Chapter 17
The Carbonari and the reasons for the insurrection of 1820 -The barricades of the’48 in Naples – revolt in Calitri – The bourbon reaction – Savage murders: Ninetta. – Epidemic and construction of the cemetery outside of the Comune..
Without a doubt, the reforms implemented by Giuseppe Bonaparte and by Gioacchino Murat had a profound renewing effect on the life of our people: «the harvest, which was prepared for by a century of effort on land that was plagued by more centuries of dark struggle and conflicting desires — land that was bathed with sweat and tears —…[1] –wrote Croce – was reaped.» But the legislation and the systems of the French government — even if better than the preceding governments — often offended centuries-old and important local customs and were condemned for their excessive, oppressive tax system. Imbued by rancor, disappointment, and weariness, a profound sense of distrust and even hate spread throughout village against the French. Therefore, after the defeat of Napoleon, the restoration of Ferdinand I of Bourbon, in May of 1815, was enthusiastically greeted by many.[2] However, this illusion was very quickly shattered. While the bourbon monarchy entered onto its road or into its fatal decline, the Jacobins – or rather i patriotti [The Patriots] – as they were then called – who had gotten the worst of it and in whose ranks bloody gaps had been opened, grew in spiritual vigor and in intellectual maturity, as Croce said. In order to implement their liberal program better, the patriots met in secret societies, such as the Carboneria[3], who had the most members among the lower officers of the ex-Murattanian [referring to Goacchino Murat, see footnote 3] army, among the lower middle classes who lived in the province, and among the malcontents of the new regime. In Principato Ultra, the Carboneria had made numerous proselytes [converts], so much so that «it included, in proportion, more liberals than the other regions.» [4] Each city, each Comune had its own vendita [lodge][5] with names that pledged a program of virtue and patriotism. There was even a vendita of Carbonari established in Calitri, whose name I have not been able to ascertain: the main partisans were Francesco Tozzoli, Luigi Berrilli, and Giovanni Cioglia. The result of these liberal schemes and of the long wait for constitutional guarantees was the revolution of 1820. It began from Nola, on the night between the 1st and 2nd of July 1820, the shout of liberation, when the sottotenenti[Second Lieutenants] Silvati and Morelli with a hundred carbonaro sottufficiali [Noncommissioned officers] and soldiers deserted, heading towards Avellino to unite with Lieutenant Colonel De Concilj. The cry of liberty spread over the whole Irpinia, finding enthusiastic followers everywhere. In addition, the circondario [neighborhood] of San Angelo dei Lombardi «was marked by two companies of voluntary legionnaires: the first headed by Don Michele Stentalis of the Carbonara, the second headed by Don Francesco Tozzoli of Calitri.» The revolution took place in four days, and did so without bloodshed. The Monarchy was forced to swear to the Constitution. For Calitri, here is what the Intendente [director]G. B. Rega, who was formerly Secretary General of the Intendenza [district]of Principato Ultra said: «D. Francesco Tozzoli, Don Luigi Berilli, and Don Giovanni Cioglia were the principal partisans before the period of July 1820, and these partisans continued to be the promoters during the sad time of the nine months [that is up to March 7, 1821, when the penal action against the partisans was declared ended,] sustaining all the subversive consequences of that period.[6] »
Very quickly, however, the constitutional liberties that had been torn away with the violence were submerged and the reaction against whomever had participated in the rebellion of 1820 was ruthless: in addition to those condemned to exile, to jail, and to the gallows, the magistrates and the employees suspected or accused of partisanship were removed. Consequently, Arcangelo Berrilli, an employee of the Comune and Francesco Nicola Nicolais, chancellor of the same commune were removed from their jobs; the foresters Michelangelo Ciciora and Francesco Rabasca were also relieved of their duties.[7]
But soon afterwards, in January of 1821, in Lubiana, Ferdinando I of Bourbon, violating the oath taken in July, declared, before the congress, that the constitutional concessions had been torn from him by violence; therefore he annulled them, accepting that the restoration was done by force by the Austrian army. Shouts of betrayal from the patriots were useless. The principle of foreign intervention had triumphed. Therefore, Austria sent a well-trained and disciplined army against the final survivors of the Carboniera, which army, on March 23, 1821, entered Naples. Austrian cavalry and infantry units occupied Avellino on March 27 and from here detachments struck out for the Comuni that had been greatly compromised because of carbonaro fervor. A mobile column was also sent to Calitri, and reached the Comune on the morning of August 4. Ignoring the true goal of that foreign garrison, rather believing that it came to safeguard constitutional liberties, all the citizens with the authorities and the village worthies at their head went to meet them: it was like a feast, an orgy; the population streamed into the countryside, fraternizing and camping with the soldiers between hefty meals and festive songs.[8] The troops were billeted in the Church of S. Bernadino outside the walls. Very quickly, however, the Austrians «who were rude in the provinces,» — in the judgment of one historian — abused the cordial hospitality, even in Calitri. The insolence had a limit, when those soldiers began to offend and undermine the honor of our women. One woman of the lower classes, named Lucia (Savanell?) — nicknamed Muscia — wanted to avenge the honesty of the Calitrano woman and, at the bellicose cry of «pugna pro patria» [a blow for the fatherland] managed to kick, with a popular uprising, the Austrian soldiers out of Calitri. This was on August 13, 1821. Still today, in the tradition of our people, the proud memory is alive, although the people, confusing — as often happens —names and details, attribute the event to the expulsion of the French soldiers. One proverb: «Mo facimo li tirrice r austo» [Now we will do the thirteenth of August], which still is cited as a serious threat in fights and protests of the people, makes one understand how violent and bloody that reaction had been.[9]
Despite these sporadic episodes of revolt and intolerance, Austria consolidated its predominance in our provinces, and only in February 1828 did the Austrian troop garrison leave the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The succession at short intervals of plotting and revolt in the Mezzogiorno was an eloquent indication of the state of mind of the people, who were longing for freedom and independence. There were other insurrections: In 1847, Messina erupted, and the insurrection was put down with bloodshed; January 12, 1848, Palermo revolted with great fury. King Ferdinand II resorted to the most ruthless reaction, to the point of the bombardment of the defenseless city. The Calitrano Francesco Simone son of Canio (1823-1912) took part in the repressive actions in Sicily. He was a soldier in the Bourbon army; and for his acts of valor, was decorated by the King with the Medaglia d’oro [Gold Medal] and given the Croce di Cavaliere dell’ordine di S. Giorgio. [Cross of the knight of the order of St. George.][10] Because of such revolts, Ferdinand II, frightened by obscure threats of losing his crown, transformed himself into a liberal sovereign and swore to the Constitution (January 29, 1854). A shout of joy echoed throughout all the Mezzogiorno. In Calitri, the liberals, exulted because of the great event, gathered around Mayor Michele Tozzoli son of Donatantonio (1801 – 1856), who, placing himself at the head of the people, went throughout the village, waving flags and singing hymns to liberty. After the demonstration, the mass of people went to the chiesa-madre, where the archpriest Don Pasquale Berrilli, who had the true soul of a patriot, spoke with ardent warmth on the advantages that the constitution brought. However, the short days of living free were followed by strong disappointments, up until the tragic Neapolitan events of May 15, the day established for the opening of Parliament. In anticipation of demonstrations, the King ordered the garrison to occupy, that day, the central points of the city. The population, outraged at new restraints, rose up unanimously, obstructing the squares and the main roads of the center with barricades. There was a unanimous and violent shout of revolt, but it was easily suppressed by the Swiss. On that epic day – which saw political passions reanimated – the young Calitrani Giuseppe Tozzoli (1826 –1881) and Pietrantonio Cioffari (1826 – 1886) – this last a student intern at the Royal College of Medicine – who ran the barricades to fight with fearless boldness, distinguished themselves by acts of valor and by their love of liberty. Another of our citizens, Don Gaetano Margotta, had contributed propaganda to the insurrectional movement of 1848. Margotta directed in Naples «a flowering study of young people»[11] He was among the most seen men in Naples, being surrounded by patriots, who were drawn into his orbit of old and stubborn conspiratorial ideas. In the unappeased Bourbon reaction of 1848-1849, following a complaint, «a legal surprise» was carried out at his house on the morning of March 15, 1849. Some professors and students were meeting in his home and they were unable to justify the goal of their meeting. But, unfortunately, «on these same students and in the place where they were sitting» were found many copies of a pamphlet with the title «Grande Società dell’Unita Crisitana» [Great society of Christian unity], some notes of persons perhaps members of that meeting, a paper entitled Agli sgherri svizzeri di Ferdinando secondo [on the Swiss mercenaries of Ferdinand II], as well as various letters. Everybody present was placed under arrest. The investigation diligently conducted by the police uncovered two letters, directed to Don Gaetano Margotta: one sent from Venice, in August 1848, and it was written by his nephew, Giovanni Margotta, «one of the party volunteers for Lombardia, in which liberty and Italian independence was spoken of in exalting terms.» The other was written by a brother of his, named Michele — residing in Calitri — who warned him «do not write to him of political affairs for fear of compromising each other.»[12] The whole family was filled with strong liberal feelings, the Margottas, whose members, however far away they were from each other, kept their relationships warm because of their supreme ideal of liberty and country!
Having completed the interrogations «in which Margotta tried hard — as the examination revealed — to show that he knew nothing of the meetings conducted in his home and about individuals unknown to him…» all the defendants were sent to jail, to be at the disposal of the judicial authority. In jail, Margotta, who was fifty years old, «never lost his spirit — with the result that he was tortured intensely by the head of the police, a man named Campagna, who beat him savagely with his fists.[13]However, every effort of the cop to tear the truth out of him and the name of the accomplices was shattered by Margotta’s steadfastness. After having passed eighteen months in S. Maria Apparente jail, there began that abominable and memorable trial that lasted eight months, with sixty four hearings, and which closed with the savage sentence of the generous people, which was pronounced by the Gran Corte Criminale with the judgment of February 1, 1851: Margotta was sentenced to eight years of primo grado di ferri,[to be held always in irons] under the accusation of being enrolled in the «sect of Christian Society.» Shortly after the sentence, the “condanatti ai ferri” [those condemned to irons] were lead to the Darsena: here, on the bench, with everybody watching, their hair was cut, and they were dressed in the jail tunic and fit with irons, two by two, with very heavy chains which, fixed at the feet with a large ring, rendered the two men indissolubly united, night and day, the one the slave of the other. Margotta, because of his priestly dignity, was relieved of carrying the chain; but among the other unspeakable torments, he was conducted to the jail bath of St. Stefano, where he served his entire sentence together with many eminent patriots, among whom were — to cite a few — C. Poerio, S. Spaventa, and L Settembrini: this last was given honorable mention in his «Ricordanze [Rememberances]»[14] He finished serving his sentence in 1859, just before the liberation of the Kingdom of Naples.[15]
Having repressed the insurrectional movement with blood, the royal absolutism was reaffirmed with arrests and merciless persecutions. This was, however, the first act of the drama. The liberals, defeated in the city, tried revenge in the provinces, which had passionately followed the Neapolitan events of May 14. And the oppressed liberty sparkled its last in Calitri, where, as soon as the first news of the barricades reached it, there was an anti-dynastic demonstration. The occasion arose on the festival of Saint Canio – May 25 – and the first impulse was given by the young priest Don Domenico Cerrata, one of the most ardent of liberals. Cerrata, who enjoyed great popularity, put himself at the head of the concerto bandistico [band concert] that played in the piazza for the feast of the Patron Saint, had — he was such an enthusiast of musical harmony — the notes of the patriotic hymns ring out among shouts of «Death to tyranny! Long live liberty!» A wave of ardent patriotism overcame almost the whole population. In the enthusiasm, a large portrait of the king was taken from the sacristy of the Royal Confraternity of S. Michele, which portrait became a target of ridicule and vituperation, while Canio Russo, an old conspirator, exposed the tricolore. [Italian flag]. This was the signal of a true and proper anti-bourbon demonstration, in which participated not only the liberale [liberal] parties, but also the more advanced party, which was then called repubblicana [republican]. While, however, the anti-dynastic demonstrations wound through the streets, the contadini [peasants] – who were mostly in favor of the Bourbons – staged a counter demonstration. A conflict was about to erupt; but the liberali, not being able to struggle against the people rendered bolder by the protection of the authorities and the cops, preferred to confront them individually, and after a few hours the crowd was dispersed and the movement suppressed in its birth. The consequence was that which was to be expected: a morbid desire of vengeance of the authorities loyal to the bourbon dynasty. No citizen was safe, who, in the last thirty years, had manifested feelings hostile to the royal absolutism. There were persecutions, visits to the home, complaints against honest citizens and against whomever else had shown themselves to be favorable to the Constitution. However, more than the persecution by the government, the ones in Calitri who were loyal to the Bourbons were molested. They, because of inveterate family hatreds, rendered it more serious and more overwhelming. A rancorous and detailed denunzia[16][complaint] was delivered by the Capo-urbano, Angelomaria Melaccio, to the Gran Corte Criminale di Avellino, and there were mentioned in it as many as fifty righteous citizens – suspected of liberal ideas – who, subject to criminal proceedings, managed to avoid jail; but were marked for special surveillance of the police as political attendibili[17], with the loss of any public employment.
Closely related to the above referred complaint is a supplica [pleading], which has a frankly reactionary content, that is sent by the ex-marchese of Calitri, Francesco Maria Mirelli, to King Ferdinand II: one of the many pleadings that, sent from every province in the kingdom, must have almost destroyed or balanced out the acrid protests of the liberals for the full application of the Constitution. Such pleadings were published in the newspaper «Il Tempo.» The ex-marchese [Marquis] Francesco Maria Mirelli, who resided in Calitri,[18] not having seen the pleadings of Principato Ultra filed in 1849, sent a personal one of them dated April 5, 1850 from Calitri. In it, one reads, among other things: «… I am obliged to notify you that, in October of the last year, this Province humbly presented these same pleadings to the sublime Monarch. And truly, in that month, five hundred farmers of this vast land of mine, the majority well off, all honest and good, many priests, and many rich land owners, added their prayers to mine for the annulment of the Statuto, which stance others of like mind follow, which pleadings were also covered with a large number of signatures, and has been authenticated by Signor Luongo, a notary in Andretta. In November, then, I had the resolutions of the decurionate, which is composed of as much as 13 Comuni of this district, with which the fervent wishes of modest, hard-working, and religious inhabitants of the same district were demonstrated to the king, in order that the Statuto be quickly nullified. And as, because of my infirmities, I will not be able to go into Caserta in order to place those solemn decurional acts at the foot of the throne, I therefore without delay sent them to Intendente Terzi [of Principato Ultra], for my good chaplain Don Vincenzo Cerretta and for the valorous Don Angelo Melaccio, the old capo urbano of Calitri.»[19]
Despite these innocuous and sporadic maneuvering of bourbonic reactions — prepared in the secret darkness of the domestic environment of the ex-marchese F. Mirelli – the spirit of liberty floated into the higher social and educated classes. The priest Don Giuseppe Cerrata (1824 – 1857), an ardent soul of patriotism and intolerant of any tyranny, on the first Sunday of October, 1851 – on the occasion of the fair which was much frequented by strangers – held a discussion against the Bourbon government, from where he was placed under arrest also for other similar charges and subjected to criminal proceedings. Having been sentenced, he was held in the district jails of Carbonara until 1854. Moreover, in the liberal environment, he put together a vast partisan association with the goal of favoring the ascent of Luciano Murat to the throne of Naples. An anonymous complaint of February 1858 passed on twelve citizens[20] to the authorities. In light of these serious accusations, the inquest was opened. The witness, Salvatore Rapolla, was the only person to uphold the accusation, asserting that he had intervened, many times, in the secret meetings, which began on June 1, 1857 and lasted until the debarkation of the Pisacane[21] expedition to Sapari. Moreover, Rapolla managed to depose what those partisans stated at the meetings: «the devil reigned, so long as the bourbon dynasty was hunting for them.» Through many contradictions in which Rapolla fell, the insincerity of his deposition was recognized. And although the political precedents of 1848 weighed on all the defendants, even the Gran Corte Criminale [High Criminal Court] of Avellino, with the judgment of September 12, 1858 declared «with a unanimous vote» not to give in to precedent and acquitted them of the crime ascribed to them.[22]
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After the great and important political events with their consequent reactionary intrigues, we go on to tell of the lesser events – for the most part lamentable – that have also their own importance beside the large events. Life is made of light and shadow. Our peaceful population remains profoundly impressed by a savage crime. Raffaella Pignone – nicknamed Ninetta – who was of rare beauty but of delicate spirit, betraying her conjugal vows, had become the lover of Canio Scilimpaglia. With the complicity of the paramour, she killed on April 21, 1830 her husband Vincenzo Di Milia (Spaccacipodde), with cynical and blood-curdling savagery, driving a sharp roasting spear into his temple and hiding his body. Unknowing witnesses were the children themselves, six-year-old Michele and four year old Donato.
The Gran Corte Criminale of Avellino sentenced the criminals to death. Scilimpaglia’s sentence was carried out in Avellino; La Pignone, instead, had to be decapitated in Calitri, in order to make an example of her. The Government advertised the decapitation widely, also making use of posters placed in the outlying villages. An enormous crowd of strangers rushed in from everywhere. The wretched woman arrived from Avellino on the day before her execution, accompanied by the executioner, by a large contingent of cavalry, and by Don Pasquale DiBiasi, the archpriest of Guardia dei Lombardi, who was there for religious comfort. The wretched woman passed the night in vigil in the Capella del Carmine [Chapel of Mount Carmel] — which is today S. Michele — where she was administered the last rights of the church. Since the early hours of June 23, 1832, Croce square was packed with an unbelievable crowd of people. In the center of the square rose somberly the stage with the patibolo[scaffold]. Towards seven AM, a prolonged roll of drums resounded in the loud murmuring of the crowd: The condemned woman advanced slowly, flanked by the Archpriest De Biasi, in the middle of a double line of soldiers. A wave of emotion and terror invaded the multitude. La Pignone, ashen and beaten, ascended to the stage, looked around dazed and asked pardon of the crowd, which quietly shivered because of the imminence of the execution, for the scandal she had given; the repentance was clearly read on that face that was destined to die. The drums gave the signal and the wretched woman was decapitated. She was just twenty-eight years old, being born on January 18, 1802 of Michele and of Anna Bozza.
In the life of the people there frequently happen scenes of sorrow and of death both singly and collectively, which then are a reflection itself of life. A few years later, cholera raged with unprecedented violence, spreading panic and death. Calitri was hit head on, with lethal effects. At the first attack — which took place at the end of July 1837 — the population became very apprehensive. This apprehension increased markedly when the virulence of the contagion caused, in August, a mortality of around thirty persons. The epidemic reached its peak in the first half of September with one hundred thirty dead; then it began to diminish and, in October, the number of dead descended to twenty-five. In all, 192 victims were mourned.
After only a year, another deadly epidemic, which was no less lethal than the preceding, hit both our population and the whole of the Irpinia. In April of 1841, a mainly intermittent, tertian type fever became manifest. Moving from the spring to the summer — which was extremely hot and had sudden jumps in temperature — the epidemic became more serious. The fever was no longer intermittent, but continuous. In addition, the skin was dry, the head painful, and the thirst great. Some people showed signs of delirium, muscle spasms, yellow eyes, and a rapid pulse.[23]Meanwhile, the peasants returned from the work of the harvest in Puglia. They were malnourished, tired, and burned by the sun. They, finding the environment already infected and with their body weak, did not resist and these were the first people who fell ill with «the most frighteningly dangerous tertian fevers [malaria] and above all with double tertian fever.»[24] The disease became, in short epidemic, and from the end of July throughout September of 1841, it was continually growing with forty dead in August and fifty in September. It began to decrease with forty dead in October, and remained almost stationary in November with thirty dead, until toward the middle of December, it completely disappeared. Calitri, which numbered then 6000 inhabitants, paid a large tribute to the deadly disease, with two hundred dead.[25]
The high mortality, which the two epidemics caused, lead the Amministrazione Comunale to examine the law that, having abolishing the macabre and unsanitary custom of burial in the church, made it obligatory for the Comuni to construct a cemetery far away from the habitat, fuori dei guardi pietosi [away from the sad looks]. There was no lack of opposition and diversity of opinion. Finally, having overcome all the difficulties, in 1851 the location was chosen and the construction of the surrounding wall was begun. The construction of the public chapel and of the Fossa del Purgatorio [grave of Purgatorio] that was erected by the Confraternity of Purgatorio and Pio Monte dei Morti under the title of S. Michele Arcangelo was also started. Consequently, the public and private tombs in the various churches were also ordered closed, and the large common grave — which was called Bocca d’oro [mouth of gold] which, having been excavated in the Sacrato [Sagrato, parvis] of the chiesa-madre, collected the mortal remains of the other tombs. The new extra-mural cemetery was unable to accept all the dead from the cholera epidemic of 1854, when this epidemic caused, in August, twenty five deaths. In September the deaths grew to eighty dead, and there were even more in October with one hundred dead. The Amministrazione Comunale, presided over by the mayor Luigi Stanco, felt, therefore, the need bury the cholera victims on a remote corner of the Pascone, toward Ripa di Mare, where the piety of the survivors erected, in memory, a modest little monument in masonry with a funeral inscription and an image of the Madonna, named, therefore, the Madonnella. The negligence of man and the action of the weather have razed that funeral memory to the ground, and today, not a Cross, not an inscription, recalls, over those poor deceased, the attention and the piety of the living![26]
[1] B.[Benedetto] Croce, Storia del regno di Napoli,[History of the Kingdom of Naples] Bari, 1931, page 236-7.
[2] King Ferdinand I of Bourbon, with the Royal Decree of July 20, 1819, gave authorization for an annual fair to be held in Calitri. Cfr. Bulletino delle leggi e decreti del regno delle due Sicilie, [Bulletin of the laws and decrees of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies], 1819 (2 semesters) Pag. 30.
[3] Carboneria was a secret society founded in Italy at the very beginning of the XIX century. It played an important role in the political life of the country. The most credited origin is an extension of Masonry, introduced in Italy from the French invaders of Napoleon’s troops. It is possible that the failure of the campaign of Gioacchino Murat – husband of Napoleon’s sister (Carolina) and King of Naples since 1808, who was seeking to get power overall Italy in 1815 – lead his supporters to organize themselves in secret groups. There was no link among the different groups, even inside them members knew only a few of the others. This exaggerated secrecy was one of the causes of the failure of Carboneria. By the way, it was exported outside the Italian borders too, in France and Spain. The movement ended about 1840. There were many riots and failed revolutions inspired by Carbonari (pl. of Carbonaro) during the first half of the XIX century: on July 1820 at Naples, on March 1821 in Piedmont (Biella), on 1828 in the Two Sicilies Kingdom (in the area about Salerno, known as Cilento). They used horizontal tricolors in blue, black and red, in different orders. The origin and meaning of those colors is unknown, nevertheless blue and red were the colors of Murat, whilst black was in use in 1807 for the flags of Giuseppe Napoleone. Of course it is also the color of coal!
The highest achievement for Carboneria was the insurrection of 1820 at Naples. General Guglielmo Pepe lead the insurrection (he was a former officer of Murat and defender of the Partenopea [Neapolitan]Republic): the King, Ferdinando I, was compelled to accept a constitution on July 7 and on 21 the white flag of the Borboni received a cravat in the Carbonari colors of black, sky-blue, and red. The cockade in the same colors was to be used by everybody in the kingdom. On March 23, 1821 the Austrian troops restored the order.
[4] Cfr. Memorie sulle società segrete dell’Italia meridionale e specialmente sui carbonari [Memoirs of the secret societies of Southern Italy and especially the Carbonari] (translated from the English and written by Anna Maria Cavallotti) Roma, 1904, Page IX
[5] Vendita, in addition to meaning a sale, meant, in those days, a place in which the meetings of the Carboneria were held. It also means a group of members to such a secret society.
[6]State Archives in Naples, Ministero di polizia [Ministry of police] (1821-1822), Primo Ripartimento provinciale, [First provincial department] File 182 e 184.
[7] State Archives in Naples, Ministero di Polizia [Ministry of police] (1828-47), File 64
[8] This was the origin of the country festival of August 4, which is still celebrated in Calitri. Today both the feast and its historic significance are disappearing.
[9] The tradition has been handed down that, in the hurried flight of the Austrians, one of their soldiers fell in the peschiera [fish pond]of Berrilli, in the «Orto della corte» [court garden] locality and died there.
[10] Francesco Simone, left military service after the proclamation of the Regno ‘D’Italia [Kingdom of Italy], he withdrew to Calitri, where he lived until an old age ( March 4, 1912), keeping and demonstrating openly his profound feelings of attachment of the Bourbon dynasty.
[11] He was born in Calitri on July 30, 1799 from Vitantonio Margotta and Lucia Di Napoli. As a boy, he took the habit of the Minorite order and was ordained a priest. Because of his liberal ideas, he left the friary and withdrew to Naples in order to better explain his work of political propaganda, and in Naples, he opened a Private institute in Vico S. Nicola at Nilo 16.
[12] State Archives in Naples, Police Minister (1848 –50), fascio 88, No. 1032, anno 1949.
[13] M. D’Ajala, Vite degli’Italiani benemeriti della libertà e della patria, morti combattendo,[Lives of the Italians who were well deserving of liberty and of the fatherland, who died fighting] Firenze, 1868, page 247.
[14] L. Settembrini, Ricordanze della mia vita,[Memories of my life] con prefazione di F. De Sanctis,[preface by F. DeSanctis] 3. ed., Napoli, Morano, 1924, vol II pag. 250.
[15] Don Gaetano Margotta died in 1864, in Naples.
[16] The capo-urbano was the most hated man, after the royal judge: he was watching, denouncing, gave information to the Judge, to the Deputy Superintendent and to the Superintendent, on what was happening in the village.
[17] In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a person who is kept under surveillance by the police because they are suspected of liberalism.
[18] Francesco M. Mirelli was born on July 5, 1795, the son of Giuseppe. When the Bourbon monarchy was restored, with the return on the throne of Ferdinando I (May 23, 1815), Mirelli called to take part in the reconstituted Guardia del Corpo [Yeomen of the guard]. Because of the altercations that took place, continually, between the Napoletane and Sicilians of said Guardia, he decided to entrust to the fate of arms the cause of the two peoples, placing two champions facing each other, the Marchese Mirelli, Neapolitan, and the Marchese Crescimani, Sicilian. At the third discharge of the pistol, Mirelli fell hit by a bullet, which entered his abdomen. Having regained his health, he had weak and infirm life, and was no longer able to serve in the noble Guardie del Corpo. Because of the bad administration, his domestic patrimony had been greatly reduced. He withdrew, following the indeed sad events, to Calitri, where he led a modest and withdrawn life. And here he died on May 1, 1857.
[19] Arch. Storico Provinc. Di Benevento,[Historic archives of the Province of Benevento] Fondo Piccirilli[Piccirilli Estate], Fogli Volanti[Loose sheets]
[20] The following were denounced: Priest Don Pasquale Berrilli; Giovanni Stanco; Pietrantonio Cioffare; priest Don Vincenzo Cioffari; Francesco Michele Stanco, Michele Nicolais, Luigi Nicolais; Priest Don Vincenzo Nicola Berrilli; Nicola Vitamore, Mayor; Priest Don Nicola Berrilli fu Luigi; Giuseppe Di Masi, Communal Chancellor, and the lawyer Serafino Soldi of St Martino V. Caudina.
[21] Carlo Pisacane was a Bourbon army officer. Sapri is a Seaside resort located in the middle of Policastro Gulf. It is known from a historical point of view due to Carlo Pisacane and Giovanni Nicotera’s expedition (1857), during Risorgimento. They chose Sapri as landing place. A famous poem written by Luigi Mercantini (“La Spigolatrice di Sapri”[The gleaners of Sapri]) celebrates the event
[22] Arch. Prov di Avellino, Processi della Gran Corte Criminale,[proceedings of the High Criminal Court No. 185, Volume 3, col titolo: «Processa Setta Calitri —Trial of the Calitri group.»
[23] A. Mottola, Su la epidemia irpina del 1841, [On the Irpinian epidemic in 1841] in «Giornale Economico di Principato Ultra,»[Economic Newspaper of Principato Ultra] Avellino, 1842, pag. 181 – 192.
[24] P. P. Boscero, Su la epidemia irpina nel 1841, in «Giornale Econom. Di Principato Ultra»
[25] Another calamity hit our population and all of Irpinia in 1843: An extreme miseria [wretchedness]. From a relazione [report], which the Intendente of Principato Ultra sent to the Minister of the Interior on November 15, it was stated that «in the middle of spring of this year, the sky disposed itself to a long drought, without a drop until the end of September had restored the land… From such cause is derived paucity of the harvest… if the grain harvest has been meager, the corn harvest had collapsed. The potatoes, because of lack of moisture, are very small; the legumes are less than scarce.» State Archives in Naples, Ministro Polizia, Gabinetto, fascio 241. [Ministry of Police, Cabinet, file 241]
[26] I cannot close this sad chapter without noting another casualty, which took place on the night of March 9, 1847, causing fear and death. The large wall, which surrounded, to the east, the garden of the Benedictine monastery, because of the infiltration of water that fell in abundance in those days, all of a sudden broke. The debris rained down on the houses below, above all on the habitation of the notary Arcangelo Berilli (which is today the property of Giovanni Porro), where Signora Rosa Mafucci, Berrilli’s wife, and his seven year old daughter Luisa died and others were wounded.
Chapter 18
Earliest stages of the kingdom of Italy. – Carmine Donatelli (Crocco) and the psuedo-political brigandage. – Solemn entrance of Crocco and his band into Calitri. – Responsibility.
On May 22, 1859, in the midst of serious internal and external political problems, the young and inexperienced King Francesco II ascended to the throne of Naples. These problems made the work of his government very difficult. A few years later, Garibaldi started his epic and legendary expedition of the Mille [thousand] and the old realm of Napoli became part of the Kingdom of Italy. The people welcomed the great liberator with enthusiasm, and» — as the Captain’s report to the authorities states — Calitri, although it remained out of that insurrectional movement, also greeted the happy entrance of the General into Naples, «with salve [volleys] of rifle shot, fired by the Guardia Nazionale.» Along with the very rapid liberation of the Mezzogiorno, the supporters of the Bourbons organized a reactionary movement aimed at the restoration of the overthrown monarchy. In addition, the province of Principato Ultra — which must have recorded a whole series of episodes of blood and terror — was not among the last in the vast picture of this reaction. Unpleasant situations arose everywhere, above all in the small centers, where every liberation program was prompted by the Bourbon nostalgics, who worked in the shadows for the return of the past regime. Calitri had nothing to do with this reactionary movement, which was organized by secret agents of the dethroned dynasty. However, Calitri also had passionate supporters of the Bourbon Monarchy.
In support of the Kingdom of Italy and in defense of public order, the Guardia Nazionale [National Guard] was established in Calitri and was composed of well-known men as well as liberals. In November of 1860, the Corps of the Guardia Nazionale — which was commanded by the Major commanding the district of Montella — reached a strength of 190 soldiers, which formed a Company. [1] It was composed as follows: Capitano [Captain] Nicola Vitamore (1818–1903); luogotenenti – today sottotenente [Second Lieutenant] – Pasquale Cioffare, Guglielmo De Masi e Vincenzo Stanco; Sergenti [sergeants]: Alfonso Berrilli, Leonardo Gervasi, Salvatore Sacchitela; caporali [corporals]: Michele del Re, Michele Lampariello son of the late Vito Gaetano, Vito Di Maio; Militi [soldiers] Vincenzo Berrilli, Michele Capossela son of Canio, Felice Cerrata, Bartolomeo di Cairano, Antonio Di Maio son of Michele, Giuseppe Di Maio son of Luigi, Angelo Della Valva, Canio Galgano son of the late Giuseppe, Giovanni Iannolillo, Giuseppe Leone, Antonio Nicolais, Antonio Quaranta, Leonardo Rabasca son of the late Pietro, Pasquale Rabasca son of Michele, Michele Rapolla, Vitale Ricciardi, Gaetano Salvante, Vincenzo Tornillo, Michele Cerreta and others.
When, then, on October 21, 1860, all the citizens went to the Piazza to vote, all the citizens deposited their sì [yes], which was written on paper, into the ballot box that was brought up to the chapel as a demonstration of adherence to the new regime. As soon as the result of the vote was known – which was a true plebiscite as elsewhere – most of the citizens went to the church to sing the hymn of thanks and to listen to the very patriotic discussion held by Don Michele Nicolais. There were sincere manifestations of joy, and the solemnity of the plebiscite continued peacefully; but, towards evening, the population was deeply disturbed by the painful news that arrived from nearby Carbonara. The inhabitants of Carbonara, urged on by false promises and by hatred of the rich, acted recklessly and in an unprincipled manner, giving themselves over to slaughter and looting. It was a sad episode that did not last long but was very serious because it resulted in terror and violence. Using a thousand tortures, those inhabitants massacred the rich and the liberals of the village. The apprehension, then, became unsettling and worrisome to Calitri when, late at night, it was learned that a fellow citizen of ours, Nicola Di Napoli, had participated in that savage riotousness of collective ferocity. Di Napoli, who for some time had taken up residence in Carbonara, having found the twelve year old Michelino Stentalis – who had managed to escape the slaughter – took him by the foot and hurled him from le Ripe [the steep banks] into a deep gorge. Among all the reactions in our village, none was more brutal and violent than the one in Carbonara, today Aquilonia.[2]
The first indications of opposition to the new regime in Calitri were among the soldiers of the disbanded bourbon army, who — fearing that guilt would have been ascribed to them for having served the fallen dynasty and being disappointed because Francesco II was not immediately restored to the throne — disbursed throughout the countryside. There was noted in them, and there were many, a state of mind caused by perplexity and dejection; but they ended up returning to the village, where they were welcomed without hostility — but not without suspicion. Almost all took up their own occupations, always circumspect, fearing reprisals by the new government. To increase this state of tension, there spread, in January of 1861, the word – deviously spread by secret agents of the Comitato borbonico[3] – of an imminent restoration of Francesco II to the throne of Naples. The news, colored with hope and false impressions, infused courage in the dejected people, who were ex-soldiers, and the reaction began in Calitri, which was limited but threatening. On the first of March, in fact, the angriest ex-soldiers, who numbered about forty, abandoned their own homes and, armed, took refuge in the hills of San Zaccaria and Coste della Madonna, in anticipation of events. The instigator and soul of this kind of secession was Angelomaria Rapolla son of Salvatore, who was also an ex-soldier and blindly attached to the Bourbons (V 1919); among the most bitter we remember Donato Simone son of Giovane, Michele Vitamore son of Vitantonio — who was a former soldier in the squadron of mounted dragoons[4] — and his brother Vincenzo, nicknamed Zuzù.
Ignoring every moral law, the Bourbons, before going away, set the kingdom on fire: they dared to choose for their restoration the most infamous bandits and the most troubled elements of the former army, the so-called sbandati. [disbanded soldiers] The disbanded Bourbon army, therefore, was, just as in 1799, the nucleus of the brigandage, just as Basilicata and the neighboring areas of the high Irpinia were the great fields of its action. Aided by the secret Bourbonic Committees, the sbandati organized themselves and grew in number; others from Carbonara, from S. Andrea di Conza and from the neighboring villages were added to the nucleus of Calitrani, reaching a total number of about two hundred. With this strong apparatus, they prepared to assail Calitri on April 7. If necessary, they made preparations in secret, but not so secret that a similar threat did not come to be known by the Governor of Avellino, Nicola De Luca, who quickly sent a company of 30 men, delegating the Royal Judge Francesco De Simone – who was brought there to perform a special mission – to proceed to their preventive detention. The arrival of the soldiers averted not only the danger of an attack by the sbandati, but also drove back, on April 6, a band of over thirty outlaws, who were headed to increase the ranks of Carmine Donatelli – better known with the nickname Crocco – in the Lagopesole woods. That Crocco, who was a dedicated and bloody bandit, as well as being
Carmine Donatelli (Crocco)
very charming, and who, after organizing the political reaction with more than eight hundred well-armed and completely resolute brigands, had managed to attract among his hordes all the sbandati – including those from Calitri – as well as the reactionaries, the draft dodgers, and the criminals. To these internal supporters of the Bourbon Monarchy were added other idealistic, legitimist[5] foreigners, as well as « adventurous spirits, lovers of disorder, of strange cases and of unexpected fortune.»[6] The pseudo-political brigandage thus arose in the Lagopesole forest, through the work of and with money from the Bourbon dynasty, which was called – to use the words of Croce – once again, in his defense or to take his revenge, the dirty mob and he almost did not find any champions other than fierce and obscene brigands. Crocco had risen from a humble stable boy to a Bourbon General, a rank – by the accounts of kind historians – reconfirmed by Borjes, who was emissary of the ex-king Francesco II. The most important manifestations of pseudo-political banditry must have, undoubtedly, been recorded in the region of Vulture and in the neighborhood of the high Irpinia, because of the favorable conditions caused by man and the environment.
Before, then, entering the spring of 1861, Crocco – self-proclaimed Generale of Francesco II – concentrated his brigandish forces in the castle of Lagopesole, about four or five hundred men, who passed in review together with the Frenchman Langlais, who with three Neapolitan officers had reached Basilicata and joined with Crocco’s gang, declaring himself general and bearer of the verbal orders of King Francesco II.[7] With such a force, Crocco and Langlais started a reactionary[8] operation. On the night between April 7 and April 8 they invaded Ripacandida, where his band would be increased by approximately three hundred men.
Map of Area in Potenza where Crocco started in 1861
Itinerary of Crocco in the Spring of 1861
On April 10, he attacked Venosa, April 12, Barile, April 14, Lavello, and April 15 he entered Melfi, where he was feted by the population, and where he installed a provisional government.[9] Here, Crocco received the invitation to go to Calitri: the invitation came to him from the sbandati and from the nostalgic bourbons by means of the brothers Don Francesco (a priest) and Salvatore Ropolla and from the son of the latter, Angelomaria. Crocco willingly accepted the invitation; «not seeing other villages rising in revolt – in the judgment of Del Zio[10] – as the bourbon committee had led him to believe, and, fearing that the dictatorship would quickly end, which dictatorship was a parody of a provisional government.» He thought of abandoning Melfi, and he started out on the morning of April 18 to occupy other centers, taking with him about eight hundred men, all armed with the weapons brought by the Frenchman Langlais. They took the Ofanto road; where they headed to Monteverde, which they occupied without any effort between sacking and burning. The following day, driven away by two companies of soldiers, the gang headed for the Carbonara neighborhood, where he was welcomed by great jubilation. Here, Crocco renewed the scene of terror and robbery completed six months earlier by the local reactionaries – as has already been explained. Although he was given such a warm welcome, Crocco did not feel secure in Carbonara with his band, and that same evening of the 20th, having left a small garrison, he, along with the main part of his small band, took the road to Calitri, «where he knew that he would find proselytes, friends, and protectors.» And in truth, the most ruthless supporters of the Bourbons – Salvatore Rapolla and his son Angelomaria, the capuchin Padre. Fortunato Rabasca and others – had prepared the insurrectional movement with all kinds of tricks, letting the mass of people believe that the restoration of Francesco II to the throne of Naples had already happened, and that his soldati [soldiers] – as he thus qualified the brigands – were going from village to village, precisely, to announce the happy news. Rather, P. Fortunato managed to hold a discussion in the church – at the first Mass, which was mainly heard by the people – in order to persuade the population to have faith in the imminent arrival of the…soldati [soldiers] of Francesco II.
Crocco’s band, having left Carbonara the evening of the 20th, took the mule path that lead to Calitri, passing through the Serre district. He reached the Piani that were in sight of the village late at night, but he delayed his entrance until the following day – Sunday – in order to make a more solemn and impressive entrance. The brigands passed the night camping on and in the vicinity of the Di Maio’s. In Calitri, meanwhile, as soon as the Guardie Nazionali and the liberali knew that Crocco was approaching, they decided at first to use armed resistance and prevent his entrance. To such an end, in fact, they went around at night warning the people of the imminent danger and building a few barricades at the entrance of the village – at the little church of S. Rocco, at the church of the Immaculate Conception, and at the Posterla, – deploying the Guardie as far out as possible, using them as forward observers. However, the following morning, having noticed from a distance the number of outlaws, they dismissed any idea of resistance and preferred to get away from the village, prudently taking refuge in the nearby rocks and also in Pescopagano and Rapone. The night was passed in watchful waiting. On the morning of the 21st, a Sunday, the people saw the shapeless mass of the brigands leave the green expanse of the Piani and move as a group toward the village, making for the districts of Li Munti, Fontana della Noce, and Pittole. An enormous crowd of people gathered in the piano della Croce, directed by Salvatore Rapolla and by P. Fortunato, the true instigators of that bleak reaction. Behind a white flag, the multitude – formed mainly of the curious – moved like a single man, and, in the Pìttole district, they met with about two hundred brigands. Of these, ten were on horseback, the others were on foot, poorly armed, or equipped only with a large club. Some wore the uniform of the Bourbon army – these were the sbandati – the others were barefoot and ragged. Most were crude and ribald, and few had kind and distinguished manners, the so-called Tenente Colonello [Lieutenant Colonel] Vincenzo Mastronardi – who was previously a barber in Ferandina – and the Maggiore [major] Michele Larotonda of Ripacandida constituted his Stato Maggiore [general staff]. Then, in a long cortege, among the continuous waving of flags and white handkerchiefs, in the middle of two large groups of cheering people, they entered the village, to the shout of «Viva Francesco II! Ha vinto Francesco II! [Long live Francesco II, Francesco II has won!]. The bells pealed. Salvatore Rapolla, with a large white flag, preceded that horde of brigands. It was almost 9 AM, when they entered the village.
The two large groups of people flanked the outlaws during their entrance into the Zampaglione home, where Crocco took lodging with his Stato Maggiore. The incidents have not been verified, although Crocco boasted in his Autobiografia [autobiography] that «in Calitri, after a fierce struggle against the peasant soldiers, I had a splendid victory,»[11] unless for victory…he did not want to allude to the fact that, in passing in front of the Corpo di guardia, some brigands broke into a small establishment, destroying the Savoy coat of arms, the portraits of King Vittorio Emmanuele II and Garibaldi, and whatever else they found. It is to be noted, rather – on the testimony of an independent contemporary – that «the Guardia Nazionale wanted to defend the village, but as the invaders drew near, the mass of vassals of the Zampaglione lords, ardent bourbons and protectors of the sbandati, prepared to receive them peacefully with applause and white flags, so that the good citizens had to relinquish any thought of defense and had to save their life with flight, taking refuge in Pescopagano and Rapone. At the head of the Calitrano contadinume [peasant rabble] was one certain Salvatore Rapolla, ringleader of the people. I have already told about many villages that dealt with this trash, however not to repeat, I will keep quiet about Calitri, where rather they behaved benignly. I will note, nonetheless, that those shameless lechers wanted to storm into the cloister of Benedictine nuns; but the reactionaries themselves forbade entrance, making valid guards to those wretched virgins. General Grocco went to lay down sui soffici sofà [on the feathery sofa] of the Zampaglione lords, who artfully fled to Bisaccia…. With cunning foresight, as soon has he heard the expedition of regular troops, he went to Bisaccia, thus hoping not to compromise himself.»[12]
I lingered on this detail for a while in order to make the truth clear using contemporary and impeccable testimony. I studied the deed, interrogating many honest contemporaries, I examined Relazioni e Rapporti ufficiali [official reports] issued by the military and civilian authorities of the time, and I am convinced that Battista reflects, with great objectivity, the truth of the circumstances, and also the basic public accusation of the time. Among the many witnesses, I chose one, who was safe and unquestionable and who was referred to me by a contemporary of the Guardia Nazionale. The witness was Giovanni Iannollilo (V 1925). He and Antonio Nicolais, on the night preceding the arrival of Crocco, were on guard at the little church of the Carmine (today, St. Michele); around midnight, they saw a man come out of the habitat with some mules. They stopped him to ask him who he was and where he was going at that unusual hour. The man responded that he was a mulattiere [mule driver] of Zampaglione. Shortly after, in fact, Salvatore, Gaetano, and Giovanni Zampaglione passed by, who «artfully» went to Bisaccia. There was a moment of uncertainty about what to do. Nicolais proposed to shoot at the fugitives, but his colleague did not agree.
I do not intend to lay blame or aggravate responsibility. I sought to clear up the truth for the history books and I conclude believing for certain that the Zampaglione family, being farmers, more than for affection to the Bourbon dynasty – although Gaetano has been captain of the Royal Gendarmeria [Police station] and Knight of the order of Francesco I – was worried about its vast rural property and its livestock.
Crocco, then, with the brigand chiefs, resided in the Zampaglione house, while the rest of the band poured into the Piazza and the Sopra Corte[upper court], laying down on the ground and camping. On the same morning, to each brigand was paid the daily pay of six carlini (= 2.55 lire). As soon as he was installed in this seigniorial headquarters, Crocco gave orders that a careful watch be kept at the entrance to the village, and that the brigands mount a guard at the Zampaglione building, and that all the citizens turn over their weapons. The brigands stood in Calitri «as if they were the rightful lords, and they rested there as if they were in a comfortable room. The people were surprised at amazed by the unexpected turn of events, and discouraged by the flight and by the lack of the land owners, especially of the Zampiglione family, whom they were accustomed to seeing and following.»[13] During their short stay, the outlaws did not commit any robberies nor rape nor brutalities, both because of the advice of Salvatore Rapolla and because of the extreme vigilance of the mayor, Nicola Vitamore, who, with the red beret of a captain of the Guardia Nazionale – having combined in himself the two offices – remained in the courtyard of the Benedictine monastery, ready to oppose any breach by the horde of that sacred enclosure, where the lords of the more distinguished families had taken refuge to save themselves and their family wealth. The population did not suffer any serious damage, except «with a large tribute from the Comune and from the owners, I filled our coffers – wrote Crocco himself in his Autobiografia – preparing myself a good reserve of money for days of rest.»[14] The extortion notes were sent to the Comune for two hundred forty ducats, to Vito Bozza for an equal sum and to a few other owners: the extortion was done in writing, in an authoritarian and bombastic form: «by decree – it was said – of Francesco II, who gave full powers for that and for everything else to his General Crocco.»
[1] Il corpo di guardia was in Piazza (Via Roma) No. 10, where the business of A. Acocella is now.
[2] Cfr. F. Campolongo, The reaction the events of 1860 in Carbonara, now Aquilonia, and its criminal trial, Benevento, 1907, Page 17-63. In order to place a veil on such a massacre, on December 14, 1863, the Amministrazione Comunale changed the name of the village to Aquilonia.
[3] Since the middle of December 1860, the authorities indicated the presence in our district of the Bourbonic agent Girolamo Speciale of Salerno, and of two Romani of the same committee.
[4] A soldier in an old corps of mounted cavalry whose origin is connected to the mounted Italian harquebusiers
[5] Followers of legitimism: at the beginning of the 19th century, a current of thought and political attitude that, on the basis of anti-illusionistic positions and in contrast with the principles of the French revolution, supported the need to restore the ousted European dynasties.
[6] Carmine Donatelli, born at Rionero in Vulture, as a young man had been a vaccaro [cowboy] in the service of a gentleman of the village. Arrested for theft accompanied by violence, he was put in the jail in Cerignola; on the night between the 3rd and 4th of February 1861, he escaped from jail by drilling a hole in the ceiling of the prison and jumping from the second floor – as it appears from the atti[documents] kept in the provincial archives of Potenza (volume 7, misdeed No. 8). Throughout the winter, he hid in the forest of Monticchio and of Lagopesole. The Bourbon Monarchy having already fallen, he thought about taking advantage of it. And, — astute as he was — he originated psuedo-political brigandage, aided had guided in this movement by Bourbon emissaries. The first nucleus of the band was formed from farmers in the Lagopesole forest.
[7] He is properly called Augustin Marie Olivier de Langlais, and was a British gentleman, born in Nantes in 1822, and employed by French customs.
[8] Reaction [Reazione]is the opposition to every program of innovation, that is aimed at reestablishing a preceding political and social asset. A reactionary is one who is of this mind.
[9] B. Del Zio, Le agiatzioni nel Melfese, Il brigantaggio,[The conflicts in the Melfese, The Brigandage] Melfi, 1905, page 219 –238.
[10] B. Del Zio, Il brigante Crocco e la sua autobiografia, Melfi,[The brigand Crocco and his autobiography] 1903, Page 15
[11] E. Massi, Gli ultimi briganti della Basilicata [the last brigands of Basilicata](C. Crocco e G Caruso) with «Note Autobiografiche,» [Autobiographical notes] Melfi 1903, Page 46, Nella sua Autobiogafia «Certamente artefatta [certainly false] Crocco falsified the facts or exaggerated them, and almost always hid the truth» as Del Zio said. Also Croce [Critica, year XII, bundle V] defied the memoirs of Crocco as bugiarde [lies.].
[12] C. Battista, Reazione e brigantaggio in Basilicata, nella prmavera del 1861[Reaction and brigandage Basilicata, in the spring of 1861], Potenza 1861, page 59 and 76. Del Zio (Le agitazioni nel Melfese [Unrest in the Melfese][pag. 272 – 73), instead, he strives to exonerate the Zampaglione from such accusations and bring arguments that do not lead to the objective examination of the historical sources and of the events themselves. Battista was a contemporary and was present at the events; and by reason of his office he had to complete an inquest on the painful facts and report to his superiors «leaving aside – as he expresses himself – the necessary tact.»
[13] Cfr. «L’Irpino», newspaper of Principato Ultra, Avellino, March 14, 1861.
[14] Massa, Op. cit., Page 46 Some of the blackmail notes are reported in full, notes which were all drawn up in the same form.
Chapter 19
The brigands assail Calitri.- Heroic behavior of the population. – The capture and execution by firing squad of the brigands. – Emotional scene of a mother to save her son. – the Catalan Borjes..
The band of outlaws remained in Calitri until April 21. In the early hours of the following day, Crocco, informed of the approach of two companies of Bersaglieri[1], under the command of Maggiore [Major] Zenone, hurried to leave the village and head for Pescopagano. Toward ten AM, then, the brigands, guided by Angelomaria Rapolla and by a few other Calitrano Sbandati, left the habitat in a long, interminable column, taking the Via della Taverna; [Tavern road] they passed near the church of the Immaculata and not far from La Fontana they headed toward the Ofanto. At their departure, the population felt as if they had awakened from a nightmare. But, during the move, Crocco got wind that the Guardia Nazionale of Pescopagano and all the inhabitants had armed themselves and were well fortified, ready to repel him at all costs. He then headed for San Andrea di Conza, where the archbishop, a noted Bourbonico [Follower of the Bourbons] resided. The Guardia Nazionale di S. Andrea, found themselves outnumbered and could only offer limited resistance. Therefore, at the approach of Crocco, those militiamen just had time to shelter their own families in the bishop’s palace and to flee toward the opposite side. Thus, the brigands, without any resistance, toward two in the afternoon, entered the village and were received by Archbishop Gregorio De Luca himself who, having been caught on the threshold of the Archbishopric palace, blessed them among the festive ringing of the bells. Crocco was the guest of the archbishop, who offered a dinner to the twenty four brigand chiefs, and participated in it himself, seated at the table between the Frenchman Langlais to his right and Crocco to his left. The rest of the band was housed in the seminary, whose rector was Don Francesco Rapolla, brother of Salvatore, one of the most fervent Bourbonites of Calitri.
Toward five thirty in the afternoon, Crocco was warned by his outposts that Maggiore Francesco Bruno was advancing – by forced march – with two hundred soldiers of the Lucano Battalion, which was to meet up with an unspecified number of Pescopagani. At such an announcement, Crocco hurried to reunite all of his band that was still carousing and hurried them, the same evening of the 22nd, to return to Calitri, certain of finding protection and food, but, above all, «he was repentant of having spared Calitri, of having only lightly taxed them, and he thought about returning at night to plunder Calitri, when two Calitrani who had followed them, taken by the charity of the native village, being put off by thievery, ran to warn their fellow citizens of the imminent danger.»[2] The one who worked hard to save Calitri from the looting was Angelomaria Rapolla, who ran to warn the padre – caporione [leader] of the people – of the imminent danger. And what happened then? The scene changed as if through enchantment. That same Salvatore Rapolla, who the day before had worked hard to see to the triumphant entrance of Crocco, now gave the alarm for the liberation; and although it was already late at night, he went from house to house calling the people to alert them to defend themselves. At the same time, Captain Nicola Vitamore united with the armed force «that was associated with the whole population, and had posts placed in the street for where they had to enter,» as he himself stated in a report to his superiors. The news of the imminent assault spread in a flash and the population having understood the brigand-like character of those falsi soldati, rose up, in a mass, for the defense of themselves and of their property. The most ardent defenders showed themselves to be the sbandati, who in that contingency made noble amends for the cowardice shown in previous days. The most courageous, who were armed, spread out at the church of the Immaculata, where, necessarily, the brigands had to pass; others were deployed to S. Bernardino, others to the Croce: in short, every entrance of the village was blocked.
As soon as the majority of the band, ignorant of the new climate, reached the first houses, the armed citizens «with a hail of rifle bullets made the horde of assailants break and run,» while Major Francesco Bruno – who had arrived quickly in Calitri, as soon as he knew the intentions of the brigands – cut off their retreat. In such a way, the gang, caught in a crossfire, was beaten and crushed. The thick fog and the darkness of the night prevented the completion of a real massacre of the outlaws. The Guardia Nazionale and the citizens captured thirteen brigands.[3] The rest were routed and, having been followed by Maggiore Bruno, another four of them were captured, among whom was the notorious Michele Larotonda. He, according to Battista – furnished «precious papers and rivele [revelations], that set forth the ranks of the wicked collection of people, in which people belonging to wealthy families would have been implicated.» With this violent reaction, our population knew how to «clear away the blemish of having first lodged them» – as Battista properly observed. This was possible both because of Salvatore Rapolla – who, in such danger, knew how to demonstrate that, over and above all rebellious feeling, there is the love of country – because of the efficacy of the Guardio Nazionale and above all because of the sottotenenti Pasquale Cioffari and Guglielmo De Masi and because of the civilian Giacomo Vitamore.
Throughout the night the people stood armed watch, for fear of another attack. The following morning, a company of bersagliere, under the command of Maggiore Zenone arrived; and on April 24 a colonna mobile [mobile column] reached Calitri from Avellino, which was commanded by Tenente Colonello [Lieutenant Colonel] Giuseppe De Marco. As a first act, the Tenente Colonello convened a war tribunal to judge the fate of the captured brigands. The debate was short and easy, and the sentence of death was inevitable because they were caught with weapons in their hand. Seven were found guilty and sentenced to be shot, five were turned over to the judicial authorities and one was set free. The execution by firing squad took place in Calitri on the morning of 25 April. It was the usual spectacle because the macabre interested the people, who, still armed, poured into the place of execution. I leave the narration to an eye witness, the Avvocato Canio Bozza (1853-1930): «The whole Torre district, then free of those horrible buildings that now clutter it, the whole “serro” of Santa Sofia and Croce largo [square] were occupied by armed people… The piano della Croce was designated the site of the execution. There was not one word of protest, not one lament for the first detail of unhappy people who were lead to their death! The execution was sudden… The second detail was already standing. They were many. Among them, a cachectic and delicate youth, with an ashen color. He had been taken prisoner with some stolen property. He was led to the firing squad with the two poor chickens tied by their feet to a string and hung from his neck. His thin body was constantly shaking. He was known to be from Pescopagano, and he had just become a member of the Crocco band for a few days, more for arrogance and curiosity than for being a wicked soul. There must have been an emotional stirring towards the scoundrel, as soon as they saw him being led to the place of punishment. A vague murmur, a mute protest ran through the multitude, and it appeared that something extraordinary was about to happen. The funeral convoy proceeded slowly, in the middle of an immense crush of people…. Not too far from the place of execution, the crowd suddenly opened as if by enchantment. A strange woman came forward, all out of breath and disheveled, sending out shouts and laments that must even have affected a stone. As soon as the unhappy woman noticed the votati alla morte [those destined to die], with a supreme effort, she ran faster than lightning, clung to the youth, and cried and shouted and lamented and protested. Indescribable emotion must have welled up in all of the onlookers. Those two bodies were confused, they were almost welded together: They were mother and son, and it not was humanly possible to separate them! The general turmoil rose to a peak, fomented by that heartbreaking scene, as if an impetuous wind was feeding a fire. The rebellion to authority is already in them. The people rose up in turmoil. Everybody was shouting, they asked for and demanded the liberation of that wretch. The ferment increased; it was like a storm at sea… No longer prayers and protest, it is now the will of the people that defends that scene of filial piety. The commandant, going by the law, commands that the victim be led to the place of execution. The soldiers carry out the order and the mother is dragged along with her son. That act was the last straw for the people. The storm torturing the soul of the commandant could be read on his face. His duty as a soldier and his feelings as a man were certainly indescribable contrasts. And here is one of our little old women, sixty years old, slender and delicate, with the flaming colored spara [see footnote 4] secured on the head of a zagalia [see footnote 4] that surrounded her neck, and a forcella da letto at shoulder arms,[4] ran puffing to the commandante and with a command quality shouted: — «Capitano, the people want it, give the son to that mother: he is innocent, otherwise we will take him from you by force.» — And by the force and will of the people, that courageous person gave in; and the crowd, excited by the act they accomplished, transported the mother and child elsewhere.» The young man was called Francesco Friccione son of Giuseppe, son of a well to do butcher of Pescopagano; he, unwittingly, was united with the brigands the preceding day and had been captured with two stolen chickens. The mother, Lucia, when she learned the sad news, ran to Calitri together with the patriot Pasquale Marinaro, bearer of a letter of recommendation for Nicola Vitamore, captain of the Guardia Nazionali.
The execution by firing squad of the brigands was carried out at noon on April 25.[5] Shortly after, Tenente Colonello [Lieutenant Colonel] De Marco had arrested all those who had, however, favored the brigands. Among these was Padre Fortunato Rabasca, who was led along with the others to the jail in Avellino; but he was quickly set free, having turned to Giovanni Nicotera, the great patriot, reminding him of his liberal background.[6] After such a bold attack, a battalion of the 62nd di linea [regulars] – under the command of a Maggiore [Major] – and a few large companies of light cavalry remained garrisoned in Calitri The Cavalry began to reconnoiter the countryside, arresting those who were suspected of helping the brigands. Meanwhile, Crocco, having reorganized his band, swooped down, on August 10, 1861, on Ruvo del Monte, massacring many liberals and sacking their houses. When news of the attack was first heard, two companies of the 62nd di linea and many volunteers departed from Calitri. At the approach of these reinforcements and others sent from Pescopagano, the brigands abandoned the village in a hurry, taking the via dei boschi [forest road]. However, in their hurried flight they fell into a trap that had been set, in the forest of Bucito, by the two companies of soldiers and by the Calitrani volunteers, leaving several and taking several prisoners.[7] In that conflict, the Calitrani Canio Cioffari and Michele Zarrilli lost their lives.
Crocco wanted to punish our people for the aid that was sent, and, on the night of August 28, he started the fire at the farm of Felice Cerrata, noted liberale, and therefore he turned against the village that he tried to attack, but was forcefully rejected. In this attack, in which Crocco was helped by friends and accomplices, various arrests and executions by firing squad were carried out. Luigi Salvante son of Antonio, among others, was taken and shot, (September 9th) simply for suspicion, although it was believed by everybody that he was innocent. From then to the end of October, the attacks of the brigands in our countryside were few and far between and of little importance. And so it continued until October 22, 1861, when the catalano Josè Borjes appeared in Basilicata. Borjes, who was sent and supported by the Borbonic committee of Marsiglia [Marseille] and of Rome, linked up with Crocco and with the Frenchman Langlais for a concurrent and forceful action aimed at restoring the Bourbon Dynasty.[8] It was from then on that the most important manifestations of pseudo – political banditry began. Moreover, it had truly operational military plan. It is not my task to follow those hordes in all their attacks, which from November 3, 1861 appeared to the detriment of many Lucan villages. I will limit myself to how the outlaws occupied the village of Bella on November 24, and how they headed to Pescopagano, which they reached a little before dawn on the 26th. The brave soldiers of the Guardia Nazionale and citizens equipped with weapons were deployed for defense, while the most timid were sent to the outlying villages to solicit help. Under cover of darkness, the bandits managed to enter Pescopagano. The battle was unduly fierce and bloody and lasted about twenty hours. The people knew how to stand up to the reactionary horde, until, toward the early afternoon hours of the 27th, the approach of the soldiers led the brigands to cease fire and go away. Meanwhile, none of the villages, to which the Pescopaganesi had gone for help, responded to the appeal. Even the soldiers stationed at Calitri were not able to come, fearing a new attack of the brigands. The Royal Commissario of the Comune, Signor Felice Catone di Gesualdo, an ardent patriot, rushed there. He, having gathered a sufficient number of Guardie Nazionali and volunteers, headed in the direction of Pescopagano, about four in the afternoon, when the outlaws were in hurried retreat toward the Ofanto; however, they still managed to capture some of them.
After these bloody encounters, which were all crushed by the heroic resistance of the militia and the people, Borges understood the moral and physical impossibility of implementing the plan of re-conquest. His attempt to organize of the Crocco band into a regular military operation and his attempt to prevent sacking, massacres, and other horrors had been in vain. Thus, after twenty five days, Borjes, with his band, left our district and to seek refuge in Papal States. If he had been able to implement his intent, the horrendous cases of 1799 would have been repeated, and the brigandage would once again have restored the Bourbon family – in the judgement of Massari in his parliamentary Report – to the throne. Borjes was about to cross the border of the Papal States, when he was surprised in a farmhouse. In the act of being captured, he stated «J’allais dire au roi Francois II qu’il n’ a que des miserables et des sceleras pour le defender, que crocco est un Sacripant et Langlais un brute.» [I only have to say to King Francis II that he only has wretches and villains to defend him, that Crocco is a noisy braggart and Langlais is an animal.]After being taken to Tagliacozzo, on December 8, 1861 he was shot with his comrades. The Frenchman Langlais was more fortunate, having seen every attempt at political insurrection fail, he managed to cross Italy and take refuge in France. His disappearance passed unobserved; but with him was closed one of the darkest period of the brigandage in Southern Italy.
[1] An Italian military corps of infantry with the typical plumed hats, once specialized in hauling and sprinting, today it is engaged in working with armored units.
[2] Cfr. «L’Irpinio» newspaper of Principato Ultra, May 14, 1861
[3] According to the report of Captain N. Vitamore, the following were sent to the judicial authorities: Giuseppe Sessa of Castlenuovo, Giancarlo Cappello of Rapone, Tomaso Picaro of Avigliano, Donato Colella and Mariano Larotonda of Ripacandida.
[4] The description of this obscure little old woman, in the traditional popular dress of the time, which today has almost fallen into disuse. The «spara» is a large, rectangular, woolen, vividly-colored cloth that is worn on the head. The «zagalia» is a strip, also made in the home, which is very strong, about two centimeters wide, the housewife uses to tie her stockings over her calves or to make the accurcio, that is the pull up on the skirt, making it shorter. The forcella da letto, a little more than a meter long, which is rounded, cleaned, with a bifurcated point, that our women still used to plump up straw mattress for the bed, which is stuffed with sacks of corn husks or of straw.
[5] The brigands who were shot were: Giuseppe Forcella son of Michelarcangelo of Rionero in Vulture; Francesco Ferrara son of Giuseppe, from Ripacandida; Pasquale Gasparino son of Francesco, of Bella; Nicola Goffredo son of Giovanni, of Balvano; Felice Luciano son of Felice, of Rionero in Vulture; Antonio Mastantuono son of Michele, of Ripacandida.
[6] It had to be well known that G. Nicotra was a luogotenente of C. Piscane in the famous Sapri expedition of June 1857. The heroic rank was overpowered, and Nicotra managed to escape death, taking refuge in the convent of the Capuchins of Sapri, where Padre Fortunato Rabasco – who was Padre Provinciale – furnished him some mules in order to escape.
[7] G. Bourelly, Il brigantaggio nelle zone mlitari di Melfi e Lacedonia dal 1860 al 1865, Napoli, 1865, Page 141
[8] The Catalano Borjes, emissary of King Francesco II, with some followers, set sail from Marseille in the direction of Calabria, where he debarked on September 13, 1861. Having reached, then, the beach of San Basilio – Polidoro (Basilicata) and eluding all the surveillance, he penetrated into the heart of the region, up to Lagopesole, where he joined up with Crocco.
Chapter 20
Brigantage in 1862. – Tenente G. Negri. – The attack of Piano della Cerzolla and in the I Piani district. – Heroic behavior of the soldiers. – Aiding and abetting and the state of siege.
Having remained alone at the head of the band, Crocco, at the beginning of 1862, took off any mask of political revolution and continued to do, upon being found out, that which he had, in essence, always done, and that is: wholesale brigandage. And he did this despite the title of General of Francesco II, which he still flaunted. He divided his horde of outlaws into various bands; each of which was under the orders of a chief brigand, who named the band and had an area of assigned operations, except when they all operated as one when Crocco thought it necessary. For the purposes of this history, I will limit myself to refer only to the evil doings of the band that infested our tenimento [territory], which band of outlaws is that of bandit chief Agostino Sacchitiello, who was from Bisaccia – called il caporale Agostino [corporal Agostino] – and of his brother Vito, who caused a lot of grief and damage to the population. The Calitrani who were part of this band were Francesco Di Napoli (Cozza – pilata), Canio Scoca (Tibomma), Giuseppe Antonio Calà, the brothers Canio and Michele Vitamore (Zuzù), and Michele Salvante (Ciarre). The hideout and center of operations for the brigands continued to be the mountainous and wooded area of Castiglione-Monticchio, whose nearness to Calitri forced the authorities to reinforce the garrison. Therefore, in addition to a company of the 39th infantry, there was sent the 5th company of the 6th Infantry (Brigata Aosta) [Aosta brigade] commanded by the distinguished and energetic luogotenente — today sottotenente [second lieutenant] — Gaetano Negri of Milano. The repression of the brigandage in that year is due, in large part, to his distinguished military qualities. Negri was only twenty three years old and he wrote to his father in Milano about whatever happened in front of his eyes or because of something he did. He reached Calitri on the evening of March 9, 1862 and quickly wrote his father: «Now I find myself outside of the field of action, but I understand that I will get accustomed to this village …a very important little village of about eight thousand people and it enjoys wide fame. Its position is curious, because it is located on the top of a hill shaped like a loaf of sugar. There are very few days that I am peaceful, and by now I know every inch of the district surrounding Calitri. During a reconnaissance in the forest of Castaglione — for which reconnaissance I have divided the Company into two parts — one company of these encountered a handful of brigands with which they exchanged some fire. The brigands, as usual, quickly fled, but they left five horses behind.»[1]
Meanwhile, on the morning of April 6, Crocco’s band – which had 120 – 130 men, all mounted – was lurking about the outskirts of the territory of Calitri near Carbonara: the band was observed by Carbonara, where luogotenente Contini was detailed with thirty men of the 6th infantry. The intrepid officer, without delay, went to reconnoiter the band; and in addition to his forces, he had twenty three Guardia Nazionale from the village with him. The brigands let them approach; and when they saw them reach a position favorable to them, in the Piano della Cerzolla, in the Serre district (territory of Calitri), in no time at all, having sprung from their hiding places, they threw themselves «with savage violence on the small regular forces, who after a short and unequal struggle – as is referred to in an interesting correspondence of April 10 – had to retreat into the village, lamenting the death of the officer Contini, of four regular soldiers, and four militiamen of the Guardia Nazionale.»[2] Other details of the encounter are given in the history of the brigata Aosta: «… hordes of brigands emerged from the right and left and began to fire with great fury. Confronted with that terrible and unexpected attack, the officer only knew one way to turn, which was to accept the fight under the conditions that were disadvantageous to him in numbers and terrain. And already the savage horde advances with angry shouting, already it is pressing on all sides. Sergeant Manara fell dead, mortally wounded, Sottotenente Contini was seriously wounded in one arm and in the ribs. He was reached and seized by many of the band and finished off with dagger blows; many others fell. The rest fled and sought refuge here and there. Help came from Monteverde and they found only the bodies of the fallen horrendously mutilated. With the help of the peasants they gathered ten of the 6th company, four of the Guardia Nazionale.»[3]On the mutilations – mention of which is made it the history of the Brigata Aosta – I have been able to ascertain from contemporaries that the soldiers were stripped and barbarously massacred with rifle shots, slashed with sabers, and then left on the ground.[4]
The news of the slaughter that took place at Piano della Cerzolla reached Calitri on the same night. The consternation and the outrage was great. Having left half the company on guard at the village under the orders of Sottotenente Boyer and Branca, Sottotenente Negri moved without delay, at about three in the morning (April 7th), with the other half of the company, which was made up of fifty men, toward Castiglione – where it was said that the band had taken refuge – taking the via dei Piani: «It was a beautiful morning. Across that gently rolling, barren, deserted land, the small column proceeded briskly, cheerfully. After a few hours of movement it reached a kind of basin formed by three isolated knolls, one of which lead to Calitri, and the other two were organized in a semicircle and separated by narrow valleys that left just one opening at their point of union. On the bottom of this basin was a stone fence within which they found the herds, and nearby there was a wretched hovel with a barn and a stall. Tenente Negri had just reached that place, when he met up with its herdsman who was shaking severely: — «Eccelenza! Eccelenza!… They passed the night here.» – «Are there many?» — «Many, many, all on horseback: they fled, but you still have time!» He had just spoken these words when on the edge of one of the knolls, there appeared first two, then four and, little by little, more men on horseback. «Here they are! Here they are!» — shouted the herdsman and disappeared. Meanwhile the number of armed men on the knoll grew, and their figures projected on that clear and blue sky like giants: they stood up there a few moments and then they dispersed. Tenente Negri, promptly readied to attack them using a double maneuver, from the front and from the flank. With this in mind, he sent Sergeant Ranieri with fifteen men toward the valley that was in between the two knolls, ordering him to then bend to the right, continue up through the hillside and fall on the right side of the band. He himself with the rest of the men went toward a hillside, blanketed by a green layer of heather and genista. Sergeant Ranieri had gone almost half way up the valley when a host of brigands, having suddenly emerged from their hiding places on that uneven land, pounced on the small patrol. That handful of gallant men neither could nor would retreat. Even here, as in Carbonara [Piano della Carzolla], they accepted the struggle and died. It was a short but fierce battle in which bravery is overwhelmed by numbers. Just five escaped toward Carbonara with Sergeant Ranieri. Tenente Negri reached the edge of the hill on the other side of which stretched a vast plateau in the middle of which was a farmhouse that was that was mostly in ruins. Moreover, from near the farmhouse there quickly emerged a thick horde of brigands who attacked the small column with terrible shouting. There were thirty-four of our men and more than one hundred brigands. Tenente Negri let the band approach and then, with a volley of fire, he thrust the band back, putting them in disarray. Some brigands fell to the ground. With bayonets leveled, our aggressive troops followed the brigands… but these drew back.»[5] It was necessary to think about the safety of the soldiers. They began to run out of ammunition, and the terrain did not offer any defensive foothold; the retreat toward Calitri was also difficult. «having to cross five miles of level and uncovered terrain – as the Corrispondenza cited – where the brigands would have very well been able to maneuver on horseback… Still, the retreat was very well regulated and [the tenente] was well supported by his soldiers, who, for around three hours continued fighting over three miles of terrain. He was able to take advantage of these events and – moving often from defense to offense – he made the hordes that were chasing him retreat.» During the slow march, over uncovered land, Tenente Negri managed to lead the squad over a small hill topped with rubble, and lay in wait for them: «The brigands pressed and were closing in, surrounding the position, but they did not dare ascend the hill. Scattered at the foot of the hill, [the brigands] shouted terms of surrender to the group. The muzzles of the rifles responded to the intimation; but not even up there can they remain long – continues the History of the Brigata Aosta. With a few and vibrant words, the commander invoked the energy and devotion of his men; and they to a man, calm, descended from the high ground to start off toward Calitri. And the brigands gathered together and ran to await them on the opposite hill in order to bar their way. It is the supreme moment: avanti! [charge] they shouted in one voice and from the bottom of the valley that handful of valorous men came running, with bayonets fixed, to the shout of Savoia, up the opposite gentle incline. The brigands did not dare resist, they opened a channel, scattered, and then began to run up the flanks of the troops, firing at them. One of these brigands wounded Tenente Negri in a shoulder. But the crisis was overcome; at the sound of the gunfire, the sottotenenti Boyer and Branca came running from Calitri, with the rest of the company, and their appearance was sufficient to induce the brigands to retreat very rapidly.» This encounter happened in the Piani. The struggle was «very unequal,» reports the corrispondenza that has been cited above. That handful of gallant men was no less fortunate than brave, and they did not have to lament that there were two wounded, that is a corporal and the incomparable Signor Negri; and of the brigands one was killed, and three others mortally wounded, and many more or less seriously wounded. But Oh! There was a different fate awaiting the fifteen soldiers detailed with the sottufficiale [non-commissioned officer] [Ranieri]. They scrambled up steep paths, and were attacked by numerous enemy hordes. Almost all were wounded, and they withdrew. Having seen the impossibility of rejoining their fellow soldiers, they thought about retreating to Carbonara, which was nearer the site of the hordes than Calitri. And those who were not held back by their wounds in fact arrived there; however, it is necessary to narrate how at first one of them, who used to be a brigand in Potenza, inciting the company to pass with him among Crocco’s hordes, was instantly killed; another six were reached and taken by the brigands, a little beyond the woods of Castiglione, and two others one mile from Carbonara, and [these last two were] killed in sight of the people who were already dismayed and disheartened by the deeds of the preceding battle. The six prisoners were transported onto the site of the main battle… and were killed and cut to pieces.»
In addition to the above details reported by the History of the Brigata Aosta and by the Corrispondenza , published in the «Gazetta di Napoli» [Journal of Naples], there are other details reported by some newspapers that occupy themselves mostly with feats of arms[6] [skirmishes and the like]. However, some information acquired so great a value that Negri, as soon as he entered Calitri, wrote to his father that: «We have had a fierce and savage attack: surrounded on all sides by hordes of brigands on horseback, we have sustained three hours of fire, and we were only saved because of the heroism of my soldiers. I am very well, except for a small contusion in the shoulder… In the last thirty-four hours, we have endured three hours of desperate combat, and many times I believed myself irretrievably lost. I seem to hear you exclaim: what imprudence to go out on reconnaissance with only 34 men! But you must know that I had fifty of them with me; except that, having been deceived by the pretended flight by the brigands, I delivered a portion of the soldiers to stop their flight, while I hurried forward with the rest of the force. … Suddenly I saw myself surrounded. The main part of the band, which amounted to one hundred fifty, was camped behind a farm, from where it fired at us and threatened at any instant to dominate us. I, with an energetic bayonet attack, hurled myself at the enemy, which, intimidated, withdrew somewhat. But it had the advantage of quickness of movement, for which they very quickly pulled everything together and hurried to attack us… but my soldiers, always obedient to my voice, and animated by heroic enthusiasm, did not dismay, and gathered closely around me, threatening with their bayonets and maintaining a well sustained fire. The brigands got a few steps from us, but then, terrified, they stopped. I took advantage of the moment, deployed the company, and commanded everybody to fire at once. This resolute contingent, as well as the effect that the bullets had on the ranks of the brigand, led them to stop, and I was able to take a farm road that emerged isolated on the top of a small prominence, where I was able that take a slight rest. On all the surrounding rises, the brigands were grouping, and encircling in an iron ring. Unfortunately, we began running low on ammunition. Of the fifteen soldiers dispatched to the left, I had no clue. The position was no longer tenable, and I resolved to open the road. The brigands really tried to stop us in the middle of our journey, but at our approach and with the terrible flashing of the bayonets, they opened a path for us, and we gained the high ground. This did not stop them from chasing us, although from far away and timidly; and it was just then that a well-aimed bullet hit me in the shoulder. The distance of the marksman, and the recoil took the force out of the bullet, and instead of a wound, I received only a slight contusion.»
While reconnoitering, he noticed the 6th company stationed at Monteverde and the 8th company stationed at Bisaccia, but they go there when the attack ended and the brigands had dispersed. There only remained the sad duty of collecting the six bodies[7] and, on a crude carriage – which was made to come from the nearby farm of Donato Tozzoli – they accompanied them to Calitri. Here, with a moving religious rite and to the general regret of the population and the military garrison, there was rendered the extreme tribute of homage to the heroic sacrifice of those gallant men: «everybody confirms – wrote the correspondent in the Gazzetta di Napoli – the splendid test of valor given by our militia, who, having run out of ammunition, maintained the fight only with bayonets…, the same Officer Negri, incomparable in the quality of his mind and heart, who is the only son of the family and is extremely fortunate, exposed with so much sacrifice his life for the national cause, as to have himself admired by the brigands themselves.» The Corrispondenza from Calitri concluded his news: «You published these facts in your trustworthy newspaper, which, if painful on the one hand, on the other hand they require the highest praise for Signor Negri, and his brave soldiers.» [8]
And the award was not delayed in coming. They awarded the Medaglia d’argento [silver medal] to luogotenente Negri – who, without ever resting traveled and knew «every inch of the whole district surrounding Calitri, at least for a radius of nine miles» gaining the confidence and sympathy of the people – and they awarded 44 Medals and 65 Honorable Mentions (today Bronze medals) to the glorious 6th Infantry Regiment, who «distinguished the fatherland – as Negri reported in a letter to his father – and after around a year was scattered on the crest of the mountains. No one can conceive of the difficulties that he encountered, of the self-denial, and of the courage that he demonstrated.»
Meanwhile, shortly after the encounter on i piani, the 6th Company went back to its headquarters, in Naples; and Negri told his father: «I assure you that I felt sorrow in leaving Calitri. The emotions that I felt in this stay were many and so deep as to link my memory forever to these places.» For his heroism, on January 15, 1863, he was awarded – as has been noted – the Medaglia d’argentia for military valor. It was the second medal that he received in the struggle against the brigandage. To complete the noble figure of Negri, it does not seem out of place if I add that, shortly after the deeds in Calitri, he left
his military career in order to study and enter public life in Milan, where he was born in on July 11, 1838. Having been elected in 1873 as Consigliere Comunale, [Councilman] he was for twelve years Assessore of Public Instruction [member of the board of education] and then Mayor from 1884 to 1889. He left indelible traces of his activities in Milan through a series of public works. He was also a Deputy in the XII legislature and Senatore of the Kingdom from December 4, 1890. A sharp thinker, he also occupied a place of the first order in the field of culture of the second half of the 19th century. His writings are profound and original, both when he deals with the subject matter of history, literature, science, and religion, and when he studies the social and political problems, which are dealt with by the eminent writer and statesman without preconceptions and which are expounded on without rhetoric. He died on July 31, 1902 in Milano and a road in the urban center was named after him.
After this digression, which does not concern you…, the narration is resumed. Major Brero with a battalion of the 33rd Infantry and some Companies of Hussars of Piacenza replaced Negri. In all, there were five hundred men in the garrison. The reinforcements quickly produced its effect. On May 4, a patrol of Guardie Nazionali, under the command of Sergeant Leonardo Gervasi, captured the Calitrano outlaw Michele Vitamore (Zuzù) who was immediately shot. On May 25, another outlaw, Giuseppe Antonio Calà was captured and shot. The boldness of the brigands no longer had any limits and they went as far as the habitat to take their vengeance. On the 10th of August in the Piano di Pittole, Rocco Nicolais was killed in an ambush by Calitrano brigand Canio Scoca. Nicolais was believed to be a spy.[9] On September 21, in the Tufiello district, there was a bitter encounter between a band of outlaws, a squad of soldiers, and Guardie Nazionali of Calitri. Luogotenente Vincenzo Stanco (1832-1912) was wounded. For his valor, he was decorated with the Medaglia d’argento.[10] With the conditions of civil life continually worsening, a state of siege was declared in all the Neapolitan provinces and General Alfonso La Marmora was named as Commissario Straordinario with full powers. He visited the centers that had the greatest infestation of bandits, among which center was Calitri, and in agreement with General Franzini – commandant of the truppa mobile in the Lacedonia and Melfi area – ordered the disarmament, which at Calitri was carried out in September 1862. Other harsh measures were implemented by the Prefect of Avellino, aimed at hitting and breaking that thick network of mysterious and invisible accomplices that conferred a certain invulnerability and safety on the movement. Manutengolismo [aiding and abetting] – as it was called – was done through fear or because of a desire for substantial gain, and it provided information, supplies, and protection to the outlaws. In one thousand ways, even the strangest and most innocuous, the accomplices warned the brigands of danger or the presence of soldiers: A rag hung on a pile of hay, a table sticking out a window, a cross drawn on a wall, two slashes of an axe on a tree trunk, the door of the farm house or of a little country house half closed… In Particular, our old men tell us that the manutengloli, from the habitat of Calitri, warned the brigands, stationed in the farms in the Piani, with signals from lanterns made from the height of the castle, from the Ripe, from the Posterla, and often also from the windows of their own houses, situated high up and along the northern side of the village, without generating any suspicion and without danger of being caught in the act.
[1] G. Negri, In the present and in the past, The hunt for the brigands (gleanings from unpublished correspondence, edited by M. Scherillo) Milan, 1905, Page 53-65. – For other news on the repression of the brigandage, by the same author, Cfr: Final Essays, problems of religion, of politics and of literature, Milano, 1904, page LXIII ane CI-CIV and also New Anthology, 16 February 1904, page 593 –617.
[2] Cfr. Gazetta di Napoli 16 and 17 April 1862, in the column «Gazettino of the provinces» S. Angelo dei Lombardi, April 10
[3] History of the Brigata Aosta [Aosta Brigade], edited by C. Fabris and S. Zanelli, City of Castello, 1890, page 410-11.
[4] From these same contemporaries – peasants who usually worked in the farms of the Serre – I learned that, among the soldiers who avoided the slaughter by fleeing, there was one who was wounded in one leg, and found refuge in a not too distant farm; here he was welcomed and lovingly cared for by a good woman – as are our housewives, – who then was known to be the mother of a brigand.
[5] Cfr. Storia della brigata Aosta,[History of the Aosta brigade] cited above, page 410-411.
[6] Cfr. «L’Irpino» the newspaper of the province of Principato Ultra, April 19, 1862, reports a corrispondenza from Calitri, dated April 8th, signed by Don Domenico Cerrata; he wrote a small report «around the fazione [struggle, encounter] valorously fought by our troops in I piani.», putting in full light the figure of Negri «young and civil as well as talented person of great energy.» Cfr. Also «La perseveranza» a Milanese newspaper, dated June 19, 1899, relates many details of the encounter narrated by Gerolamo Sala, the companion of Negri. Finally Cfr. «L’unità italiana» a political daily, of April 22, 1862, reports entirely the long corrispondenza of San Angelo di Lombardi, take from the «Gazzetta di Napoli,» 16 and 17 April 1862,
[7] I make note of the names of the following fallen soldiers: Giovanni Campaguolo son of Giuseppe, Antonio Corrado of Sessa Aurunca, Fortunato Ciuffo, Gaetano De Marchi, Pasquale Livertelli, and Francisco Manisco of Cassino.
[8] Cfr. «L’Irpino», already cited, of April 19, 1862, reported a Corrispondenza from Calitri in which – after the exposition of the feat of arms – there was expressed the sorrow of the population for the heroic victims, and there was described the honored tomb given to them and the solemn funeral rites celebrated by the Clergy in the church.
[9] State Archives in Naples, Administrative acts, Brigandage, bundle 2, file 86.
[10] The Medaglia was awarded to him in August 20, 1863 by the Ministry of War, with a flattering justification, and with «the annesso sopresoldo [pension] of one hundred lire a year.
Chapter 21
Brigandage in 1863. – Maria Di Maio, victim because of the defense of her honor. – The attack of Carcatondo in its details. – The Pica Law and the severe sanctions against the supporters and protectors of the brigands.
At the beginning of 1863, brigandage, which was becoming more frequent, arose again with greater boldness and ferocity. The hordes boldly roamed the countryside attacking farms and drying up needed sources of water on country estates. Life had become very guarded and dangerous for anyone who — for reasons of work — was forced to go into the countryside. The men who fell into the hands of those scoundrels were robbed or held for ransom, and the women were violated or killed. There fell victim to such wicked savagery a delicate flower of our people, one who is today obscure and forgotten, but who is no less great and heroic than the Roman Lucrezia![1] On March 7, 1863 the peasant Vito Di Napoli son of Canio (Scimmirotto) and his young wife, Anna Maria Di Maio[2] – who was just twenty-five years old and married for only two years – had gone into the Pesco del Rago [In Calitrano: P’sch’rrara] district to weed the grain. They passed the day working, in a renewed exchange of amorous feelings. Towards nightfall, Anna Maria, with a sweet smile and in the company of a boy, started for Calitri to get more bread and food for the next morning. Her husband, instead, remained in the countryside in order to continue working. The brave woman, who was traveling peacefully and safely on her own mule, was intent on her knitting, as is the custom of our housewives. Having arrived at the valley of the Ofanto, in the Isca dei Canali district, she saw a band of brigands approach, who asked her for the mule. However, from their behavior, from some lewd acts, and from some terms of endearment muttered in a low voice, the wretched woman understood that those villains had completely different intentions. … She still tried to show that she was poor and that her husband possessed only that animal to help him survive. But the brigands insisted more and more and approached in a threatening and licentious manner…. The poor woman saw herself lost and let fly from her mouth the bitter reproof: «E dicite pure ca site suldati re Francisco!» [And you still say that you are soldiers of King Francesco!] She had not finished speaking when a brigand was on top of her to violate her; but she offered heroic resistance, so that that satyr, annoyed, shot her at point blank range, killing her instantly.
The wretched end of that virtuous woman threw the entire citizenry into mourning. Everybody had a word of sympathy and praise for the innocent woman, everybody considered the holocaust of her life
Come la fronda, che flette la cima
nel transito del vento, e poi si leva
per la propria virtù che la sublima,[3]
to say it with the divine Poet [Dante]. There were solemn funeral services for her, in the Chiesa-Madre [mother church], with the participation of the whole population as well as the officers and soldiers of the garrison, who laid a wreath of flowers. The body was laid out on the bier with her knitting in her hands, in the same posture in which she was killed. The eulogy given by the priest Don Pasquale Berrilli was emotional. Don Berillli, then, in registering the death, wanted to perpetuate the regret and the general esteem toward the virtuous heroine with the incisive words … cuius mors ab omnibus laudabiliter extimata fuit. [whose death was laudably esteemed by everyone.]
This was not the only violent deed against our women. The brigand Caporale Pio of Bella kidnapped the young daughter of a farmer of the Zampaglione family to make her violently his; the other brigand, Giuseppe Caruso, [Pictured at left], who was indignant, commanded his lascivious companion to immediately free the young woman. However, Pio, rebelling at the imposition of Caruso, persisted in the kidnapping of the young woman, while speaking threateningly at him. At this impulsive act, Caruso, who was already moved by the tears of the wretched woman, shot that infamous satyr. The people received the news of the killing of Pio di Bella with a sigh of relief, seeing themselves freed form one of their most vicious outlaws.
While repressing the brigands, the military made many mistakes and showed themselves to be inexperienced in places where there was uneven terrain. They were even less experienced with the flexible tactics that were used by the bandits. Too often, small squads of solders ventured into the countryside and suddenly found themselves surrounded by superior forces. This is what happened to Maggiore Brero, who was commander of a battalion of infantry stationed at Calitri. The Schiavone – Caruso band had taken refuge, between the 8th and 9th of May, in the Castaglione forest, where it joined up with the Coppa, Sacchitiello [pictured here], and Andreotti gangs, constituting a force of over 130 outlaws. The band headed in the direction of Calitri, and, towards midday of the 9th, they wandered, circumspect and vigilant, in the area of the Vitamore farm, in the Caractondo [Caractond’] district. The news having reached the village, Maggiore Brero wanted to cut off their retreat, locking them into an iron circle. To do this, he sent a Company of the 33rd Infantry, under the command of Captain Moriondo, toward Tufiello. He, himself, with another company, left at full gallop together with forty Hussars of Piacenza, commanded by Captain Carelli, toward Carcatondo. A thick haze enveloped the countryside. Maggiore Brero, with the single cavalry – consisting of the Hussars – advanced up to the walls of the Vitamore farm. Here, the Hussars, without waiting for the Infantry, who was following them a short distance away, began running, slashing to the right and to the left with their sabers in order to put to fight the mass of bandits: «The brigands, upon seeing the superior force – recounted Bourelly – hid, waiting for the approach of the Hussars, and two hundred paces away hit them with a volley of rifle fire. The Hussars, who charged with a valor worthy of the best occasions, threw themselves on the robbers, slashing to the right and back to front with their sabers. But the brigands outnumbered the Hussars by eight to ten to one. Captain Carelli had his horse killed on the first volley. Sottotenente Cingia received a bruise to the body with a kick of the rifle from a brigand, while he was striking him with his sabre. Sergeant Vannine, hurling himself into the middle of the struggle, had his head pierced by a bullet while he was trying to reach [the brigand] Coppa, who distinguished himself because of the three silver lines that he wore on his hat. A corporal and six hussars were killed and five were wounded. The captain, who was mounted on a horse of a dead soldier, rallied his troops. Despite the continuous fire, he succeeded in chasing the brigands, who were first running away and then attacking, having divided themselves into fours and eights in order to continually try to isolate the Hussars. The Hussar’s, however, sought to prevent their retreat, while they knew that the infantry was behind them, and they held them at bay beating them back with extraordinary valor for a long time. Finally the infantry arrived and the brigands began to hurriedly take flight. The brigands left three dead and many others missing. It was a very bitter struggle, one of the most unequal. Captain Carelli had his second horse wounded. »
Because the rifle fire was heard in the village, there was no lack of courageous people to run to the aid of the soldiers. Among whom, one remembers Francesco Vitamore, a bold and fearless man, who, hurling himself with fury against the brigands, had the barrel of his rifle broken by an enemy bullet and was gravely wounded in the hand and lost a finger. The attack at Carcatondo lasted until around six in the afternoon. It was a bitter struggle, savage and uneven to the forces of heroism of the Cavalry, who launched the attack in insufficient numbers and under very disadvantageous tactical conditions. Six soldiers and sergeant Giambattista Vinnine of Udine were killed, and another, who was hospitalized with serious wounds, died after a few weeks.[4] The generous victims received solemn funeral rites among the grief and sorrow of all the people. Generous blood spilled in that unnerving guerilla warfare! How many sacrifices of human life were there in order to return peace and safety to our people!
There was no lack of victims among the peaceful citizens, who were killed simply because they were suspected of spying for the forces of suppression. Because of this suspicion, Nicola Rosonia, from Castelnuovo di Conza was captured and shot on September 15, 1863 and shot; on September 16, in the S. Zaccaria district, the peasant Vinzenzo Margotta was treacherously killed because he was suspected of having informed the forces of suppression of the place where the brigands were hiding; on December 14 Vito Del Cossano was captured and killed with two shots in the vicinity of the masseria Cestone [The Cestone farm]. The brigands themselves stated the reasons for the murders by leaving a note in the hands of the disgraziato[Scoundrel]. The note stated the reason for the murder: «killed because he was a spy against the brigands.»[5] Not even a week passed when another victim was condemned. Also, very frequently, there were fires and the killing of herds, to the detriment of the more noted liberals. During that eventful period, the brigands burned the mills of the Stancos and cut the throat of three oxen in the Tozzoli farm as well as five oxen on Felice Cerrata farm. In this climate of suspicion and barbarity, reprisals continued until the end of the crucial year, 1863. However, the repression of brigandage was still far away, although, since August 15, a special law that applied to places infested with bandits had been in force. This law took the name Legge Pica. The parliament passed this law because of the ineffectiveness of ordinary legislation and because of the cry of pain raised up by the wretched population, which had been aggravated by the continuous damage, and because of the un heard of crimes against them. The law having gone into force, there were negotiations between the outlaws and the authorities in order to stop the abnormal state of life; however, the result was very poor. Very few willingly gave themselves up. Rather, after an initial disorientation, the plague of brigandage expanded even more, supported by a dense network of accomplices, silence, reticence, or interest in material gain.
[1] Acocella is referring to Livy’s account in Book I on page 57 – 60 of the Rape of Lucretia by the Roman Emperor Sextus Tarquinius. Lucretia ends up killing herself in shame. The Di Maio women do not give in, get themselves to take vengeance for them and then kill themselves: At one point Livy states, “When a few days had gone by, Sextus Tarquinius, without letting Collatinus know, took a single attendant and went to Collatia. Being kindly welcomed, for no one suspected his purpose, he was brought after dinner to a guest-chamber. Burning with passion, he waited until it seemed to him that all about him was secure and everybody was fast asleep; then, drawing his sword, he came to the sleeping Lucretia. Holding the woman down with his left hand on her breast, he said, “Be still, Lucretia! I am Sextus Tarquinius. My sword is in my hand. Utter a sound, and you die!”
In fear the woman started out of her sleep. No help was in sight, but only imminent death. Then Tarquinius began to declare his love, to plead, to mingle threats with prayers, to bring every resource to bear upon her woman’s heart. When he found her obdurate and not to be moved even by fear of death, he went farther and threatened her with disgrace, saying that when she was dead he would kill his slave and lay him naked by her side, that she might be said to have been put to death in adultery with a man of base condition. At this dreadful prospect her resolute modesty was overcome, as if with force, by his victorious lust; and Tarquinius departed, exulting in his conquest of a woman’s honour.
Lucretia, grieving at her great disaster, dispatched the same message to her father in Rome and to her husband at Ardea: she asked that they should each take a trusty friend and come, that they must do this and do it quickly, for a frightful thing had happened. Spurius Lucretius came with Publius Valerius, Volesus’ son. Collatinus brought Lucius Junius Brutus, with whom he chanced to be returning to Rome when he was met by the messenger from his wife. They found Lucretia sitting sadly in her chamber. The entrance of her friends brought the tears to her eyes, and to her husband’s question, “Is all well?,” she replied, “Far from it; for what can be well with a woman when she has lost her honour? The print of a strange man, Collatinus, is in your bed. Yet my body only has been violated; my heart is guiltless, as death shall be my witness. But pledge your right hands and your words that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. Sextus Tarquinius is he that last night returned hostility for hospitality, and brought ruin on me, and on himself no less—if you are men—when he worked his pleasure with me.” They give their pledges, every man in turn. They seek to comfort her, sick at heart as she is, by diverting the blame from her who was forced to the doer of the wrong. They tell her it is the mind that sins, not the body; and that where purpose has been wanting there is no guilt.
“It is for you to determine,” she answers, “what is due to him, for my own part, though I acquit myself of the sin, I do not absolve myself from punishment; nor in time to come shall ever unchaste woman live through the example of Lucretia.” Taking a knife which she had concealed beneath her dress, she plunged it into her heart, and sinking forward upon the wound, died as she fell. The wail for the dead was raised by her husband and her father.
[2] Vito Di Napoli was the son of Canio and Maria Luigia – Vallario. His young wife was the daughter of Giovanni [De Maio] and Antonia Margotta. They were married in Calitri on January 24, 1861[TN: Information courtesy of Mario Toglia.]
[3] “as does the bough that flexes its top in the wind, and then springs back, under its own power.” Paradiso, Canto 26 line 66.
[4] The dead were: Giambattista Vannini, of Udine, sergeant; Battista Diotallevi, of S. Giorgo (? Province); Domenico Del Re, of Adria (Rovigo); Antonio Guerreschi, of Parma, Fabio Lussieri, of Scandolara Ravara (Cremona); Domenico Masturano of Pèllaro (Reggio Calabria); Raffaele Ruspantion, of Viterbo; Cristoforo Salomone, of Leonforte (Catania). To these must be added the soldier germano Castellari, of Biaso (Reggio Emilia) who died in the hospital in Calitri.
[5] State Archives in Naples, Administrative Acts, Brigandage, file 2, bundle not numbered.
Chapter 22
Heartless reprisals against the Del Buono brothers. – Capture and execution of the Bandit Cozza. – Pilata – Crocco leaves our district. – General Pallavicini in command of the forces of suppression. – End of the brigandage..
The government put a price of twenty thousand lire on Crocco’s head: «With this reward – said the brigandage inquest commission, – one immediately spreads the seeds of suspicion amongst the ranks of the brigands themselves. The day Crocco found out that his head had acquired value, he no longer felt his back was safe, and he would have been right to fear his most trusted people.» Meanwhile, 1864 turned out to be no less gloomy than previous years, both from the political point of view of safety and the social point of view of economic prosperity. The withdrawal of all animals from the countryside, the closing of all farms, the transportation of farm products and fodder to the city – in compliance with the Pica laws – caused misery and discontent. However, the restrictions were effective in the fight to repress the outlaws, who were persecuted by the forces of order, by hunger, and by cold. The cold weather lasted for a very long time and temperatures were below normal. Consequently, it was not long before these measures had their effect. Deprived of food and fodder, the Crocco – Sacchitiello band sent a blackmail note to the brothers Canio and Vincenzo Del Buono, who were wealthy land owners, whose hands were gnarled from work, and who always had an amiable smile, as do all of our farmers; however, the two brothers, although threatened by death, would not be blackmailed. Instead, they responded with cynicism and courage: «Volimo Murì ricchi! » [We want to die rich! they said in the Calitrano language.] The brusque and unexpected refusal irritated the outlaws even more and they wanted tomake an example of them. Lo and behold, on the afternoon of March 21, 1864, two brigands suddenly swooped down on the Del Buono farm, in the Piano dei Monti district. They shot Vincenzo, who was 60 years old. The other brother, Canio, who was 50 years old and working nearby, began to flee; but was quickly reached and killed. The pain and the horror that the people felt was unspeakable! A few days after the iniquitous vendetta, the brigand horde was again in our countryside, angrier than ever. On March 27, Capitano Porro of the 3rd Granatieri [Grenadiers] had an encounter with nine brigands in the Serre district and captures one of them. On March 30, a patrol of soldiers is attacked and the patrol loses one soldier. On April 24 in an encounter, the brigand Michele Barbiero, of Grumo Appula, is captured and quickly shot. On April 28, in the Serre district, the brigands kill the farmer Antonio Zabatta «for having refused to give them supplies for which they had many times asked him.» Meanwhile, a squad of Granatieri managed to arrest, in Castiglione, the Calitrano brigand Francesco Di Napoli, nicknamed Cozzo –Pilata who was born of Michelangelo and Rosa Fastiggi, was, basically, a good man, and was living his life as a hermit in the little extra-mural church of San Bernadino. He was arrested on May 10, 1861 by our Guardia Nazionale for I know not what common crime, and was sent, under arrest, to the Capitano of the Guardia Nazionale of Andretta to be taken by the soldiers to San Angelo dei Lombardi. He managed to get away, and went into hiding, joining up with the caporal Agostino band, of Bisaccia. Even in his life in the woods, however, he always kept the good feelings that he had. When he was captured at Castiglione, he wanted to do something decent, so he told the Granatieri – who captured him – precisely where the bodies of four soldiers and of the corporal had been buried. These were the soldiers and corporal that his band had killed the preceding day.[1] Sentenced to death, Cozza – Pilata was shot the same day he was captured, May 25th, at Serrone. He was only 24 years old.
With the death of Francesco Di Napoli, it was thought that the Crocco-Sacchitiello band should no longer be in our territory. Yet, instead, because of the advantages they had over the regular troops in the preceding encounter, and ¾ above all ¾ because of the help he received from his supporters, who, numerous and vigilant, lurked in every locality, the gang was even more emboldened. Thus, sure of themselves, the gang moved quickly and fearlessly from one point to another. Consequently, on July 8, 1864, the brigands, having stumbled on a squad of soldiers, attacked them, killing Giovanni Buccio of Bagolino (Brescia). This condition of destitute and evil life, with which the people of the high Ofantine valley and of the Vulture region were contending, led the central powers to replace the commandant of that area, where – although the cruelest of the bandits, Ninco –Nanco, had already been killed on March 13, 1864 – the brigandage increased in ferocity and daring. General Franzine, having been forced for reasons of health, to leave command of the area in July 1864, was replaced by General Emilio Pallavicini, who had been the terror of the brigands in Beneventano [the territory around Benevento] and in the Murge di Minervino [in Puglia]. The coming of Pallavicini, in the beginning of August 1864, signaled the end of banditry. He acted quickly and energetically, and – above all – he never let it be known how his troops were deployed. He took away or put in jail those suspected of favoritism and performed close surveillance on farm owners. He did not make any truces with the bandits, and used the information that the ex-brigand Giuseppe Caruso of Altella furnished him. Caruso, because of the rifts and misunderstandings that took place in the Crocco gang, gave himself up to the authorities, on October 1863, as soon as the Pica law was promulgated. The general had the government pardon him and free him.
The first operation, which Caruso carried out in order to flush out Crocco and his companions, was conducted in the Castiglione woods on August 15, 1864, on information furnished him by a Berrilli farmer, one Vito Simone, who was the son of the late Donato. This poor man, however, paid with his life for the information he gave to Caruso, and, on September 3 the same year, he was found murdered in the same Castiglione woods. Based on the news he obtained from Simone, Caruso had the Crocco band surprised in the casone [large farm house] of the Castigliones. A fight resulted in which four brigands died in battle, another seven were wounded, and twenty horses were captured along with harnesses and weapons. Caruso’s rehabilitation did not stop here. Having known that Crocco had taken refuge with his men in the woods of Bucito – and specifically on the cascina [farm] Ripa S. Pietro – he personally guided the soldiers who went to flush him out of his new hideout. Warned of the approach of suspicious persons, Crocco saved himself by entering the Rosai gorge, which is in the thickest part of the bush of Monticchio. Only four brigands were captured.[2]
For his courage and, above all, for his knowledge of the secret hiding places of the brigands, Caruso rendered an important service to General Pallavicini. From then on, Crocco no longer felt secure in our districts. On the evening of July 28, 1864, together with eleven trusted companions «mounted on superb pugliese horses,» he left Monticchio. Traveling at night, having crossed mountains and forests, he took refuge in the Papal States.[3]
With the withdrawal of Crocco, the formation of large bands of brigands also ended. The few survivors were easily tracked down. Before leaving, Crocco had already advised his closest people to surrender, but only a few presented themselves to the authorities. Most, instead, preferred to remain in small groups in the woods. In the territory of Calitri, the Caporal Agostino band, of Bisaccia, which was reduced to twenty-four mounted brigands, still ranged. These brigands, in July, were surprised in the neighborhoods of the Ofanto by eight Guardie Nazionali and by three Carabinieri. Despite their being fewer in number, the soldiers mounted a ferocious attack, killing two brigands. At the sight of the two dead companions, those hyenas hurled themselves violently at the small squad. Fortunately, at the sound of gunshots, a detachment of soldiers, who were reconnoitering the area, came running, and the brigands fled. In another encounter, the same party lost, on October 17, 1864, the Calitrano brigand Vincenzo Vitamore, who, captured, was quickly shot at Serrone.
These were the last efforts of the bandits. They were now certain that they would quickly fall into the hands of Generale Pallavicini, who, with great sagacity and patience, knew how to set a trap, into which they, eventually, would fall. As soon as the Generale ascertained that the remains of the bands, attacked or pursued by regular troops, took shelter in the territory of Calitri – where they were protected by a thick network of supporters – he went there in person to study the most effective method to suppress them. He was a guest of Don Francesco Tozzoli.[4] The general instituted a real intelligence service. He received at night, with canny circumspection, whomever lent themselves to such office either for money or for love of native land. He accepted any information or gossip; he listened to the secrets and the words circulating in the village, and, always guided by a balanced evaluation criteria, he knew how to discern facts worthy of serious attention from those that were the product of personal vendettas or vile selfishness. He was, above all, implacable against anyone who favored the outlaws in any way. The episode that follows ended any form of favoritism and silence in Calitri. It was reported to Pallavicini that in the farm house of Michelangelo Di Maio, ai Piani,[in the Piani] the bandits found refuge, re-supply, and information; the general did not hesitate for one second to arrest of the owner on suspicion of favoritism. Such an arrest made a bad impression on the citizenry. That notwithstanding, Pallavicini stood fast and did not give in to the humble prayers of the children nor to the heated intercession of the liberali: the general asked for specific evidence of their innocence, before he would release them. And the proof came, atrocious and cynical, above all in the details.
The sons of Michelangelo Di Maio – Nicola, Francesco, and Luigi – had induced, with a thousand tricks, the brigand caporale [boss] Antonio Capra of Anzano of the Irpini and the Conzese Erberto Antonio Cantarella, twenty years old, to surrender, guaranteeing their freedom. The two bandits, simple minded and tired of a vagrant and dangerous life, let themselves be easily deceived. In awaiting the hour fixed by Pallavicini to present themselves to him – as they had been led to believe – the Di Maio’s led the two rogues into a secluded cave in the Cupa district, where they served them a large dinner, washed down with a generous amount of wine. The Di Maio brothers had prepared the trap. As soon as, however, the brigands tasted the wine…which was drugged, they noticed the deadly deceit and began to reach for their rifles which were leaning against the wall. However, they did not have time. They were overpowered and were stabbed to death. Having completed the double misdeed, the Di Maio’s, in order to hide that the killing happened as a stabbing, shot them. They transported, the following morning of November 18, the bodies to the little square of San Bernadino; and here they stood, for some days, exposed to everyone’s horror.[5] The goal had been achieved: the news of the capture and the killing, colored by detailed and totally-invented information, was referred to Pallavicini, who, being convinced of the non-collaboration of Michelangelo Di Maio with the brigands, ordered his release from jail.
Because of the untiring persecution and because of the exceptional severity of the winter, the bands – beaten and decimated – no longer had any peace. Thus, when, in November, Major Galli, using shrewd measures, captured caporal Agostino and his band in a habitation in Bisaccia, banditry was headed for its sunset. The few survivors were forced into a tight vise, a because of this they raged even more at the isolated nucleus of soldiers: thus, on the evening of November 21, in a battle at the habitat, the soldier Efisio Muro of Sant’antioco (Cagliari) was killed, and on December 3rd , the soldier Giuseppe Gelo of Agrigento was killed. These were the last victims of the brigandage in the territory of Calitri. With the end of 1864, the evil period of brigandage closed. After four years of crime, injustice, and domestic tragedies, which threw our peaceful districts into all the rigors of the state of war – the suspension of the laws and the arbitrariness of man – calm, order, and security took over, and a new era of fruitful and serene work began.
[1] Cfr. Bourelly, Brigantaggio nelle zone militari di Melfi e di Lacedonia, already cited, page 216
[2] Cfr Massa Gli ultimi briganti della Basilicata (C. Crocco e G. Caruso) already cited, Page 119.
[3] For the purposes of our history, the further adventures of Crocco are not needed. I will only say that the Italian government found him, on September 26, 1870, in the jail of the Fort of Paliano (Frosinone). He was tried in at the Corte di Assise of Potenza. The trial lasted three months – from August 20 to September 11 1873 and Crocco was condemned to death. A Royal Decree dated September 13, 1874 commuted the capital sentence to that of lavore forzati a vita [life at hard labor]. He died on June 18, 1906, in the penal colony of Portoferraio, at the age of 75.
[4] The home of Francesco Tozzoli was near the church of the Annunziata. Here, when Pallavicini had need, the first time, to shave, he called the barber Michele Nicolais, a good man, but had had a reversed eyelid, which gave him an apparently threatening aspect. In getting ready to shave him, the barber saw the general get up quickly and in a threatening tone tell him: «.. Remember that I am a general!» Thus it was that Pallavicini was suspicious of everyone … even of an innocuous barber.
[5] The body of Erberto Antonio Cantarella was brought, enclosed in a sack, to Conza, by the mayor E. Ricciardi and two guards, who came from Conza. Caporal Antonio Capra, instead, was buried in Calitri, at the church of San Bernardino.
Chapter 23
Internal life of Calitri from 1865 to 1890: conditions of the social classes – The clergy – Suppression of the Benedictine monastery – Institutions of beneficence – Blood tribute in the colonial wars. .
Having rooted out the brigandage – which, for four years had disturbed the peace and paralyzed agricultural work – the people quickly began again the work of the fields, which constituted the principal, if not the only source of wealth and life: «they had to be tenacious and hardworking people who held their heads high, and I wish them well – stated De Sanctis. I noted in their air and in their ways a seriousness that gave me a good impression; some ordinary people stood erect on the square with the seriousness of a roman senator.» The people, who are hard workers, cultivate a territory of over twelve thousand hectares with only a few, very-poorly-maintained country roads, which allowed them rapid and comfortable communication. In the cultivation of the fields, they still followed traditional methods of seeding and of working with primitive instruments. The landholdings were concentrated in a few families, who did nothing else with their earnings except for the purchase other land. There was some vanity in possessing large tracts of land whether under cultivation or not. The land not under cultivation was used only for pasture, which resulted in the development of a herding industry that produced a remarkable quantity of dairy products – above all, butter and caciocavallo cheeses that were renowned and sought after in and out of the province. Such an industry was practiced by large land owners – Zampaglione, Tozzoli, and Berrilli – and, in a small part, also by the new class of farmers, who with hard work, with thriftiness, and without the conceit of galantuomini [gentlemen], had accumulated large or small fortunes. This class of farmer, rich in faith and audacity, hardworking and forward-looking, also improved cultivation methods, accumulated savings, and, with the education given their children, became civilized. Even the artisan classes, who lived only by their work, came back, providing thousands of jobs and they also wanted to cultivate a plot of land, and some did it by marrying the daughter of a farmer. It was only the honest to goodness peasant – laborer who continued to lead a very wretched life. He had no home, no field, no work animals, except a mule; he lived from hand to mouth or in the service of some wealthy family; he did not have access to wheat bread or meat dishes except in the most memorable solemnity; but he devoured pizze [pizzas]of corn throughout the year and a minestra [soup]of grasses seasoned with salt and oil, or a pot of polenta or a pan of cicerchie[1] [chickling peas, pictured right]. Whoever managed a warehouse or a small leather goods, merchandise, or general food store were considered well off. There were no true and proper industries. Only a few small kitchenware and brick businesses flourished, which wares were made of the best clay. In these businesses, the owners – they had laborers – «perfected the work of painted bricks [tiles] in beautiful colors, and which were glazed for floors, as well as pottery and plates»[2] for which there was a great market in the village and in the bordering provinces. «La Capitanata[3] and Basilicata, continue to be provided with kitchenware from Calitri.[4] The echo of our industry even reached Parliament, when, while discussing the proposed legislation for the reorganization of the southern Italian railroads, the Onorevole E. Marotta-Petilli, a deputy from Muro Lucano, had to state, in the meeting of March 28, 1865: «And what will I say about the pottery industry in Calitri, which, although rough and primitive, is highly sought in the nearby villages?» Certainly, the meager and rough work of the kitchenware was largely due to the lack of technical preparation in the small shop workers of our pottery industry: almost no one of the low or middle class learned to read and write, so much so that in 1872, the percentage of illiterates was 85%. Schooling was believed to be the heritage of the few privileged people and of the clergy. There were no elementary public schools, and some private schools were kept by priests; one remembers, because of method and discipline, the school of Don Francesco Cestone, of Don Canio Vitamore and of Don Giambattista Cialeo. The school of Don Alfonso Cestone, who was an educated and intelligent teacher, and who was killed by a painful disease. When, then, by law, the Comune opened the first elementary public school, the teaching was entrusted, in February of 1862, to Don Giuseppe Nicolais, who was furnished with standard teaching certificate. Who can complain about the amount of ardor and effectiveness with which he imparted the lessons in all the elementary courses! He, who had taught philosophy and literary discipline in various renowned seminaries, continued to impart them, in private lessons, to many young men, who were preparing for the Liceo [Lyceum] and for the Università. [University]. How well he taught our young men! In a time when few or none cared about education, the clergy was the most educated class, the only one who had an education that not only was religious but included philosophy and religion. Therefore, the clergy constituted the elect and privileged part of the citizenry. The clergy officiated, in addition to the Confraternities and the Chapels, at the Chiesa – madre , in whose divine service was placed an archpriest. The Comune enjoyed the jus patronato over the mother church or parrocchiale, under the title of San Canio, until 1547, when the church was« built in a grand and elegant form at the expense of the community»; and was confirmed later on, when «in 1694 it being knocked down with the other buildings because of the memorable earthquake, [the temple] was rebuilt at the expense of the citizens themselves.»[5] On the strength of the jus patronato, the Comune had the right to present to the diocesan bishop a set of three priests, for his pleasure, to be appointed archpriest – curate, leaving the choice of the priest to the bishop. To the right and privilege, which the Comune enjoyed to present three priests for such an appointment, was added the obligation to pay, every year «eighty four tomola of grain to the glorious St. Canio for the maintenance of said church, four ducats for candles in the S. Natale [Christmas], and eight ducats and four carlini for candles on the feast of Corpus Domini, and for the right of the Administrators of the Comune to carry the staffs of the banner in said procession.»
The jus patronato was made publicly visible, it having been «astute of those citizens – as one reads in the cited Memoria sul Patronato – to affix in the building of that temple the Armi Comunali [Communal coat of arms] to keep the memory clear… In the old exterior wall, which composed the Crociera [transept[6]] of said church, and just that one opposite to the public Piazza [square], sculptured in pietra morta[a type of sandstone] [there is] the Impresa [emblem] of said Università, representing three roses, with the date 1547.. Above the small door of said church, there is another Impresa with a similar branch of three roses. From there, reaching to the bell, in living stone there is equally sculptured the same Impresa with a sign of three roses. Amd above there is the date of 1747… On the main altar, and properly in the cross beam of the Cross, there is a similar Imrpresa of the Università or the figure of three roses.»
CIVIC COAT OF ARMS
| It is a shield, on a red field, carrying three opened roses united at the stem. Surmounting the shield a turret crown with battlements |
On the strength of such a patronage right, the Comune was also held to pay «one hundred fifty tomola of grain, each year, to the Clero Partecipante, [Participating Clergy] for its sustenance»: The Clero Partecipante was constituted as a chosen, privileged body, which – like the capitolo[7] of a cathedral – served as chorus in the Chiesa-madre, until the first half of the eighteenth century. Such choral service was confirmed by the Concordato of July 20, 1818, which elevated our church to a Ricettizia.[8] The Clero Partecipante consisted of the Archpriest-curate, by the Cantore [singer] (of natural preeminence in the chorus) and of eight Partecipanti, to whom were added another four, all conferred with the scarlet fringed mozzetta[9] of ermine. To the name of Partecipante every priest aspired, and there were a good 450 of them in 1850. Almost every well-to-do family, above all the farm families, had one or more priests, which increased their wealth and prestige. And all of the aspirations of those people were directed to acquire a Partecipante stall, with which one obtained a better reputation. Such a state of things lasted until the Laws of July 7, 1866 and August 15, 1867 – with the abolition of the censi[10], of the decime,[tithes] and of every other consideration for cult work – confiscated the patrimony of the Ricettizie. From then on, the clergy of Calitri began to lose as that the wealth enjoyed for centuries and it was also reduced, consequently, in number.
Even the convent of the Benedictine Sisters was hit by the same Laws, which ordered the suppression and closing of that pious place, where the obligatory rule of preghiera [prayer] and lavoro [work] – prescribed by the rule of Saint Benedict – had made certain that, in the midst of the vanity of the world, the convent might become a center of hard work and sanctification. And Sister Caterina Scolastica was held to be a saint when she died – in the world Rosa Maria Rinaldi – who was a «noble example in the life of god and neighbor, model « noble example second to no one for submission, patience, an obedience. » – as the priest noted in recording her death.[11] At the beginning, then, of 1868, the convent was emptied forever, after more than three hundred years of life passed in the rule of the cloister. The wretched cloisters – to whom a simple life was assigned – had to move out and find pious hospitality at some relation, carrying in her heart the nostalgia for that place of meditation and prayer.
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In the opaque storminess and grayness of life, a bit of blue often appears, a ray of light. Around that time, the Commissioni di beneficenza – which administered the patrimonial goods of the old «Capelle Laicale»[lay chapels] – were replaced, with the law of August 3, 1862, by the Congreghe di Carità [congregations of charity] which gave a new impetus and greater increment to alleviate poverty. Our Congrega di Carità administered a substantial patrimony, which, throughout the centuries, had grown through endowments and bequests of worthy citizens. Thus, Michele Margotta, with his will of January 1804 left a fortune of 2300 ducats, in order that the earnings be distributed in marriage dowries to poor girls of Calitri, with preference for those descendents of his family. He entrusted the administration of the Pio Monte dei maritaggi Margotta [Margotta benevolent marriage fund] – as it was called – to the archpriest pro tempore, and named Angelo Maria Cubelli as executor of the will. Cubelli, with great thoroughness, delivered to the person responsible the capital and the Censi received for the establishment of the Pio Monte[benevolent fund]; and he himself, with the will of April 15, 1813, left other assets of his own to be added to the charitable institution, which was, therefore, named «Pio Monte dei maritaggi Margotta – Cubelli.» [Benevolent Margotta – Cubelli marriage fund].
This charitable work was administered with great regularity by the archpriests – according to the will of the testator – up until the death of Don Pasquale Berrilli, which happened on July 1, 1883. The grand daughter and heir of this last , Marianna Berilli married Lettieri, who took to administering in his own name the assets of the Pio Monte and never came to a delivery of the accounting and earnings to the new archpriest, Don Giuseppe Nicolais. He waited for some time; but in vain. Then he made a formal request, without result; therefore with the atto giudiziario [judicial act] of May 20, 1885, he cited Marianna Berrilli in order that she come to deliver the assets and the respective titles, as well as the payment of some «Capitoli» – that the deceased archpriest had managed to claim, – and some related matured interest. She still did not give in; from here on, an intricate legal proceedings took place in the Tribunal of San Angelo dei Lombardi, then to the Corte d’Appello and finally to the Corte di Cassazione. [Supreme court]. Finally, in the hearing held on August 25, 1890, it was decided, definitively, in favor of the archpriest Nicolais or better in favor of the poor «donzelle» [maidens]. It was a real victory: «unjust was the resistance that the Berrilli heirs offered – concluded the Avvocato Dom. De Reporto – since the goal of the Opera Pia was noble and philanthropic, which Opera Pia was for many years neglected and dipped into. And in order, in the future, that similar pilfering because of the greed of private people not be repeated, the archpriest Nicolais – although in prejudice to his successors – got the civil authorities issue a Decree, on the strength of which the Pio Monte di maritaggi had to be administered by the Congrega di Carità.
Also another pious person, Signora Maria Rosa Di Cosmo provided through her will that ¾ with the earnings of her estate – of around one hundred thousand lire – there was to be erected a Ospizio di Mendicità for the hospitalization and assistance of the poor and of those unable to work;[12]and she designated as heir and executor of her will the Congrega di Carità. This, however, after the death of Signora Di Cosmo, which took place on January 29, 1880, take care of, with the care that it was due, the debts that had to be paid out of the estate; consequently, part of the inheritance was lost because of disinterest and part because of the payment of debts. Very little, therefore, remained for the poor. More time passes before the Ente morale [Nonprofit organization] is constituted with its own by laws; and this was approved by the Ministry of the Interior on October 9, 1887. Because of the low amount of earnings, the Ospizio di Mendicità [almshouse] has always lead miserable life, caring for only a very few old people and those unable to work, although it was tried to join it, as a local and under the single direction with the Asilo d’infanzia, which is supported also at the expense of said Congrega.
The Asilo d’ Infanzia [nursery school]– or Scuola Materna [nursery school]– was instituted in January of 1890 by the board of directors of the Congrega di Carità, in order to provide for the early physical, moral, and intellectual education of children of both sexes, from three to six years. It is entrusted to the loving care of the Sisters of the Patroncino of San Giuseppe.
Another charitable institution was administered by the Congrega di Carità, the Monte Frumentario; a remarkable grain warehouse, which served the needs of the farmers with farm loans. With the Decree-Law of July 29, 1927, it was changed into the «Cassa Comunale di Reddito Agrario,» [Communal chest of agrarian income] which was entrusted to the Banca di Napoli [Bank of Naples] where the entire capital of 37,276.23 Lire was deposited. The bank now had administration of it and gave seed and fertilizer loans to farmers.
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In the first decade of Italy’s unity and independence (1860 –1870), the national feeling for the Patria [homeland] was consolidated in all the social classes of the people. Our fellow citizens gave undoubted proof of a sincere attachment to the new political regime and hurried willingly to military service, when they were called to the battle of the Terza Guerra d’ Independenza and to the Guerre Coloniali. And it gladdens the heart – compared to what the Bourbonite reaction dared – some years before – by brigandage – to remember that not a few soldiers of Calitri – belonging to the 47 and 48th Infantry Regiments (Brigata Ferrara) defended on June 24, 1866, in the famous quadrato of Villafranca, the life of the prince Umberto di Savoia, receiving decorations and pensions from it.[13] Sacred is the worship of all those who distinguished themselves in the riskiest endeavors in defense of the fatherland: very properly, therefore, their names are handed down to the remotest people, so that a reflection of that perennial light, irradiates their war actions, and their sacrifice reverberates on the new generations. Two fellow citizens of ours took part, under the command of General R. Cadorna, in the occupation of Rome, on September 20, 1870, through the famous breccia [break] of Porta Pia.[14] Other citizens immolated themselves on the altar of the fatherland when Italy, assumed in the category of the great powers, felt the need to command – as did the other nations – a colonial dominion that absorbed the superfluous manual labor. From the bay of Assab, on the Red Sea, an expedition to keep possession of the port of massaua departed in 1885. But the occupation in that region, incurred the hate of the Abyssinians of the Tigrè, a fierce and brave people, whose Negus, Giovanni, attacked at Dogali a column of five hundred Italians commanded by Colonello De Cristoforis; after heroic resistance, the colonna was annihilated on January 26, 1887. Only about eighty soldiers managed, after infinite suffering and problems, to return to Monkullo. In that battle – which was the proof of the wisdom of our military organization – Calitri gave its tribute of blood: there fell the soldier Vitale Di Cairano son of Bartolomeo, who was born on June 10, 1865: His name is eternalized on the monument to the Cinquecento in Rome.
When, then, in 1889, Menelik succeeded the Negus Giovanni, our government occupied, on August 9 of the same year, Keren and Asmara; but because of that, the Negus declared war on us in 1894. At first, victory smiled at the Italian armies at Agordat, at Kàssala, at Coatit, and at Senafè; but then our army, attacked by overwhelming hordes of indigenous people, suffered a bloody military reversal at Amba Alagi on December 7, 1895 and at Abba –Garima on March 1, 1896. In this second battle fell Antonio Codella son of Michele, a soldier in the 55th Infantry.[15]
When, then, Italy mounted a military expedition to occupy Lybia in 1911, under the command of General Caneva, there was no lack of valor and blood of our fellow citizens. Found dead were Costantino Frucci son of Angelo, a soldier in the 11th bersaglieri, who fell on December 20, 1911, at Bir-Tobras.[16] Because of the insidious resistance rendered by the Arabs, pushed and armed by Turkish officers, the soldier Vito Di Cecca son of Michele fell on June 20, 1913. And when the guerilla warfare was begun again in Libya because of the Turkish and German emissaries during the Prima Guerra Mondiale, [First World War] the infantry soldier Angelo Inauale son of Vitantonio.[17]was declared missing at Giado-Fessato, on July 8, 1915.
[1] Chickling The cicerchia (chickling) is a climbing herbaceous plant similar to that of peas; today it is rare, but in Umbria it is still used in a variety of vegetable and minestrone soups of ancient traditions.
Until about ten years ago in the late spring the beans, chickpeas and cicerchie were seeded, generally between the maize, exploiting the existing spaces between one furrow and the other. In August there were harvested the shrubs loaded with pods which were left to hang on sunny walls until they were ready for threshing. Once threshed, the cicerchia was cleaned and the last chaff of the pod shattered and dispersed by the soft afternoon breeze, then the cicerchia was ventilated manually in the shade of a large elm.
Today the cicerchia is a cereal at risk of extinction, fortunately however it is the object of renewed interest on the part of some cooks, above all those inUmbria and the Marches, who promote the rediscovery proposing it as a substitute for beans in various dishes that enjoy great success.
[2] Cfr. «Giornale Economico del Principato Ultra,» [Economic journal of Principato Ultra] Avellino, 1836, file II, page 48; 1838, file. II page 39-40, where one reads: «Such industry is much improved in Calitri, where it was crude.»
[3] “LA CAPITANATA” (North Puglia)
“La Capitanata” is a land of myth, men, bandits, angels, gods, heroes and, dulcis in fundo, even blessed. Its history began with DAUNO and DIOMED, and still goes on with Padre Pio, and includes many voices, faces and cultures which make Capitanata a land for every season. There are traces of Roman, Byzantine, Longobard, Norman and Swabian culture, as well as of invasions from the sea, devastation, earthquakes, bloody massacres and pirates. In the end, the light risen at the dawn of a tragic century such as XVIII, id est the light of PADRE PIO, who, with his Beatification represents the starting point of a road to the future.
[4] Cfr. «Giornale Economico del Principato Ultra,» 1844, page 95; and in 1841, page 71, the same newspaper reported: «Basilicaa takes the kitchenware from Calitri.»
[5] Cfr. Memoria sul patronato del Comune di Calitri sulla sua chiesa parocchiale… da presentarsi all Commissione dei Vescovi per l’esecuzione del Concordato.»[Memorandum on the patronage of the Comune di Calitri on the parish church … to be presented to the Commission of Bishops for the execution of the agreement] Napoli, Tip. Della Società Filomatica,[ Philomathic Society Press, 1843, pag. 3 and following.
[6] A rectangular space inserted between the apse and nave in the early Christian basilica.
[7] An assembly of clergy or members of a knightly order.
[8] A Chiesa ricettizia was that church “eretta in ente morale [nonprofit entity]”, which was originally placed under the patronage of the Comune or of the family that founded it, and was officiated over by a college of priests that renewed itself by co-optation [that is election of a new member by the members already in office] and carried out pastoral or worship functions, and also had a patron commune whose earning was distributed among the members of the collegio” Therefore, in the rural areas of the Mezzogiorno, it was not much different than a business, and constituted by its very nature the basic reference point fittavoli [tenant farmers] farmers, and peasants.
[9] A Mozzetta is a priestly mantle that is fits over the breast by a series of buttons, and is occasionally provided with a small hood. It has been in use for the fifteenth century. The red mozzetta is worn by the pope and some cardinals, and the violet mozzetta is worn by the bishops.
[10] Payment due in order to enjoy a specific benefit.
[11] Maria Rosa Rinaldi was born on February 13, 1739 of the notary Eligio and Maria Araneo. She always lived in fear of God and in the observance of the monastic rule; as soon as she died, – attests the priest – she worked some miracles, so that, with the authorization of the Curia of Conza, she was exhumed from the tomb and placed in the Church of the Annunziata, at the main altar, in cornu evangelii [ that is, on the left]. A stone inscription still tells us her name and her saintliness.
[12] Maria Rosa Di Cosmo was born in Calitri on August 6, 1794. She married first to Giovanni Mazziotti died on February 17, 1863; and in the second bed was Giacomo Vitamore son of Raffaele.
[13] I indicate here their names: Guseppantonio Cioffari (1844 – 1918); Giuseppe Codella (1844 –1928); Michele Codella (1839 –1919); Giuseppe De Rosa (1844 –1902); Vitantonio Gervasi (1843 – 1917); Francesco Lampariello (1914 –1902); Luigi Nannariello (1843 –1922); Daniele Nicolais (1842 – 19120; Canio Onorato (1844 –1938); Antonio Piumelli (1843 – 1895); Francesco Rabasca (1844 –1925) Donato Simone (1836 –1923); Giuseppe Stanco (1842 1921); Francesco Zabatta (1836 –1922); Canio Zarrilli son of Gennaro (1843 – 1907); Canio Zarrilli di Giuseppe (1842 – 1919.
[14]The two citizens were: Vincenzo Cestone, corporal of artillery (1846 – 1923) and Biagio Zampaglione, soldier (1844 –1901).
[15] He was born on September 17, 1874. In his glorious name was entitled the alley where he was born.
[16] He was born on March 17, 1889. On the wall of his home was built, in 1913, a commemorative stone.
[17] He was born March 20, 1893.
Chapter 24
The famine and the work of the mayor Don Pasquale Berrilli – fierce opposition to the political candidacy of Fr. De Sanctis – Transoceanic Emigration: its causes and development – the musical concert- its renown and decay.
A serious famine, or mal’annata[bad year] – as it was called – hit our population in 1879. The sad consequences of the meager harvest mainly affected the most humble and indigent families. In the winter of that year and also in March of 1880 – when all provisions were exhausted – famine, in the true sense of the word, knocked at the hovels of the poor. There was an excellent Sindaco [mayor] at the head of the Amministrazione Comunale [Communal Administration]. He was the priest, Don Pasquale Berrilli (1821 – 1886), who had been one of the conspirators in 1848 and 1857. He, on that sad occasion, had anticipated with far-sighted vigilance – which is the highest expression of the soul – the solution of the troublesome problem of the moment, which is that of hunger. At first, he had distributed, every day, a large loaf of bread to each needy family. Then, to give everybody an honest method of earning their bread, he started a few public works projects: using a cleverly – devised excavation project, he had a knoll leveled that blocked the western entrance to the village, near the Croce district, which prevented building development. This also made the main road, La Stradalonger and straighter. In addition, he had the well of Spata(now annexed to the co-operative mill) excavated and the well that is called Pozzo di Monsignore,[The Well of The Monsignore] in the Pittole district, in order to supply water to the people and to other public works.
The decade of his administration was extremely beneficial: He was mayor from November 22, 1871 to July 7, 1881. Full of practical sense and a lover of the public good, he studied the multiple needs of the Comune and, in the decade during which he was Sindaco, he started to solve the most urgent needs of the Comune. In addition to promoting public lighting, he took care of the internal road system and building. But he especially confronted the serious problem of the local (dirt) roads. – a problem that is still unsolved – completing the paving of the Strettole [country roads], the via S. Lucia, the road that leads to Gagliano and others, so that the population, who had limitless faith in him, in addition to confirming him for ten years in the job of mayor, enthusiastically sent him, twice, as its representative, to the Provincial Council of Avellino in the years 1864 –67 and 1876-1884. And even when he was in the Provincial Council he did not lose sight of the interests of Calitri and of the entire Mandamento[1], making the ferocious opposition almost forget that as mayor he opposed, in 1874-75, the candidacy of Francesco De Sanctis[2] for Deputy of the board of Lacedonia. In that political election, Berrilli did not evaluate, in its true light, the national meaning of the candidacy of De Sanctis. «If I expend all of my life to honor the fatherland – was the political program of De Sanctis –and it is not right to give such authority to my name that may not include your local passions, then what good is my name? Throw it in the Ofanto, and forget about me forever.» This was the high significance of his candidacy, and only thus did he want to be useful to the board. Various citizens understood him and above all Francesco Tozzoli (1852 – 1893) «young, intelligent, and hardworking, who was among those who had a clearer concept of that political motive.» But Mayor Berrilli – although knowing the great moral and intellectual figure of De Sanctis – was linked by strong bonds of gratitude to the opposition candidate, Serafino Soldi,[3] who had defended him, starting in the Gran Corte Criminale [High Criminal Court] of Avellino, together with another ten citizens, getting him out of jail, in the famous political trial, which was brought in 1857 – as has already been stated – against the Settari [partisans]of Calitri, who intended to favor the ascent of Luciano Murat to the throne of Naples. Therefore, Berrilli – sticking to his principles – opposed, in all ways, the candidacy of De Sanctis, to the point of keeping him from speaking to the citizens in the municipal office. Here are the bitter words, with which De Sanctis stigmatized the refusal, doing a real hatchet job on the mayor: «I wrote to the mayor that I was going to the municipal building. But the mayor did not show up. I well knew that he was one of my more heated adversaries. Still the good man must have understood that I never meant anything personally, but I intended to ask for his hospitality only as a representative of the village. It was only an act of basic courtesy that he act as my host. And I was not surprised that he had forgotten to return my di capo d’anno Bigletto da visita [new year’s calling card], which was sent not to him, but to the mayor. Perhaps he had to have some dislike for me. And he confused his dislike with his office of mayor.» But De Sanctis, upon his arrival in the morning of January 14 (Thursday), was comforted quickly to write: «If I did not see the mayor, I saw G. Tozzoli, with a happy, welcoming face. The school children lined up, due to the kind thoughts of Tozzili,[4] and one approached me, and recited a poem to me, which implied to me that they invoke me as the ministering angel of the village.[5] I gave thanks and I thought: If the fathers here resemble the children a bit, the thing will be well done.»
In that election, Calitri was like an honest to goodness fortress to be stormed. From here on, the appellative of città nemica [enemy city], of Calitri nebbiosa [foggy Calitri] with which De Sanctis stigmatized the opposition was not generous for a man who had come back from exile and already was celebrated in the field of literary criticism. The opposition was made up of the majority party – which was at the head of the Amministrazione Comunale – formed by the Mayor Don Pasquale Berrilli, by the Zampaglione people, by Nicola Vitamore ex captain in the Guardia Nazonale and a previous mayor – by two Berrilli priests, by chancellor De Masi and by the most substantial citizens. «The great electors were there – wrote De Sanctis – the principal enemies.» And he quickly added, «It was not possible to change position. There was no equivocation there. There was an engaged party.» In addition, as the men were invincible, so were the air, the houses, and the streets: Everything was somber for him: «I saw Calitri in a bad moment. The street was a mud bath; one saw little of it, and a sharp cold gave me the shivers. To the left was a kind of dark tower, which seemed to want to bombard me; to the right was a thick fog that enveloped everything; the air was snowy, and the sky a sadly monotonous gray. I went up to a graceful little square… turned to the left into a kind of sweaty cave that wanted to be a large portico.»[6] I was a guest of Giuseppe Tozzoli, «my colleague, friend, and, neighbor, the outgoing deputy, pulled back by a very noble letter addressed to me: I entrust to you my flag – he wrote – and I am confident that you will not let it fall out of your hand. And I am obliged – concluded De Sanctis – to hold the banner high.»
Village life was, then, also based on intrigue, backbiting, and on jealousy. De Sanctis realized it during his very brief visit: «At table I politely tried to investigate the moral conditions of the village, but I achieved little. Wisecracks, sarcasm, and ironies crisscrossed from those present against those absent. At that gathering there were the family struggles, the struggles over interests and the living and intense passions of the Guelfs[7] and Ghibellines,… the life’s blood of small towns, where one thinks of that alone.» The following morning, De Sanctis found many citizens in the living room of the Tozzoli house, people who had gone there to greet him. With all his friends and admirers following, he started out for the Casa Comunale to hold the discussion; «when a letter from the Sindaco was brought to me. This is what it said: If you want to come to the Casa Comunale, you have every right, but I am informing you in advance that I will not permit you to hold election meetings there… The mayor has done it now, my dark and contracted face said. And I read that form letter aloud. Is that all it is? he said to one of the followers. Come, we will go to the house of the Assessore[8].» De Sanctis had the impression that the «strange resolution» of the mayor was provided by the friends, who had set up in advance another room: «I entered there, I found the room already full, and in the adjacent room a crowd of school children, which was an ingenious idea both to generate numbers of people and to conceal from me the absence of adversaries.» And there I outlined the true meaning of that election with clear and unmistakable words: «I come here with a dark sky, as are our souls. And I do not now come to beg for votes, and to acquire followers; you are the ones who must conquer me. Elected by another collegio [San Severo], to which a long and solid community of thoughts and feelings are tied, I promise to be yours, and the condition is in your hands: let us all be united together, and keep my name high above your local divisions.» After the discussion, the great critic, with a vigilant, psychological probe, turns to the young men and concludes: «This that young man hears, who invokes me in his verses, and says: You are for us the angel of peace. And God forbid that one may have to say here that the young people understood me better than their fathers with the white hair.» And turning to a fleeting ray of sun in that thick real and moral darkness, he concluded: «Look there at the sun, which, rising, chases down and diminishes the fog; I greet the sun of Calitri, which dissipates your fog, and I greet this youth of the new Calitri, the seat of civilization and gentleness. There was no lack of applause, and what pleases me more – states De Sanctis – who was caught up in emotion, and which lead to tears in some. In truth, I did not sprinkle roses and flowers on these villages. The gibes were very delicate, but they were gibes. And the one who heard them was now being introduced to the new Calitri.»
De Sanctis was in a hurry, because he had to be in Andretta in the evening. Shortly before noon on Friday, January 15, he got ready to leave: «with a great following of friends I crossed the village, and the people looked upon me this time with greater warmth. I noted in their air and in their manner a seriousness that impressed me. Some people stood there, erect, on the square, with the seriousness of a roman senator. They must be a tenacious and hardworking people, with their heads held high, and I wished them well.» And here he talks about a kind act, which is in contrast to the refusal of the mayor: The refusal for him was an extremely discourteous act, and he remembers it often in his Viaggio Elettorale: «They told me – he continues – that the carabinieri, wanting to honor the deputy, offered to accompany me. I was pleased and said: «as a deputy, I believe it an honor to be accompanied by the royal carabinieri, but here I am a candidate, and I do not want anything between me and my electors… And I had in mind a curious comparison between that mayor who did not respect me nor my person, nor my rank and did not deem me worthy of any honor, and those carabinieri who were so civil and who had a very kind thought.»
While he was leaving Calitri, headed for Andretta, «I turned to look at my enemy city – he writes – and I saw again that tower that was darkened by the centuries, which looked at me threateningly, as if it wanted to tell me: here you will be defeated.»[9] This is one of the most solidly constructed chapters: a complete fusion between the air and individuals – as Testa very opportunely observes – between things and men. The tower is also another character, like a voter, in whose soul the winged word of the great Irpino did not breach. [10] At that moment, a courier arrived «completely breathless» , and announced the arrival of many electors from S. Andrea, who, «had my letter and came to pay me a visit.» De Sanctis learned from them that «San Andrea was all for me and almost all of Conza and also a large part of Teora; and I had a moment of pride, and I turned to that menacing tower, and said: Calitri wanted to bombard me, and it will be bombarded, and our victory will be its victory, it will be the first page of the new Calitri.»
Despite ferocious opposition and extremely bitter shift by Mayor Berrilli and by his majority party, De Sanctis, in the balloting of January 17, 1875, was elected.[11] It is well known that the voting conducted on January 17, 1875 was the third of that bitter election fight, done by ineluctably straight men and other men for stronger and intense interests. The election had taken place on November 8, 1874; but, a runoff election having been declared, the election was repeated on November 15. Because of the fraud committed at some polls, the runoff election was annulled by the chamber of deputies and a new runoff election was ordered, which was called, precisely, for January 17, 1885. The bitterness of the struggle, the deceitful maneuvers of the adversaries, an exaggerating of the drama, and a disorderly tangle of ambition and interest lead the ingenious mind of De Sanctis to confront, close up, the judgment of the electorate. And here it is, at the age of 58 years, to undertake the Viaggio Elettorale, in the heart of winter, and to complete it in a week: «through mountains and valleys and without a railroad, and as I was able, even on the back of a mule…I visited a collegio in my native village, where I had not been for forty years… I talked, struggled, and won» – as he, himself, communicated, by letter to his pupil M. Mandalari. And truly in that voyage, as he never had done, he opened his heart and made it speak, with warmth, without qualms, and without any thought, with that ingenious critic of his «who was once the cause of his strength and his weakness in the political life.» So that one can conclude, affirming that that bitter struggle was a good, almost a felix culpa [happy fault]; without it, the national literature would not have been enriched with that literary jewel – one of a kind – which is «Un viaggio elettorale» which he finished writing in April of 1875, when the impressions, which he reported when visiting the collegio of Lacedonia, were still alive and present in his heart.
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Returning to the mal’annata of 1879 – 1880, the difficult economic situation – rendered still more severe by the lack of public works – and the overabundance of manual labor gave rise to the first trans-oceanic emigration. The exodus headed, at first, toward South America, preferably Montevideo: here there had already emigrated, at first, in 1872 Vincenzo Massaro of S. Fele – who had married the Calitrano woman Colomba De Rosa – and in 1878 he was followed by Pasquale Del Re. Urged on by economic privation, five peasants, namely, Luigi Soriero with his son Vincenzo, the Angelomaria brothers, and Vito Zarrilli and Canio Lucrezia embarked for Montevideo at the beginning of the summer of 1880. Between 1881 and 1882, the ex-capuccini Padre Vincenzo Fastiggi, Padre Francesco De Nicolo (in the world, Erberto) and Padre Francesco Cialeo immigrated to South America; this last, then, moved to North America. In 1882 a group of shoemakers, among whom was Vito Mafucci, and some peasants, left and headed to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.
There was hardship suffered because of diseases contracted during the long voyage that lasted from 40-70 days, and, above all because of the lack of money necessary for the embarkation. Therefore, as soon as the authorities started to divide up Spineto in the year 1886 – 1887, the less well-off had the chance to sell the share assigned to them and purchase a boarding ticket. The exodus continued to head toward the South American labor market; but already the United States began to exercise an attractive force, because of the illusion of more satisfying earnings. The first to head to the United States of America was Vincenzo De Carlo, a shoemaker, who emigrated in 1882 and stopped in Brooklyn, which quickly became a center of attraction, because De Carlo made his business and his house a place of concentration and irradiation for the many fellow villagers who emigrated. And to Brooklyn, in the same year, headed a group of peasants – among whom was Gaetano Codella – who spread out in the countryside and in the villages, to construct roads, railroads, aqueducts, etc. Codella, then, in 1885, moved to New Rochelle starting the first nucleus of that which had to become, later, the most numerous colony of Calitrani. Other peasants, in those years found work in Montclair (New Jersey), others in Dunmone [Dunmore] PA in the coalmines, and others, finally in faraway Duluth (Minnesota) for the cultivation of grain. In 1883, Giuseppe Di Maio son of Vito ( July 5, 1919) emigrated. He was an expert tailor who took a group of his ex-apprentices with him; other tailors followed along close to him, and established themselves in New York. From 1884 to 1888, Pasquale De Carlo who, named evangelical pastor in the Presbyterian Institutional Church, distinguished himself for charitable works for Italian emigrants and whomever turned to him; was elevated to the high position of Superintendent of the Presbytery. He closed his Christian and social mission in Chicago on March 17, 1947. He was born on February 22, 1863 of Angelo De Carlo and Maria Antonia Ricciardi.
Meanwhile, because of a serious economic crisis in the United States, emigration suffered a slight hold up; therefore, many citizens saw themselves forced to go back to Italy, and others took the road to South America, but they were few and isolated. In 1885, the priest Don Luigi Di Milia emigrated to Brazil and remained there until 1890, when because of the yellow fever he contracted, he felt the need to return to Italy; in 1886 Cesare Carola also went to Brazil with his twelve year old son Orazio, who, after six months, having contracted yellow fever, went back to his family.
From 1894 to 1889, the outflow of emigrants was small. On March 12, 1891, the peasants Francesco Cianci, Giuseppe Delli Liuni, and Vitantonio Capossela embarked for the U.S.A. The ship was wrecked in the strait of Gibraltar: of the Calitrani, only Cianci drowned. Here it is opportune to remember the first fellow citizen to die in the United States was Donato Ricciardi son of Pasquale, following pneumonia. From 1894 to 1900, and still more from 1900 up to the First World War (1915 –1918), the exodus assumed, in its progressive development, a true form of outward migration. North America constituted the promising illusion toward which was polarized all the migratory currents of Calitri, facilitated by fortune obtained, by the numerous beckoning with biglietti anitpagati [prepaid tickets], and by the charitable work that Giuseppe Liccione of S. Fele, who married his fellow villager Matilde Stanco carried out for the less expert emigrants.
In those years long ago, the emigration of our fellow citizens was, for the most part, temporary. They, hardworking and thrifty, with the savings accumulated at the expense of hard sacrifice, went back to Italy with the idea of buying a little house or farm and of satisfying their debts, then returning to America to reach a better economic prosperity. Others, instead – and there were more – obtained citizenship, were naturalized and brought their wife and children over. The first woman who emigrated was Giacinta Germano daughter of Pietro, behind whom came many others. Our women, cleaned, and loved their houses and their work, quickly acquired the trust and esteem of all those who approached them.
After the First World War, because of the wretched conditions in which the whole nation because of the immense effort put forth found itself, emigration to the U.S.A. became a true exodus at an accelerated pace; and the human outflow, braked only by the scarcity of steamships, grew so much in intensity as to lead the federal authorities to promulgate a law, in 1922, to govern the number of immigrants. In total, in little more than one half century and up until 1938, from the statistical data compiled by the Municipality, over five thousand Calitrani turned out to have emigrated. [12]
Our emigrants always maintained ties of friendship and of common origin among each other. To conserve such ties and to reinforce the awareness of the far away fatherland, as well as to perpetuate the traditional village customs and the religious feasts, it was beneficial to set up some associations. In New Rochelle emerged the Società Calitrana Ofantina di mutuo soccorso, the Circolo Ricreativo , and the Circolo Educativo Femminile; in New York, the Lega Calitrana was instituted; in Dunmore the Società Nativi Calitrani; in Brooklyn the Circolo dell’Immacolata Concezione e la Fratellanza Calitrana di mutual assistenza, which since 1910 organized, every year on the first Sunday of July a Picnic (festa campestre) [a celebration in the country] to it came our emigrants from all over the confederation to pass, together, a day of fraternal joy and to strengthen the chains of their common country of origin. In this meeting, how many sweet memories, how much homesickness, how many emotions were there for the far distant fatherland!
To keep the flame of moral unity among the compaesani [fellow villagers], they contributed – and not a little – two newspapers that, each week, published a large amount of news from Calitri, and gave a detailed chronicle of each Calitran colony: L’Eco Calitrano – published by the Circolo Ricreativo – of New Rochelle from 1930 to 1942 – and the Corriere Ofantino, which was published in the weekly La Stella di Roseto, of Pen Argyl (Pa.) and edited by a Committee from New Rochelle from 1931 to 1937. In such a way, the Calitrani, reading the newspaper, felt even more united in the vision of the common fatherland.
As a consequence, the emigration of many young people brought – among other things – the decay of the Concerto Musicale, which, in a few years, had gained the sympathy of the citizenry and of the nearby villages. Music has always exercised an appealing charm, a true fascination. And this musical soul is realized with songs, with the sound of the organino [hurdy gurdy], of the guitar, of the mandolin and – why not? – of the castanets. There was no lack, then, of philharmonic dilettantes who organized true little concerts among the applause and enjoyment of everybody. One of the last lovers of musical harmonies and a true teacher of the art of sounds was the priest Don Domenico Serrata (1824 – 1908) who, for almost fifty years, in addition to being an excellent organist for the Chiesa-madre, lavished the treasures of his genius and physical energy in the teaching of music to young people, as well as the use of string and wind instruments. Into this environment came, in 1883, one Luigi Ricciardi of Foggia, an excellent player of various instruments and a proved tuner of pianos and organs; he was going around the villages of the High Irpinia in search of work. Fortune had him strike up a friendship with Vito Gaetano Fastiggi, a music enthusiast. He sparked the idea in Fastiggi to put together a band concert, using the advice of Ricciardelli. To this end, he advertised among the young. Many enrolled. In 1885, the Amministrazione Comunale endowed an annual payment with the obligation that the band must play in the square, on feast days, for three years. The first maestro was Giuseppe De Sica, from Salerno, a great judge of music, as well as a great expert of partitura [orchestrating] and of instrumental technique. He was credited with giving the band concerts a moral consistency and a sufficient artistic preparation. To increase its prestige and the sympathy of the population, he agreed – and not a little – with the choice of an attractive uniform, that of ufficiali dei Bersaglieri, [Italian Infantry officers] with the characteristic plumed hat. The fellow citizens who proudly followed the development of the band, invited the band to play for all occasions, happy and sad. Moreover, the nearby villages depended on our Band Concerts for their religious and civil festivals. The years between 1889 and 1893 constituted the golden age of our concert. The members of the band grew in number, reaching over fifty one instruments, and re-igniting in them, as never before, their love of harmony. But the enthusiasm and the fame did not last too long; with each passing day, an unstoppable force undermined its compactness and its existence. Transoceanic emigration tore away the best members of the Concert. This concert, then reduced in number and deprived of its most expert members, began to lower into a complete sunset. Through spirito di Corpo [esprit di corps], the survivors continued to keep the concert alive, which by now was being reduced in number and value In 1896, because of the departure of Maestro De Sica, this beautiful institution ceased its educational work. It was sad for everybody. The few band members who remained, put down their dear instruments with living regret, and – as the veterans of many battles kept their glorious weapons – even they cared for, with nostalgia, the musical instrument as a relic of dear and unforgettable memories!
[1] A district that is intermediate between a full administrative district and the commune, which dealt with only some administrative and legal functions. It existed until 1926.
[2]1817–83, Italian historian and literary critic. He was one of the founders of modern Italian literary criticism. He suffered imprisonment for his political views and was exiled to Malta. He was one of the first in the world to hold a position as professor of comparative literature with his appointment at Naples (1871–77). His most important works are his Saggi critici [critical essays] (1866) and his History of Italian Literature (1871, tr. 1931), a history of Italian national feeling as traced through literature. He also wrote studies of Petrarch (2d ed. 1883) and Leopardi (1885).
[3] Serafino Soldi (1817 – 1887), valiant criminal lawyer of the Avellino court, had a great part in the political and administrative life of our province. He made great use of the newspaper «L’Irpino», which was founded by him in 1861 and directed by him for many years. He was a deputy in the board of Lacedonia, from 1862 to 1865, in the first legislature of the kingdom of Italy.
[4] They were guided by the teacher- priest, Don Alfonso Cestone.
[5] The student was Giuseppe Del Re – who is spoken of in the biographical notes; and the poem – a sonnet – had been composed by the same teacher Cestone, who was educated and intelligent.
[6] Today this had disappeared: it was l’arco della volta, on which was raised part of the chiesa-madre, which was also demolished.
[7] In Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries, those who supported the pope and the independent communes, as opposed to the ghibellines, who favored the emperor.
[8] There does not exist an exact correspondence to anglo Saxon law; generally he is an officer of a city council.
[9] F. De Sanctis, Un viaggio elettorale, Napoli (Ed. Morano), Chapter VII
[10] N. V. Testa, the «giornale intimo» of Fr. De Sanctis, [Intimate diary of F. De Sanctis]in «studii e ricordi desanctisiano» [Desanctian studies and memories] which was published in on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, Avellino, 1935, page 390. And he adds: «The priest, Don Pasquale Berrilli, the mayor, is like the tower whose behavior De Sanctis seeks to investigate, but he does not get to the truth and he satisfies himself for the moment with only external and imaginative reasons: being involved with a priest he makes an issue of the habit and he fears that he is not «in the odor of sanctity» near the priest of Calitri. In reality, there were many other reasons for which the Berrilli group was not able to support the Soldi Candidacy.» They had be taken away to jail, as has already been stated, by the professional and personal work of Soldi, in the political trial of 1857. This is the true and only reason for the opposition.
[11] After the election of De Sanctis to Deputy, the prestige of Mayor Berrilli was strongly shaken, in the opinion of the public. When, then, in the seduta [session] of the Consiglio Comune of January 4, 1880, it rejected the petition presented by a Committee of citizens for the sharing of the Spineto, he completely lost his popularity. And so, in the last years of his life, he felt the deepest ingratitude; he saw himself almost isolated by the same friends and he lived in disparate … as a prize for, perhaps his solicitous care for the public good. That, however does not take away that later – and still today his Mayoralty had praise and tears, and was proposed as a model and called to throw back at the new administration.
[12] Because of the permanent emigration to the Americas, over 42 surnames were extinguished, and they were: Aloia, Apate, Arace, Aulisi, Bilotta, Carpinalla, Castellano, Ciafullo, Claps, Covino, Crocco, D’Agostino, De Angelis, Del Cossano, De Vito, Del Moro, Fiore, Frasca, Grippo, Guadagno, Ianuale, Luisi, Malanca, Marturano, Preite, Preziosi, Rapolla, Roselli, Ruberto, Sarno, Sepe, Solimene, Soriero, Sordillo, Savignano, Scangaro, Schiavo, Schiavone, Strazza, Tozza, Tuozzo, and Vitiello.