salinity of the Little Sea. It is also said to be where the Tarantella, a frenetic dance, originated as a response to being bitten by a supposedly venomous spider.

See Hotels.com's selection of Taranto hotels

Also on this day: 

1339: The Battle of Parabiago

1549: The birth of Francesco Maria II della Rovere, last Duke of Urbino

1778: The death of groundbreaking scientist Laura Bassi

1816: Rossini’s Barber of Seville premieres in Rome

1993: The death of car maker Ferruccio Lamborghini

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Michele Novaro - composer

Patriot who wrote music for Italian national anthem

Michele Novaro was an opera
singer as well as a composer

The composer and singer Michele Novaro, who wrote the music that accompanies Goffredo Mameli’s words in Italy’s national anthem, was born on this day in 1818 in Genoa.

While not as actively involved in the Risorgimento movement as Mameli, who took part in various insurrections and died fighting alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi in the battle for a unified, independent Italy, Novaro was a patriot nonetheless.

A committed liberal in his politics, he was a supporter of the cause of independence and composed the music for several patriotic songs in addition to Mameli’s Il canto degli Italiani - The Song of the Italians - which is also known as Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) and L’inno di Mameli (Mameli’s hymn).

The oldest of five children, Novaro was born into a theatrical background. His father, Gerolamo, was a stagehand at the Teatro Carlo Felice, the Genoa opera house. His mother, Giuseppina Canzio, was the sister of a well-known painter, scenographer and impresario, Michele Canzio.

Novaro attended singing school and achieved a respectable standard as an opera singer. He was good enough to sing in the Genoese premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Gianni di Calais.

He spent three seasons in Vienna as the second resident tenor at Vienna’s Porta Carinthia theater, returning to Italy to take up a post as second tenor and choirmaster at the Teatro Regio and Teatro Carignano in Turin.

Goffredo Mameli, who was killed
fighting alongside Garibaldi

Novaro willingly gave his services in the cause of independence by writing music to patriotic songs, as well as organising fundraisers in support of Garibaldi. 

He and Mameli, who was also from Genoa, were friends and in 1847 after Mameli had written the words for the song that would earn him immortality it was Novaro he sought out to write a suitable score. 

Novaro is said to have received the text of Mameli’s poem at the Turin home of the patriotic writer, Lorenzo Valerio. He immediately sketched out a first draft of the music, which he then completed on his return to his home, staying up late into the night to perfect it.

The writer Anton Giulio Barrili, another friend of Novaro, later wrote about the birth of Il canto degli Italiani, quoting what Novaro had told him following his first sight of the song at Valerio’s home.

‘I sat at the harpsichord, with Goffredo's verses on the music stand, and I strummed, I murdered that poor instrument with my convulsed fingers, always with my eyes on the hymn, putting down melodic phrases, one on top of the other, but a thousand miles away from the idea that they could adapt to those words. 

‘I got up, dissatisfied with myself; I stayed a little longer at Valerio's house, but always with those verses before my mind's eye. I saw that there was no remedy; I took my leave, and ran home. 

‘There, without even taking off my hat, I threw myself at the piano. The tune I had strummed at Valerio's house came back to my mind: I wrote it down on a sheet of paper, the first that came to hand: in my agitation I turned the lamp over on the harpsichord, and consequently also on the poor sheet of paper: this was the original of the hymn "Fratelli d'Italia".’

Friends paid for a memorial for 
Novaro in Staglieno cemetery

Despite leaving his mark on Italian history, Novaro never achieved fame or fortune.

Such money as he did make, he ploughed into setting up a free choral school in Genoa, to which he devoted his later years.  Struggling with declining health and financial difficulties, he died in October, 1885.

His former students arranged for a funeral monument to be erected to him in his hometown in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, next to the tomb of Giuseppe Mazzini, another major Risorgimento figure who was among his heroes.

Although Il canto degli Italiani was very popular during Italian unification and the following decades, it was not until a century later that it became Italy’s national anthem.

At the time the Kingdom of Italy came into being in 1861, the republican and Jacobin connotations of Fratelli d'Italia were difficult to reconcile with the new state's constitution as a monarchy rather than the republic that Mazzini and his supporters craved. 

The new kingdom instead adopted Marcia Reale (Royal March), the House of Savoy's official anthem, written by Napoleone Giotti and set to music in 1831 by Giuseppe Gabetti. 

Italy finally became a republic after World War Two, following a referendum that rejected the monarchy. On October 12, 1946, it chose Il canto degli Italiani as a provisional national anthem. It retained its de facto status until December 2017, when it was at last recognised as the Italian anthem by law.

The Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where
Novaro's father worked as a stagehand

Travel tip:

The port city of Genoa (Genova), where Michele Novaro was born, is the capiital of the Liguria region. Once a powerful trading centre, the city’s wealth was built on its shipyards and steelworks, but it also boasts many fine buildings, many of which have been restored to their original splendour.  The Doge's Palace, the 16th century Royal Palace and the Romanesque-Renaissance style San Lorenzo Cathedral are just three examples.  The area around the restored harbour area offers a maze of fascinating alleys and squares, enhanced recently by the work of Genoa architect Renzo Piano, and a landmark aquarium, the largest in Italy. At the time of Novara’s birth, the City Architect was Carlo Barabino, a prominent Neoclassicist who designed the Teatro Carlo Felice Opera, the Palazzo dell'Accademia, and the facades of several other buildings. The theatre opened in 1828. 

The Palazzo Reale - Royal Palace - in Turin is
a reminder of the wealth of the Savoy family

Travel tip:

The Savoy dynasty left a significant mark on Turin, shaping its architecture, culture, and overall identity. The Royal Palace served as the opulent official residence of the Savoy kings for centuries. Its lavish interiors, including the Throne Room and the Royal Apartments, offer a glimpse into the grandeur of the dynasty. Housed within the Royal Palace, the Royal Armoury is now a museum boasting an impressive collection of weapons and armour. Also located inside the Royal Palace, the Savoy Gallery houses a remarkable collection of paintings by Italian and European masters, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Canaletto.  Beyond the city, a network of Savoy palaces, villas, and castles is scattered throughout Piemonte. The city’s Duomo - the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista - was built between 1491 and 1498 in Piazza San Giovanni. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, where the Turin Shroud is kept, was added in 1668. Some members of the House of Savoy are buried in the Duomo while others are buried in the Basilica di Superga on the outskirts of the city.

Also on this day: 

1573: The birth of Baroque artist Giovanni Battista Crespi

1896: The birth of writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

1916: The birth of film director Dino Risi

1956: The birth of racing driver Michele Alboreto

1967: The birth of model and singer Carla Bruni

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The Battle of Bezzecca

Garibaldi-led force suffers heavy casualties but wins important victory

A depiction of the Battle of Bezzecca by the
Venetian painter Felice Zennaro

The Battle of Bezzecca, a significant Italian victory in the push for unification, took place on this day in 1866 on a site approximately 10km (6.2 miles) west of the northern tip of Lake Garda in what is now the Trentino region of northern Italy.

The battle was part of the Third Italian War of Independence as the new Kingdom of Italy, which had been formally proclaimed in 1861, sought to expel the Austrians from Venetia, which along with Papal Rome had remained outside the control of the fledgling nation.

It took place within the wider context of the Austro-Prussian War, a conflict that had begun earlier in the year after a territorial dispute. Italy, sensing an opportunity to annex Venetia and the part of Lombardy still under Austrian rule, had agreed an alliance with Prussia.

The Prussian victory at the Battle of Königgrätz resulted in Austria moving troops from Venetia towards Vienna, leaving their territories in northeastern Italy vulnerable to attack. 

Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had famously led the initial push for Italian unification with his Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 and was now a general in the Royal Italian Army, took arms again as the head of another volunteer army known as the Hunters of the Alps, as the Kingdom of Italy sought to capitalise on this supposed Austrian weakness.

The Hunters of the Alps were under
the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi

The Battle of Bezzecca came about a month after hostilities began as Garibaldi’s army, which initially had consisted of about 38,000 men, came up against 15,000 Austrian regulars under the command of General Baron Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld. 

Despite some setbacks, which had included Garibaldi himself being wounded in an assault on an enemy position, the Hunters of the Alps seized control of strategically important towns, opening two potential routes towards the ultimate goal of capturing the city of Trento.

As Garibaldi’s troops moved towards Riva del Garda, from which they intended to push north towards Trento, the Austrians occupied the town of Bezzecca in Val di Ledro, blocking the route.

Garibaldi, overseeing the battle from a coach because of his injuries, directed his artillery to secure a hill near the town to provide support for an infantry assault, which forced the Austrians to withdraw.

It was an Italian victory, albeit one with heavy casualties. Of the 15,500 deployed by Garibaldi, at least 120 were killed or declared missing presumed killed, a further 450 wounded and, before the Austrian withdrawal, more than 1,000 captured. This compared with only about 100 casualties in total on the Austrian side.

In the event, it was the last battle Garibaldi would need to fight before the Italian objective of bringing Venetia into the new kingdom was achieved.

General Alfonso La Marmora, who 
ordered Garibaldi to withdraw

As he prepared to continue the invasion toward Garda, he received orders from General Alfonso La Marmora, commander-in-chief of the Italian army, to abandon Trentino ahead of an impending armistice between Italy and Austria following the cessation of hostilities between Austria and Prussia. 

From the main square of Bezzecca, Giuseppe Garibaldi famously replied with a telegram consisting of just one word: “Obbedisco!" - "I obey!” 

Under the terms of the Treaty of Vienna, which was signed on October 3, 1866, the Iron Crown of Lombardy, which had been in Austria’s possession since the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, was returned to the Italian monarchy, while Venetia, consisting of modern Veneto, parts of Friuli and the city of Mantua, was ceded to Italy. 

The annexation of Venetia and Mantua was subject to a plebiscite, allowing the population to express its will. The result was overwhelmingly in favour, with 99.9 percent of participants saying yes to becoming part of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Chiesa di Santi Stefano e Lorenzo houses
a memorial to victims of the Battle of Bezzecca

Travel tip:

The Bezzecca of today, about 35km (22 miles) southwest of Trento, is a popular holiday destination in unspoilt surroundings, a short distance from Lago di Ledro, one of the most beautiful of the Trentino lakes. It is popular with walkers and cyclists, with many paths and trails to follow through the surrounding countryside. Since 2010, along with Pieve di Ledro, Concei, Molina di Ledro, Tiarno di Sopra and Tiarno di Sotto, it has been part of the new municipality of Ledro. The Battle of Bezzecca is recalled in many street names and buildings, while there is a small museum dedicated to Garibaldi and the Great War. Museum. In Piazza Garibaldi, the Chiesa di Santi Stefano e Lorenzo houses the Bezzecca War Memorial, which commemorates those who died fighting with Garibaldi and local men killed during the Great War. Outside the church, there is a 75 mm Italian cannon and a column donated to Bezzecca by the city of Rome in 1924.

Trento's Piazza Duomo, with the Palazzo Pretorio
on the left and the Cattedrale di San Vigilio

Travel tip:

The prosperous modern city of Trento is considered one of the most desirable places to live in Italy for quality of life and employment opportunities. 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 95km (59 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 was 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. The 13th century Castello del Buonconsiglio, next to Trento’s city walls, was 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.

Also on this day: 

1871: The birth of writer and historian Guglielmo Ferrero

1914: The birth of screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico

1948: The birth of comedian-turned-activist Beppe Grillo

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Manfredo Fanti - military general

Risorgimento hero who founded Royal Italian Army

Manfredo Fanti's battlefield skills
were vital to the unification campaign

The Italian general Manfredo Fanti, a key figure in the Italian Wars of Independence in the mid-19th century and the founder of the Royal Italian Army, was born on this day in 1806 in Carpi, a town about 20km (13 miles) northwest of Modena in what is now Emilia-Romagna.

Although he ultimately had a disagreement with Giuseppe Garibaldi, the figurehead of the Italian Unification movement, Fanti is still regarded as one of the heroes of the Risorgimento, as a result of the military victories he engineered against the Austrians in the second war of independence, which liberated Lombardy from foreign control, and against the Papal States and the Bourbons in the final push for unification in 1860.

Between the second and third wars of independence, after he had been appointed Minister of War in the Cavour government, Fanti organised the absorption of the army of the League of Central Italy into the Royal Sardinian Army, which he was later able to decree would take the name of the Royal Italian Army.

He also played a key role in freeing Italy from foreign domination and completing unification. As Garibaldi was leading his Expedition of the Thousand in the conquest of Sicily, Fanti led the simultaneous campaign in central Italy, winning significant victories against the armies of the Papal States and in the northern territories of the Bourbon-controlled Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Fanti grew up as a citizen of the Duchy of Modena and, in 1825, was admitted into the Pioneer Corps of the army of Duke Francesco IV d'Este. He studied at the military college in Modena, where he obtained a degree in engineering.

The Battle of Castelfidardo saw Fanti
lead one of several key victories

Already drawn towards the vision of revolutionaries such as Giuseppe Mazzini and the growing Risorgimento movement, he took part in the uprising of 1830-31 in Modena before it was put down by the Austrian army, who condemned Fanti to be hanged. He escaped to France and later assisted the exiled Mazzini in his failed attempt to invade and capture the territories of Savoy.

He then moved to Spain, where he served in the army during a battle for power between the regent, Maria Cristina of Bourbon, and the supporters of Don Carlos, who felt he was the legitimate heir to the late King Ferdinand VII, before returning to Italy in 1848 to fight against the Austrians, who controlled most of northern Italy at the time. 

Assisted by French troops, he commanded a Lombard brigade of the Sardinian-Piedmontese Army, distinguishing himself on the battlefield with courage and tactical astuteness to win key victories at Palestro, Magenta, and Solferino in the Second Italian War of Independence, which ended with the Armistice of Villafranca and the return of Lombardy to Italian rule, along with most of the northern Italian states, although the Austrians initially retained control of Venetia.

Fanti supported but later had a
disagreement with Garibaldi

Fanti then organised the army of the Central Italian League, which included Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and Romagna, and prepared it for the annexation by Piedmont, the leading state of the Italian unification movement. 

In January 1860 , Camillo Count of Cavour, who returned to his position as prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont after resigning following the Villafranca armistice, made Fanti his Minister for War and the Navy.

When the Expedition of the Thousand began in May, Fanti was appointed head of the army corps in central Italy. He again was an important figure on the battlefield, playing a significant part in the Battle of Castelfidardo and in the conquest of Perugia, which led to the Piedmontese annexation of Papal State territories in Marche and Umbria. 

He then became general of the army and chief of staff of the army in southern Italy, defeating the Bourbons at Mola and organising the successful siege of the fortress at Gaeta. 

Fanti's opposition to the admission of  5,000 officers of Garibaldi's volunteers into the new Royal Italian Army, with no loss of rank, was one of the reasons for his resignation from the army and government in June 1861, although the death of Cavour was also a factor.

He agreed to return the following year, taking command of an army corps in Florence, but fell ill soon afterwards. He died in Florence in April 1865 at the age of 59. His body was returned to Carpi, where he is buried in the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta.  There is a monument to Fanti in Piazza San Marco in Florence by the sculptor Pio Fedi, erected in 1873.

The Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta
in Carpi, where Manfredo Fandi is buried 

Travel tip:

Carpi, which sits in the Padana plain, the area of flat and fertile land through which the Po river flows, became a wealthy town during the era of industrial development in Italy as a centre for textiles and mechanical engineering. Its historic centre, which features a town hall housed in a former castle, is based around the Renaissance square, the Piazza Martiri, the third largest square in Italy, which is surrounded by historical buildings such as the Palazzo Pio di Savoia, the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, and the Teatro Comunale. The Palazzo Pio di Savoia houses the Museum of the Deportation, dedicated to the victims of the Nazi concentration camps, and the Museum of the City, which displays artworks and artefacts from Carpi’s past. Carpi was a major centre of the Italian Resistance movement in World War Two and there is a memorial at the site of the former Fossoli concentration camp, where thousands of Jews, political prisoners, and resistance fighters were detained and deported.

Stay in Carpi with Booking.com

The monumental sculpture in Castelfidardo
that commemorates the 1860 battle 

Travel tip:

Castelfidardo, which can be found about 21km (13 miles) south of the port of Ancona in the Marche region, is a charming hill town with a historical significance. It is renowned as the home of the accordion, which was actually patented in Austria in 1829 but underwent substantial redesign in Castelfidardo, where production of the instrument began in the late 19th century with the establishment of a factory opened by Paolo Soprani, who had bought one of the Austrian models after realising its potential. At one time 51,000 accordions were manufactured in the town in a single year, although production declined after World War Two as musical tastes changed. Nonetheless, it is still home to half of the accordion factories in the whole of Italy. There is inevitably an Accordion Museum, while the Monument of the Battle of Castelfidardo is commemorated with a dramatic monumental sculpture in the town’s Parco delle Rimembranze, by the Venetian sculptor Vito Pardo, which depicts in bronze a charge of infantrymen led by a figure on horseback descending from a mountain of white travertine boulders. 

Find accommodation in Castelfidardo with Booking.com

More reading:

How the Battle of Solferino led to the founding of the Red Cross

Why Mazzini was the ideological inspiration for Italian unification

The Frenchman who called for Italians to unite as a single people

Also on this day:

1507: The death of Renaissance painter Gentile Bellini

1821: The death in Rome of English poet John Keats

1822: The birth of archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi

1834: The birth of ill-fated Sicilian banker Emanuele Notarbartolo 

1910: The birth of painter Corrado Cagli

(Picture credits: Carpi basilica by Attilios; Castelfidardo sculpture by Ermanon; via Wikimedia Commons)

(Painting of Battle of Castelfidardo by Giovanni Gallucci, Palazzo Comunale, Ancona)

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Francesco Crispi – Italian Prime Minister

The ‘great patriot’ was of Albanian heritage

A photographic portrait from the 
1880s of Francesco Crispi 

The death at the age of  82 in Naples of the Italian statesman Francesco Crispi, who was a key figure during the Risorgimento, was announced on this day in 1901.

He was a close friend of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and it was Crispi who persuaded Garibaldi to invade Sicily in 1860 with his band of volunteers known as The Thousand. Quickly conquering Sicily, Garibaldi proclaimed himself dictator and named Crispi as Minister of the Interior.

Crispi was born in Ribera in Sicily in 1818. His father’s family were originally from Palazzo Adriano in south western Sicily, which had been founded by Orthodox Christian Albanians. Crispi was brought up to speak Italian, along with Greek, Albanian and Sicilian.

By the time he was 11, Crispi was attending a seminary in Palermo. He then studied law and literature at the University of Palermo, receiving a law degree in 1837.

Crispi founded his own newspaper, L’Oreteo, which brought him into contact with political figures. He wrote about the need to educate poor people, the damage caused by the wealth of the Catholic Church and the need for all citizens, including women, to be considered equal.

In 1845 he became a judge in Naples, where he became well known for his liberal and revolutionary ideas.

Crispi travelled to Palermo in 1847 to prepare for the revolution against the Bourbon monarchy in Sicily. Afterwards, he was appointed a member of the provisional Sicilian parliament and supported the separatist movement that wanted to break ties with Naples.  But when the Bourbons took back control of Sicily by force in 1849, Crispi was forced to flee the island.

The uprising against the Bourbons in Sicily in
1848, which Crispi and others encouraged

He took refuge first in France and then in 1849 he moved to Turin, where he worked as a journalist and met Mazzini, who was a Republican activist. Crispi was then arrested and sent to live in Malta by the Piedmontese.

From there he went to London, where he became a revolutionary conspirator and was involved in the Italian national movement.

After returning to Italy, Crispi travelled round Sicily in disguise, preparing for the conquering of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Crispi was appointed first secretary of state in the provisional government, where he found himself in opposition to Cavour, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, who wanted to annex Sicily to Piedmont.

In the general election of 1861, before the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, Crispi was elected a member of the Historical Left for the constituency of Castelvetrano, a seat he would hold for the rest of his life.

Crispi acquired the reputation for being aggressive and earned the nickname of Il Solitario, the Loner. In 1864 he deserted Mazzini and announced he was a monarchist. He told Mazzini in a letter: ‘The monarchy unites us, the republic would divide us.’ On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, he worked to impede a projected alliance with France.

The assassination attempt that
Crispi survived in 1894

After the general election of 1976, Crispi was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. He travelled to London and Berlin where he established friendly relationship with Gladstone and Bismarck. After the death of Victor Emmanuel II in 1878, Crispi secured a unitary monarchy with King Umberto taking the title of Umberto I of Italy, instead of Umberto IV of Savoy. He was then accused of bigamy and although his marriage to his third wife was ruled as valid, he was compelled to resign bringing the whole government down with him.

In 1881, Crispi was one of the main supporters of universal male suffrage and in 1887 he was appointed by the King as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He abolished the death penalty, revoked anti strike laws, limited police powers, and reformed the penal code.

His government lost its majority after his Minister of Finance had to reveal a higher than planned deficit and Crispi resigned in 1891. He was asked to form a new government in 1893 and the following year had to declare a state of siege throughout Sicily.

In 1894, an anarchist tried to shoot Crispi but failed. Crispi introduced a series of anti-anarchist laws that strengthened his position.

During his second term, Crispi continued colonial expansion in East Africa, which led to the first Italo-Ethiopian war.

An attempt was made to prosecute Crispi for embezzlement, but a parliamentary commission refused to authorise it. He resigned his seat in parliament, but was re-elected in 1898 by his Palermo constituents.

After his health declined, Crispi died in Naples on the evening of Sunday, August 11, 1901, with his death announced the following morning. He is remembered as a colourful, patriotic politician. His fiery nature and turbulent personal and political life have been ascribed to his Albanian heritage. He was once saluted by Giuseppe Verdi as ‘the great patriot’ and streets in Italy are still named after him to this day.

One of the towers at
Castello di Poggio Diana

Travel tip:

Ribera, the birthplace of Francesco Crispi, is a town of almost 18,000 inhabitants situated about 50km (31 miles) from Agrigento on the southwest flank of the island of Sicily. Sometimes known as "the city of oranges" it sits on the Plain of San Nicola, between the valleys of the Verdura and Magazzolo rivers. The town's main sights include the 18th century Chiesa Madre, which remained closed for more than 30 years following an earthquake in 1968 but has been restored. Outside the town, on a gorge overlooking the Verdura river, is the Castello di Poggio Diana, built by Guglielmo Peralta in the 14th century. Agriculture is the town's main industry, involving the cultivation and marketing of the Washington navel orange - introduced by emigrants returned from the United States - and strawberries. 

The Via Francesco Crispi is in the heart of
Rome's historic city centre

Travel tip:

Many streets in Italy take the name of Francesco Crispi. The Via Francesco Crispi in Rome bisects the historical centre of the city between Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Barberini, a few minutes' walk away from the Villa Borghese, Piazza del Popolo and the Trevi Fountain. The Volpetti family's gourmet food business, established in 1870, is located on Via Francesco Crispi, as is the historic Crispi 19 restaurant, opened in 1873, and the upmarket Marini shoe shop. The street is also home to the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, a former16th-century monastery now turned museum housing a large collection of works by late 19th and early 20th century artists including  Giacomo Balla, Carlo Carrà, Arturo Dazzi, Giorgio de Chirico, Renato Guttuso, Giacomo Manzù and Giorgio Morandi.

Also on this day: 

1612: The death of Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli

1861: The birth of anarchist Luigi Galleani

1943: The death of mountaineer and photographer Vittorio Sella

1990: The birth of football Mario Balotelli

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Sette e mezzo: The Palermo revolt of 1866

Insurgents took control of city after a major uprising 

Sicily had seen previous uprisings in the 19th century,
such as this depicted in 1860 during the unification campaign

The Sette e mezzo revolt - so named because it lasted seven and a half days - began in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, on this day in 1866.

The uprising - five years after the island became part of the new Kingdom of Italy - brought to the surface the tensions that existed in southern Italy following the Risorgimento movement and unification.

It was put down harshly by the new government of Italy, who laid siege to the city of Palermo, deploying more than 40,000 soldiers under the command of General Raffaele Cadorna.

It is not known exactly how many Sicilians were killed before the revolt was subdued. Several thousand died as a result of a cholera outbreak that swept through Palermo and the surrounding area, but it is thought that more than 1,000 may have been killed as a direct consequence of the siege.

Sicily did not take well to the imposition of a national government, bringing with it plans to modernise the traditional economy and political system. New laws and taxes and the introduction of compulsory military service caused resentment. There was a feeling also that the industrialisation of Italy was too heavily concentrated in the north, with little investment being made in the south.

Government officials installed in new municipal offices were almost exclusively from the north and many seemed to regard Sicilians almost as barbarians.

General Raffaele Cadorna led the troops
who were ordered to crush the revolt

The local ruling elites frequently tried to undermine attempts by the national government to establish a police force and a liberal justice system and from 1861 onwards there were a series of small uprisings, often encouraged by local brigands who feared for the future of their own criminally acquired wealth.

On the morning of September 16, 1866, however, something much bigger and organised took place, with thousands of people from villages around Palermo gathering at the edge of the city, under the command of some of the island’s disenfranchised former political leaders.

Many were armed, some as the result of storming small government army garrisons. More than 4,000 attacked the prefecture and police headquarters, killing the inspector general of the Public Security Guard Corps. 

Similar violence took place in neighbouring towns as word of the Palermo uprising spread, including Monreale, Altofonte and Misilmeri. It is thought that there were possibly as many as 35,000 insurgents in Palermo and its province.

On September 22, seven and a half days after the rioters had begun to mobilise around Palermo, the fighting ceased.  The rioters had control of the city and the organised nature of their campaign became clear when a Revolutionary Committee was formed. The secretary was Francesco Bonafede, a follower of the northern revolutionary, Giuseppe Mazzini, and its membership included many figures from the traditional Sicilian aristocracy, including princes, barons and even clergymen, among them the Archbishop of Monreale, Monsignor Benedetto Purchase.

Yet the response of the new national government was uncompromising. On September 27, ships of the Italian Royal Navy bombarded Palermo, destroying the homes of hundreds of citizens, after which the cholera outbreak only accelerated, eventually claiming almost 4,000 victims.

Bandit groups were blamed for stirring
up anti-government sentiments

The  bombardment paved the way for 40,000 troops to be landed in the city, a force ultimately too powerful for the insurgents. House-to-house fighting destroyed still more buildings and rioters were rounded up and summarily executed. Almost 2,500 citizens were arrested, although fewer than 200 were ultimately convicted.

Army casualties were put at just over 200, along with 42 policemen. The number of insurgents killed is unknown and the estimated figure of 1,000 is probably an under-estimate.

Although this uprising was ultimately quelled, Sicily’s problems did not go away. Outbreaks of less organised violence continued, often blamed on local bandits, and the island’s economic difficulties led to increased emigration, particularly to the United States. Left-wing political groups gained popularity.

Yet Italy’s politicians on the mainland never effectively dealt with the economic imbalance between the north and south and this can be blamed, along with the dismantling of the traditional structures of society, for the growth and influence of organised crime in the shape of the Sicilian Mafia, as well as the Camorra in Naples and its surrounds, the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria and other groups.

Palermo's magnificent Cathedral of the 
Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Travel tip:

Although Palermo has long been associated with the Mafia and organised crime, visitors to the city would normally witness nothing to suggest that the criminal underworld has any influence on daily life.  The Sicilian capital, on the northern coast of the island, is a vibrant city with a wealth of beautiful architecture bearing testament to a history of northern European and Arabian influences.  The church of San Cataldo on Piazza Bellini is a good example of the fusion of Norman and Arabic architectural styles, having a bell tower typical of those common in northern France but with three spherical red domes on the roof, while the city’s majestic Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary includes Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical elements. Palermo’s opera house, the Teatro Massimo is the largest in Italy and the third biggest in Europe.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova at Monreale
is described as the finest Norman building in Sicily

Travel tip:

Monreale, which was also the scene of an uprising in 1866,  is an historic hill town about 12km (7 miles) west of Palermo. Its Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova and the adjoining cloisters have been described as the finest Norman buildings in Sicily, its extravagant features in part down to the competition with Palermo to build the island’s greatest cathedral. The buildings have their origin in the 12th century, commissioned by the Norman ruler William II. Mosaic making is still taught in Monreale today, with many workshops around the town. The local cuisine is a mix of traditional Sicilian and cookery of Arab origins. 

Also on this day:

1797: The birth of Sir Anthony Panizzi, librarian at the British Museum

1841: The birth of revolutionary politician Alessandro Fortis

2005: The arrest of Camorra boss Paolo di Lauro

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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

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

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

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

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

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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2 June

The death of Giuseppe Garibaldi

Unification hero spent last days on his island off Sardinia

The Italian revolutionary and patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi died on this day in 1882 on the Sardinian island of Caprera.  The 74-year-old former military general and left-wing politician, whose Expedition of the Thousand was a major factor in completing the unification of Italy, had spent much of the last 27 years of his life on the island.  Increasingly confined to bed because of crippling arthritis, he was living on his farm with his third wife, Francesca Armosino, when he passed away.  Knowing he was fading, in the days before his death Garibaldi had asked for his bed to be moved close to a window, from which he could gaze at the emerald and sapphire sea.  He has asked for a simple funeral and cremation, and had even nominated the place on the island where he wished his body to be burned, in an open coffin, with his face to the sun.  He had hoped his ashes would be handed over to ordinary Italians, to be mixed with the earth in a place where a garden might grow as a symbol of the new Italy.  But his wishes were ignored. His body at first remained in his four-poster bed, guarded by a soldier and a sailor, while a succession of people filed past to pay their respects.  Read more…

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Festa della Repubblica

Parades and parties celebrate the birth of the republic

Italy is today celebrating the anniversary of becoming a republic on this day in 1946. Each year the country has a national holiday to commemorate the result of the referendum which sent the male descendants of the House of Savoy into exile.  Following the Second World War and the fall of Fascism, the Italian people were called to the polls to vote on how they wanted to be governed. The result signalled the end for the monarchy.  In normal times, a grand military parade takes place in Rome, attended by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.  Many cities throughout Italy hold their own celebrations as the day is an official bank holiday.  In April 1944, the reigning King, Victor Emmanuel III, had relinquished many of his powers to his heir, Crown Prince Umberto.  He finally abdicated in 1946 and Umberto II ascended the throne. It had been thought that Umberto II and his Queen would be more acceptable to the people. But Umberto II has gone down in history as Il Re di Maggio, the King of May, as he reigned for only 40 days before being sent into exile.  Umberto II accepted the results of the referendum magnanimously and his family remained in exile until 2002.  Read more… 

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Roberto Visentini - cyclist

One half of the Giro d’Italia’s most controversial duel

Roberto Visentini, the Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1986 Giro d’Italia but the following year was a central figure in the most controversial race since the historic tour of Italy began, was born on this day in 1957 in Gardone Riviera.  The son of a wealthy undertaker from Brescia, Visentini had been an Italian and a world champion at junior level in 1975 and won the Italian national time-trial championship in 1977 as an amateur, before turning professional in 1978. Despite his success, he was not universally respected by his peers, some of whom felt his penchant for fast cars and a playboy lifestyle were not in keeping with what was traditionally a working-class sport.  The Giro was always his focus. Riding for the Inoxpran team, he was runner-up in the 1983 edition behind his fellow countryman Giuseppe Saronni and looked set to win the event two years later, holding the race leader’s pink jersey for nine consecutive stages to the half-way point, only to become unwell, dropping back to finish 49th overall behind the Frenchman Bernard Hinault.  In 1986, now with the Carrera team, Visentini finally claimed the prize as his own.  Read more…

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