Chapters 25 – 27

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Chapter 25

Popular uprising because of the division of the Spineto. The last descendents of the House of Mirelli and their economic decline – Description of the chiesa-madre and the caused determining its demolition.

The famous Circolare Ministeriale of October 14, 1879 had been published for some time. With this circular,  «the division of the territories, because of the abolition of feudalism, was ordered… in order that the benefit that will advance the proletariat from the abject conditions of being a peasants to being farmers not be further delayed.»  It was like fire incubating under the ashes.  Those that had the least, who were exasperated because of the serious food crisis that was being experienced, presented petitions to the municipal authorities asking – in accordance with the above cited circular – the division of some communal public lands.  The intense and repeated solicitations, however, were opposed by the majority of the Consiglio Comunale, [the village council] who on January 1, decided to reject the petition.  Don Pasquale Berrilli was mayor.  The supporters of the parceling out of the land kept fighting and, to keep the torch of agitation alight, they put together a Comitato [committee], composed of Michelangelo Cicoira (1855 – 1937), of Giuseppe Di Maio son of Vito, of Giacomo Maffucci son of Pietro, of Angelo Cerrata son of Felice and of other workers, guided and advised by the Tozzoli.  Their hearts were excited and the environment was heated, so the beginning of 1881 arrived heavy with dark threats.  The Comitato wanted take  all the legal action possible, and on January 2 delivered a heated appeal to the Minister of the Interior, in which – among other considerations – space was devoted to the following legal relief: «These people, enlightened by the vision of the laws, wanted to throw off the yoke, since he who wants to work must not be denied a little bit of land, and the laws in force stated so.»

      While waiting for a response, the people now lived with feverish anxiety and trepidation.  To indeed heighten the serious state of tension, the news of popular demonstrations that broke out in Bisaccia, in Vallata, and in Lioni reached them during that time.  These demonstrations had achieved the division of the public lands.  These very eloquent and close examples moved the excited hearts of our peaceful people.  But, when, a few days later, the negative response of the Minister of the Interior was known, the storm broke out.  On the night of January 15, 1881 the promoters decided to demonstrate on the next Sunday (the 17^th).  The people responded to the appeal and went into the square, in front of Palazzo Comunale [town hall, where the Consiglio met.] The people were crowding in, calling for action.  Suddenly, among the excited crowd, a voice resonated:  Allo Spineto! Allo Spineto! [To the Spineto! To the Spineto!] This invitation found an echo in the hearts of everybody.  In a flash, about six hundred citizens, for the most part manual laborer, equipped with hoes and other work tools, moved toward that district to implement possession of the public property.  The rash of people went forward, behind the national flag, to the joyful singing of a hymn inspired by the circumstances, which began:

      Bella figlola, iamo a Luzzano [beautiful daughter we are going to Luzzano]

      Lu pane ‘inzino, la zappa ‘mmano [bread in our laps, hoes in our hands]

      The song was accompanied by musical instruments, under the direction of Giuseppe DiMaio, tailor, one of the most fiery of the agitators.  The enormous crowd, after two hours walking, reached the Spineto and occupied the public land holding.  There resounded the blows of the hoe on the moist clumps of earth, the tools whistling on the century old oaks… at sunset they returned to the village amid playing and singing; they turned to the main road; then they went home, with the understanding of beginning the agitation again the next day.  The following day (the 18^th), in fact, they went, again, in a close column, to the Spineto to continue the peaceful occupation; and so also on the 19^th .  The morning of the 20^th, they wanted to again take up the agitation, but the arrival of a company of soldiers, an incessant rain, and some arrests that were duly carried out, made the people return to their usual tranquility.

      The few people arrested, however, rather than depressing their souls, served to keep the agitation alive, This agitation was echoed widely in the national press of every political color,[1] managing to interest the Italian public and to force the government to satisfy, with due diligence, the rights of the people.  The central power, to whom, finally, the news reached about the true scope of the agitation, recognized its legitimacy and telegraphically ordered the Prefect of Avellino who had provided for the immediate dispatch of a forest commission to study in loco what and how much of the Castiglione difesa could be divided up.  The Commissione, composed of the Engineer of the technical department, Signor Ronza, and of the Forest inspector, reached Calitri on March 3.  A mass of people, delirious with joy, carrying the flag, went to meet it outside the residential area to celebrate its arrival.  The forest Commision completed its examination, recognized the rights of the people to be just and well founded, and proposed the dividing up of the Castiglione public property.  The prefect quickly sent the public property agent, Alfonso Valagara, with the categorical order the have the mayor convene the Consiglio Comunale and to decide in that sense.  And the Consiglio, in the meeting of April 30, 1881 – to which also intervened the land agent Signor Valagara, as representative of the Prefect – deliberated not only the division of the entire tenuta demaniale [state holding] of Castiglione, but, believing it insufficient for the needs of the numerous people – Calitri had in that year 7114 inhabitants – also allowed the division of the other tenuta deminale, which was called Luzzano.[2] In such a way, the rights of the people prevailed in full!

      It was necessary, however, to account to the law for this.  On the basis of a preliminary examination, the Camera di Consiglio at the Tribunale [Court] di S. Angelo dei Lombardi, with the ruling issued March 30, 1881, sent to the tribunal 159 defendants as authors and accomplices of the reato di rebellion [crime of rebellion].  To these, another eighteen defendants were added as offenders of the willing crime of damage: in all 177.  Against the above-mentioned order of the Camera di Consiglio, the Procuratore Generale of the Court of Appeals of Naples produced objections, asking that the trial be limited only to the other 41, who were pointed out as the true authors of the double crime of revolt and intentional damage.  The debate was protracted, because of various adjournments and postponements.  Thus it reached up to the Supreme Council of Cassazione, who, after an agitated discussion, decided that all the defendants were not guilty.  It was a complete and merited victory for the people.  The promoters, freed from jail, were welcomed with great jubilation; and Michelangelo Cicoira, after being a fugitive for five months, was able to return to the village on June 12, 1881.  Before, however, the division took place, because of the slowness of the bureaucracy, a year passed.  A first division, completed toward the end of 1883, required a review.  Finally, with the prefectorial ordinanceof November 4, 1886, the communal property of Castiglione (Spineto) and Luzzano was divided up among one thousand seven laborers.  With another ordinance of March 7, 1887, there was implemented the division of the public lands of Cardinale and Castiglione Vecchio in favor of another one hundred ninety three citizens.  In such a way, each “have not” had his piece of land, with the obligation of paying the Comune a small annual sum.

      If the “down and outers” took advantage of the division of land, managing to alleviate their wretched condition, so too the middle classes and those of even higher class found it a propitious occasion to increase their domestic estates, with the purchase of lands and homes, under very advantageous conditions, from the descendents of the last feudal lord.  He, in fact, living in Naples in great luxury and entertainment, was always short of cash.  As has already been said, upon the death of the ex-baron Francesco M. Mirella – which took place in Naples on January 12, 1814 – his goods were inherited by the son Giuseppe, who did not even know how to conserve his ancestral patrimony.  At his death, which happened on January 20, 1840, his goods and his noble titles passed to his first-born Francesco Maria, who was born on July 5, 1795.  He gave himself to a brilliant and expensive life. When the Bourbon Kingdom of the two Sicilies was restored – May 23, 1815 – King Ferdinand I wanted him to recruit men from the most substantial families to reconstitute the Guardia del Corps: to form « cette troupe privilegèe dans les premières familles des deux royames,»[3] and the brilliant Francesco Maria Mirelli was called to take part in it as an officer.  The Guardia del Corps was formed of five companies.  However, once Sicilians and Neapolitans came in contact, there was a succession of altercations and duels.  To put an end to this indeed lively antagonism, it was decided, by common agreement, to entrust the causes of the two peoples to weapons, putting two officers against each other.  The choice fell on the Prince Francesco Maria Mirelli, a Neapolitan, and on the Marchese Crescimani, a Sicilian:  It was established that they would duel with pistols, until one of them was seriously wounded.  Mirelli, who was then twenty, fell in the third volley, hit by a bullet that went through his abdomen and «falling, he drew a breath and asked to embrace his adversary.»[4] Having regained his health, because of the severity of the wound, he led a delicate and sickly life.  No longer being able to serve in the noble Guardie del Corps, he turned his mind to his beloved study of literature and history: il ètait riche – wrote Dumas – il ètait beau,  il ètait poëte; il avait reçu du ciel toutes les chances l’une vie heureuse.»  On October 13, 1848, he married Donna Carolina Pignateli di Cerchiara.

      His disinterest in the already diminished family patrimony and his injudicious administration had so squeezed his earnings that he saw himself forced to take considerable sums of money in loans at usurious rates.  And so was born the serious obligations to Giovanni Giuseppe Mascaro, Marchese of Acerno, who, ruthlessly, expropriated from him, in 1843, the only apartment that still remains of the magnificent palazzo in Naples at the Arco Mirelli.  Following so humiliating economic restrictions, he withdrew to Calitri, where he lead a modest and retiring life; and here; in addition to the weight of the years, was the shame of his humble life that flickered out on May 1, 1857. [5] His only son, Giuseppe – born on September 21, 1842 – became heir of the meager patrimony, at the age of fifteen.  Being free and loving pleasure, he lived in Naples, leading an amorous and extravagant life.  He consumed what little remained of the already reduced family assets.  From time to time, he made a trip to Calitri to collect the meager earnings and renew the leases; but more often in order to contract a new debt or sell farms and houses.  The arrival of the Marquis was an occasion awaited for banquets and dancing that he offered with great munificence and unusual pomp.

      He married Donna Carolina D’Avalos, of the princes of Torrebruna and Dukes of Celanza, from which was born, on January 22, 1866, a child named Francesco, and then Carolina.  Although a married man, he continued to lead the amorous and irregular life.  Always merry and witty, he was a lover of hunting, games, and of every kind of entertainment, so much so that one Neapolitan newspaper described him with these words: «No one in Naples ignores how much he is disposed to good humor; and more than good humor, to that vivid and carefree happiness that belongs many Neapolitans… An assiduous frequenter of the Circolo del buon umore, full of life and spirit, always in the most happy company, always in the groups and in the most animated places,»[6] he saw, in short, his already meager property vanish.  In addition, in this libertine and licentious life, he even passed his duties to his wife; and the Nemesi hit him not only in the squandering of his substance, but also in the intimate affections of his family…. The evening of January 19, 1871, Mirelli went – as usual – to hang out at the «Caffè d’Italia», in the piazza S. Ferdinando.  To the coachman, who came to pick him up, to have return home – to the Riviera di Chiaia – he gave orders that if he met Signor Carlo Stettler in the street, then he had to warn him.  As luck would have it, in the proximity of the Villa Comunale, the coachman noticed the… rival and warned the Marchese about it, who quickly got out of the carriage, and, pouncing on his hated rival, ran him through with a rapier.  Stettler, at the beginning of the onslaught, grabbed a stiletto, with which he wounded Mirelli in the right eye. Both were accompanied to the hospital of the Pellegrini, where they «arrived as cadavers.»[7] It was in this manner that the life of the ex marchese of Calitri, Giuseppi Mirelli tragically ended.

      The wife Donna Carolina D’Avalos lived for a long time and died between 1924 and 1934.  Her son Francesco inherited the noble titles and lived in even greater economic straits; he married Donna Anna Gabriele[8] and was still alive in May of 1920; he was already dead in 1934.  The sister, Carolina Mirelli, Married Eduardo Mezzacapo, marchese of Monterosso, and, after a few years, was widowed.

      With Giuseppe, who died tragically on the night of January 19, 1871, there ended the old feudal family of Mirelli, who, also in full moral and economic decay, had continued to exercise the prestige of its nobility, and to possess, still, in Calitri, the rest of the property.  The two children, instead, Francesco and Carolina, who had never lived in Calitri, liquidated, in the turn of a few years, the last pieces of the ancestral patrimony and, consequently, ceased to have any relationship with Calitri.

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      In that turn of a few years, the parish church – which our fathers, in the ardor of their deep religious faith had rendered «with very well meaning architecture,»[9]– had become unsteady and was threatening to collapse, because of the deep lesions produced by the irrepressible movement of the land or by a large landslip.

      The old church had cracked or collapsed because of the earthquake of September 8, 1694 – as has been stated – and the people wanted it rebuilt in the same place, but with a greater richness of architectural decoration.  This was completed in 1747.  But not even a century passed and already about 1840 «the sacred temple showed signs of collapsing, and, at great expense, it had to be rebuilt with new solid walls remade from the deepest bedrock with the expenditure of many thousands of ducats.» – states the Memoria sul patronato that has already been cited.  But was just those heavy superstructures that continued to undermine the extensive construction.  Despite the solid buttressing and massive sub foundations, and because of the landslip, the entire mass had become unstable, showing lesions of vast dimensions in various parts.  In addition, the bell tower was leaning a few centimeters. [10]  There was no lack of experts and inspections:  The conclusion, no matter how painful, was always that it had to be demolished.  After long discussions and indecisions, the ecclesiastical and municipal authorities, in 1882, agreed and decided to demolish the church.  The work was entrusted to the expert master builder Michele Cerreta (1836 –1918), who got together with five other builders and one stone mason.  And on March 15, 1883 the demolition began.

      Using the memories of the old people – priests and laymen – I thought it opportune to draw a graphic which reproduces, in its main lines, the demolished monument of the religiousness of our people.  First, I will write its description.  The majestic and ancient was shaped like a rectangle with three naves, adorned with a harmonious embellishments of symbolic figures and decorations.  The main altar was beautiful and artistically exquisite, and made of fine, multicolored marble, closed off by a multicolored- veined marble columned balustrade.  Three gates of decorated iron opened symmetrically.  To give order to the wide sanctuary, three majestic symmetric arches were erected on which rested the hemispheric majestic cupola with classical architectural lines; this had, in the first turn, well made in stucco, the four Evangelists with there respective symbolic figures, and in the center, also of stucco, a dove with many rays symbolizing the Holy Spirit. On the side – called in cornu Evangelii(Gospel side or left side)  – was the altar of the Sacrament, and on the opposite side (Epistolary side) the altar of Saint Joseph.  Behind the main altar, was placed a wide and luminous choir, furnished with stalls inlaid in walnut, finely worked in flowers and symbols, with thin balusters adorned with capitals, where the clero Partecipante [Participating Clergy] gathered to recite the divine office.  The central stall, held by the archpriest, was surmounted by a walnut statue representing Saint Canio, who had at his two sides, symmetrically, the statuettes – carved also in walnut – of Saint Cosmo and Saint Damiano, who are  co-patrons.  Above the stalls, high up, on the background of the Choir, was affixed a great oil painting called La cascata di S. Canio –  depicting the triumph of the Martyr, amidst the slaughter of his executioners.

     The central nave had the ceiling in paneled wood, bordered by a cornice, which was in harmony with its esthetics.  In the center of the same nave rose – on four thin columns – the walnut pulpit, which was sculptured by the same artisan who worked on the choir, but it was richer and more varied with floral motifs.  The side naves had vaults and naves that rested, on each side, on five columns adorned with capitals of the ordine jonico [Ionic order].  In the left nave, there were five altars in line, all in precious marble, with decorations of flowers and angels.  The altars of Saint Gaetano, Saint Peter, Saint Canio, San Vincenzo and the altar of the Pietà was in the right nave, and, just beyond, there was the baptistery in well-wrought stone, which came to be found under the organ gallery situated on the arch of the main door.  The altars of S. Francesco and the large Chapel of the Very Holy Rosary were built in the same style.

     At the bottom of the left nave, one accessed the wide sacristy, square, which was provided with large walnut armoires – placed symmetrically – for the care of the garments, and was also equipped with a large bench.  From the sacristy one entered into another room, which was irregular – called del servizio – and from here one descended, by means of some stairs, a garden below that had a triangular shape.  The face of the church, a homogeneous and plain surface, was made of cut pietra viva [a type of sand stone], of exquisite design, which harmonized with the main entrance door, and symmetric with the bell tower.  This bell tower was built in the inside corner to the right and was square and was built of well-worked stone.  The bell tower was thirty meters high and was divided into four sections with horizontal cornices.  On the last level was located four bells: the largest was given the name of «Campana di San Canio,» [bell of Saint Canio].  Finally, the floor of the church, which was made of stone squares, was formed in patterns, which stood out, harmonizing with the travertine lines.  In the middle of the floor there were two large openings with closures made of marble slabs, which gave access to the tombs below.

     This monumental work, which was completely connected to a past of faith and communal history, fell under the demolishers pick; the beautiful church – like a pious commune mother – had administered the baptismal waters to our fathers and had welcomed them, inanimate, among the perfume of the incense and the prayers of the deceased!  On the first of September 1883, the demolition was terminated, and with it disappeared the whole mystical past of our people!  Irretrievably lost, in a perpetual yearning without hope!

      Almost at the same time, even the old church of St. Michael the Archangel, where the Laical Confraternita del Purgatorio e Pio Monte dei Morti, officiated, and which was in the «Torre» neighborhood, was rendered unstable.  No expense was spared for repairs, but in vain. Toward 1893, the worship was ended; and, following the earthquake of June 7, 1910, it was completely demolished.             How many sad and happy memories come to mind with the sorrowful denial of things that can no longer come back; how great was the mourning of many works of art in our village!  From age to age, there has been spread out what constituted the dearest legacy of our ancestors, the artistic and religious patrimony of a secular life!  There are still more serious and saddening things.  Almost at the conclusion of what had been the blind force of nature, after almost thirty years from the demolition of the chiesa-madre, the bell, named for Saint Canio – which was already cracked by a lightning bolt in 1874 – was reduced to pieces and sold, in 1917, for two thousand lire, under the specious pretext of the need for war materials, in the First World War.  The other two bells from the chiesa madre were saved, because they were destined for the new parish church. [11]  But soon afterwards, even the last work of art of the demolished chiesa – madre took flight, without hope of return: in September 1921, the magnificent walnut choir, which was finely worked, was sold to an antique dealer for a few thousand lira to raise – it was said – the construction of the new parish church.  And with the choir was sold the artistic altar of Saint Rocco: an alter in wood, well worked, with two spiral columns, empty and adorned with oleander flowers.  It is good to have  for our artistic and religious patrimony the historic motto: quod non fecerunt barbari…!

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[1] The entire press was occupied with the events at Calitri.  Cfr. L’Opinione, Milano, February 6, 1881;  Riforma, February 14 and March 2 1881; Posta March 7^th of the same year.

[2] Comunal Archives of Calitri, Verbale di deliberazione del Consiglio Comunale[minutes of communal counscil], April 30, 1881.

[3] A. Dumas, Impressions du voyage, Le «Corricolo,» Paris, 1889, Vol. I, pag. 29 –30.

[4] Cfr. De Angelis, Op. cit., page 157.

[5] Because of the care of his consort, he had a tomb in the modest rural chapel «S. Maria della Foresta» commonly called della festa, – which was built on an ancient farm of the Mirelli family..

[6] Cfr. «Giornale di Napoli,» January 20, 1871, No. 20.

[7] «Giornale di Napoli,» January 30, 1871, No. 30.

[8] From the marriage were born three children: Carolina, Giuseppe, and Elena.

[9] F. Sacco, Physical –historical geographical dictionary of the kingdom of Naples, Naples, 1795 –96, vol. I, page 148.

[10] The bell was also hit, in 1874, by a bolt of lightning that demolished the top of it, and produced a crack in the largest bell, that commonly named campana di S. Canio.

[11] A serious disaster, however, hit the larger of the two surviving bells, the artistic one, which was cast at Agnone on December 15, 1523 – as is read on the bell itself.  It, then, was cracked on May 5, 1945, rendering it unserviceable.  Calitri ran the danger of remaining deprived also of the sound, which invited the faithful to prayer.  Thanks to the ability and to a new method of oxygen welding, thought up by the meritorious technician Alfonso Metallo son of Rocco, the bell was repaired in September of 1947 and rendered more sonorous than before.  Metallo offered his work gratis ed amore Dei and the population agreed, because of the single expense, with the sum of one hundred thousand lire, gathered by public subscription promised by the diligent and esteemed fellow citizen, Erberto  De Carlo.

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Chapter 26

Bisaccia provincial road/Ficcochia bridge – Cooperative road for Cairano and popular revolt – The Avellino railroad – Rochetta S. Antonio – spur of the Pugliese Acquaduct – First World War..

«Progress will come even to Calitri – wrote De Sanctis – look there, the sun is rising and is chasing the fog away; I greet the sun of Calitri, seat of civilization and kindness.»  This is the tenderness and well wishing, that the great Irpino addressed to Calitri, in 1875, in that golden little book that is Un viaggio elettorale. [A Campaign trip]  His words were a good omen.  Progress, in fact, was not delayed in our village, although it took place slowly and in steps, as all human things do.

      For many years, everybody saw the need to connect Calitri with the villages of the High Irpinia and with those villages of the contiguous Basilicata and Salerno.  Giuseppe Tozzoli was a strenuous supporter of such a network of roads and he proposed such a network to the Consiglio Provinciale of Avellino for the life itself of the region.  For his vivid interest, the carriageable road was built, beginning from the Crocifisso di Bisaccia [Crucifix of Bisaccia]– in connection with the national Avellino – Melfi road – which joined up to the road called di Matera, at the Ponte Fiocchia, after having crossed the Ofanto with a large bridge.  This was a first step on the road to progress.  Later on, there was thought of adding a carriageable road for Cairano; and from here, to Andretta.  To such an end, between the Amministrazioni of Calitri and Cairano, an agreement was reached, on the basis of which each of the two Comuni will commit to pay an annual contribution in money or in services, up until the final construction.  In the tornata [session] of May 8, 1892, the Consiglio Comunale of Calitri established the methods and limits for such labor services, compiling a ruolo a parte [separate list], on the strength of which each adult citizen was taxed for a share of money or – in its stead – of a determined number of days of work.  At the beginning of June in 1892, the work began: The road map was established and the roadbed of the first trunk was done, which connected to the Crocifisso di Bisaccia – Ponte Ficocchia carriageable road.  Throughout 1893, the people gave their own labor; but they refused, absolutely, to contribute for the tract of road that had to cross the territory of Andretta.  Moreover, everybody noticed that the work for the via nuova di Cairano – as it was called – was preceding very slowly.

      This discontent was spreading among the population, fed by the usual opponents of the Amministrazione Comunale.  Some Consiglieri carried the echo of it into the Consiglio Comunale, when it came to the discussion of the nuovo ruolo of the rendering of service.  The protest, however, remained unheard; and, in the beginning of 1894, the Amministrazione published the nuovo ruolo.  The population, when it saw itself called again to other serious services, demonstrated its displeasure, on May 9, 1894, in a violent demonstration in the square.  Incited by the usual demagogues and politicos – who were always vigilant and looking for ways to beat the Adminstrazione Comunale in office – a crowd of over two thousand persons, at about 10 AM, put on a public protest.  The procession of the demonstrators – which was largely composed of women – armed with hoes, clubs and falcioni [scythes] headed toward the municipal building, resolved to storm the building.

      The meager public force confronted the disturbance, ordering it to disband; but the demonstrators, larger in number, closed in even more threateningly in front of the door of the Municipal building.  In vain, authoritative citizens labored to persuade them.  Their words of calm «were all dissipated and dispersed in midair in the storm of the shouts that came from below» – as Manzoni would say.  The crowd was a great tool used against the door to smash it.  The crowd had the advantage; the door was broken, the window grates pulled out, and the human torrent penetrated into the area of the Municipal building.  The most audacious managed to take the register of the nuovo ruolo, which among the acclamations of the demonstrators, was burned.  Meanwhile some Carabinieri reinforcements arrived, who, to avoid the Municipal building being destroyed, barricaded – from the inside – the entrance door.  Then a violent and relentless volley of stones came from the crowd against the soldiers, who were located on the wall to watch the movements of the crowd better.  Some carabinieri were hit and the Maresciallo reported a serious wound to his forehead.  The revolt lasted all day; and only towards evening, when the telegram of the Prefect was announced – with which the work service was declared abolished – did the population become calm, going back to their homes.  Public order was re-established.  However, with the coming of a Commissario of Public Safety, there were started the investigations to ascertain the responsibility of the most disorderly people.  Thirty eight of the most rabid and dangerous citizens were arrested.  Of those, twenty three were released in the Camera di Consiglio [Judge’s deliberation room] of the St. Angelo dei Lombardi Tribunal.  The others were sentenced to a few months of detention and to pay for the damages.

      Consequently, the work on the Strada di Cairano was suspended, which work from then on has remained abandoned, and the site has deteriorated.  Fortunately, the following year, Calitri received the station on the Avellino-Rochetta S. Antonio railroad, which, crossing the upper valley of the Ofanto, took our village out of isolation.  The village  is five kilometers from the railway station.  The railroad – which crossed the Ofanto twenty three times on mainly metal bridges – was inaugurated on November 17, 1895, bringing a breath of new life and civilization to the people of the High Irpinia.  Its beneficial influence was greater, above all for Calitri, when, on January 23, 1899, the monumental masonry bridge over the Ofanto was opened to traffic: it was a bridge that was wanted because of the action explained by Giuseppe Tozzoli in the Consiglio Provinciale of Avellino, which approved the construction of it, with a unanimous vote in 1889.  It was therefore called the «Ponte Giuseppe Tozzoli.»

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      The frequency of the earthquakes, which almost periodically have hit our city, in addition to transforming the exterior aspect, has dispersed or destroyed every trace of antiquity.  The final few vestiges – still surviving –fell with the earthquake of June 7, 1910, of which Calitri was the epicenter, and it stretched out for a radius of twenty kilometers.  Preceded and accompanied by flashes of light, at 3:08 a seismic shock was noticed, first it was wave-like, then tremor-like.  All the habitations were violently shaken.  The people, seized by panic, left their houses at the first shock, in search of refuge in the open.  Other earth shocks, which were lighter, were felt to continue at various intervals.  Greatly damaged and with a more relevant number of victims was the upper part of the village, which was near the ruins of the collapsed castle.  Here, the violence of the shocks had made fall «part of the revetment of support to the terraces of the old castle – as the Relazione [report] drawn up by Engineer Solimene, the fire chief, states; – but the walls that fell on the north side, where the hill was sheared off, ended up in the countryside below, while only two tracts at the corner of such wall on the south side of the hill, while falling, went to crush two houses, one built on ground level and the other above.  And it is at this site that there was the major percentage of human victims.»  The circle of pain was not just limited to the rione Castello [Castle district], but it hit sporadically other areas of the habitat, where death was even more merciless.  Uniquely pitiful was the fate that befell the Basile family, near the church  of the Immaculata, where the blind force of nature engulfed three beautiful girls in the debris, who were from fifteen to twenty years old.  These were Maria Michela, Maria Antonietta and Grazia – who were found close, lifeless, in the jaws of death.  Not too far away, three cute children, still in their cradle – Michele, Canio Vincenzo, and Raffaele Lampariello – were suffocated by heaps of rubble and stones.  The married couple Canio and Rosa Martinello – who lived Sopra Corte  – were overcome by the violence of the shock and thrown from the third floor to the ground.  Elsewhere, Angelo Cestone, his wife and three children perished.  In all, the number of victims rose to forty     

      The first moment of panic having passed, the most courageous people carried first aid to those hit by the misadventure; but their work was ineffective or very limited because of inexperience or because of lack of suitable tools.  The first true help was brought by some workers of the Acquedotto Pugliese, who, ready to volunteer themselves, hastened, under the direction of their engineers, to begin the unearthing of some survivors that were still alive.  A company of the 64^th infantry from near Bisaccia reached the area after a few hours, in order to keep order.  The same day, other first aid teams from Lioni, Montella, Avellino, and from other neighboring villages arrived.  It was a generous offer of human solidarity.  Towards evening, from Naples, forty firemen and some fontaniere arrived and who were under the command of Engineer A. Silimene.  These people threw themselves into the task of helping both with unearthing the bodies from the debris and with demolishing the unstable walls.  Exceedingly effective was the work of the Croce Rossa Italiana [Italian Red Cross], which arrived with a well-equipped train, under the direction of four doctors and twenty nurses.  There also came a section of the Civil Engineer Corps, to organize the more urgent work of removal, of propping up and whatever else was necessary for the safety of the citizens.  To such an end, there was demolished the highest part of the terraces of the ruined castle, which had caused, in their falling the greatest number of victims. In addition, with the walls of the terraces was demolished the top of the mountain, which

What remains of the old castle

from an altitude of 665 meters was brought to an altitude of 651 meters.[1] Therefore, following such demolition, and there was no more worry about the safety of the citizens, the surviving walls «of that tower made obscure by the centuries »did not cause any worry for the safety of the citizens. 

      The population, terrified, were quartered in tents in the surrounding countryside or went back into the rural homes, of which our territory is full.  Nightmare and dejection overcame everybody.  Nor did this state of mind cease with the arrival of King Vittorio Emanuel III and Queen Elena, who, for the first hours of day No. 8, brought a word of comfort and abundant aid material.  Solicitous was, also, the great interest of the Minister of Public Works the Honorable E. Sacchi, who provided for the approval of a Legge Speciale [Special Law], on the strength of which was given  to those damaged favorable mutui [loans] with the Banco di Napoli for reconstruction and repair.  In such a way, the building will also be improved.  For those who remained homeless, a small district of aseismic homes, outside of the habitat.[2]  But the major benefit that the population had, because of this disastrous earthquake, was a vast square, in the center of the village, due to the excavation that was done of the embankment, on which – up until 1883 – rose the parish church.  Following, because of the Podestà, Emilio Nicolais son of the late Sigismondo, in 1934 – 35, the square was remarkably expanded and harmonized with the new façade of the municipal building.

      And in this square, jumped, clear and abundant, a vein of water of the Sele, that the «Acquedotto Pugliese» board furnished on September 20, 1917 to our siticulosa[3][thirsty] population.  Calitri was the first village, which was not part of Puglia, to make use of the Aqueduct.  This was, undoubtedly, the greatest historical fact of our times, the true hygienic regeneration of the village: «progress will come even to Calitri» De Sanctis wrote in 1875 – and his happy wish was realized.  Despite the historic importance of the hygienic event, the inauguration was conducted with simplicity, without discussion and without intervention of the authorities, with the sole blessing of the priest; the nation was all intent, at that time, on the bloody fields of battle in the terrible conflict of the First World War (1915 – 1918).  The most blooming flowers of our people were rushed into arms, from May 24, 1914, and numerous war episodes were written into the pages of history: they fought on the cold fields of Trentino and in the treacherous lands of Albania and on the arid rocks of Carso, where each rock was bathed with self – sacrificing blood, each clod of earth had the name of a hero and remembered a bloody sacrifice.

      In that conflict, many of our fellow citizens – soldiers and officers – were decorated for valor with bronze, silver, and gold medals and with Croci di Guerra [Crosses of war] accompanied by honorable citations. There were many that were wounded, made invalids and mutilated who, in the stark mutilation of their flesh, carried, impressively, the indestructible signs of their sacrifice.  Others still – and they were numerous – suffered hunger and hard captivity in the concentration camps; finally over one hundred twenty six fellow citizens were among the heroic dead, among which were two officers:  Mario Luigi Caposella son of Canio, a lieutenant in the 94^th infantry; who died in the Military Hospital of Fano on October 24, 1918, following bronchial pneumonia, and  Giuseppe Toglia son of Canio Vincenzo, Second Lieutenant in the 29^th infantry; who died in the field hospital on June 22, 1918 from wounds received in combat.

      The following were decorated posthumously, with distinction: 1)Michele Simone son of Francesco, sergeant  in the 132^nd infantry, who died in the field hospital  on September 15, 1916 because of wounds; he was first decorated with the Croce di Guerra al valore militare [Cross of War for military valor] and then with the Medaglia d’argento. [Silver Medal]: «In the attack of an enemy trench strongly occupied and defended by a machine gun that was raking the only entrance.  With exemplary tenacity and boldness, and notwithstanding the heavy losses, he penetrated into the trench itself with part of his platoon, and, while he spurred on his troops to complete the occupation, he fell mortally wounded.  Monfalcone September 15, 1916.» 2) Giuseppe Cesta son of Michele, soldier, 56^th Bersaglieri, who died at Montefalcone on August 10, 1916; he was awarded the Medaglia di bronzo [Bronze medal] with the following citation:  «scornful of the danger, he mounted the assault, giving a good example of courage and spurring on his companions, until, having reached under the enemy entanglement , he fell there mortally wounded.» ; Michele Lampariello son of Vito Gaetano, soldier 44^th Infantry, who died in the 18^th Health Unit on October 26, 1918.  He was decorated with the Medaglia d’argento: «In charge of a trench mortar, during a bitter attack of well-equipped enemy troops, on his own initiative he carried his weapon, initiating copious fire.  The tripod was useless because of an enemy bomb.  Keeping a stiff upper lip, he continued to fire with the weapon supported on his forearm, until another bomb tore off his limb.  He remained at his own combat post, urging the company to keep calm, until he was forced by the unit commander to the dressing station.  Monte Asolone, October 26, 1918.»

      The following are the heroic dead soldiers who have immolated themselves for the were found still to be dead heroes:

1. Died in combat or in the hospital:

1- Acocella, Antonio (1899 –1918); 2 – Acocella Nicola son of the late Giovanni (1891 – 1916); 3 – Acocella, Nicola son of Filippo (1887 –1915); 4 – Araneo, Giovanni (1885-1918);  5 – Avella, Giovanni (1892 –1915); 6 – Barone, Mauro (1888 –1915); 7 – Bozza, Vincenzo (1896 – 1917); 8 – Brijuoli, Nicola Vincenzo (1894 1919); 10 – Capossela, Salvatore (1890 –1917); 11- Cella, Luigi (1883 –1917); 12 – Cerreta, Canio (1889 – 1916); 13 – Cesta, Canio (1887 – 1917); 14 – Cesta, Vito (1889 1016); 15 – Cialeo, Antonio (1894 –1915); 16 Cianci, Angelo (1897 –1917); 17 – Cianci Giovanni (1894 – 1917); 18 – Cianci, Giuseppe (1896 –1916); 19 – Cianci, Michele (1891- 1918); 20 – Codella, Francesco (1883 – 1917); 21 – Codella, Leonardo (1896 –1917); 22 – Cubelli, Giuseppe (1887 –1917); 23 – Della Valva, Francesco (1888 – 1916); 24 – Del Toro, Angelo son of Filippo (1894 –1915); 25 – Del Toro, Angelo son of Gaetano (1893 –1915); 26 – De Nicola, Vito (1892 –1916); 27 – De Nora, Grazio (1897 – 1917); 28 – De Rosa, Giuseppe  (1888 – 1916); 29 – De Vito, Sigismondo (1896 – 1917); 30 – Di Cairano, Luca (1882 – 1918); 31 – Di Gugliemo, Salvatore (1897 –1917); 32 – Di Maio, Angelo (1883 – 1916); 33 – Di Maio, Vincenzo (1885 –1917); 34 – Di Milia, Giuseppe (1897 – 1917); 35 – Di Milia, Vito Michele (1884 – 1916); 36 – Di Milia, Vincenzo (1886 –1915); 37 – Di Roma, Canio (1891 – 1916); 38 – Fatone, Canio (1896 – 1916); 39 – Fatone, Vincenzo (1878 – 1917); 40 – Fierravanti, Giovanni (1889 –1913); 41 – Galgano, Angelo Maria (1894 –1916); 42 – Galgano Bernadino (1883 –1917); 43 – Galgano, Canio (1866 –1916); 44 – Galgano, Donato (1894 –1915); 45 – Galgano, Vito (1891 – 1917); 46 – Gautieri, Vincenzo (1891 – 1915); 47 – Germano, Michele son of Canio (1888 –1916); 48 – Germano, Michele son of the late Vito (1892 – 1918); 49 – Germano, Michele son of Donato ((1897 – 1917); 50 – gervasi, Canio Vincenzo (1886 –1916); 51 – Gervasi, Vito Michele (1886 –1916); 52 – Lampariello, Michelantonio (1886 –1916); 53 – Iannece, Vincenzo (1896 –1916); 54 – Leone, Vincenzo (1884 –1916); 55 – Lucrezia, Angelantonio (1896 – 1916); 56 – Mafucci, Angelo (1888 – 1916); 57 – Mafucci, Gaetano (1893 – 1916); 58 – Mafucci, Giuseppe (1887 –1916); 59 – Mafucci, Pasquale (1894 –1917); 60 – Marchitto, Giuseppe (1899 –1915); 61 – Margotta, Michele (1886 – 1916); 62 – Margotta, Vincenzo (1893 – 1916); 61 – Margotta, Michele (1886 – 1916); 62 – Margotta, Vincenzo (1893 – 1916); 63 –  Martinello Antonio (1887 – 1917); 64 – Martinello, Canio Vincenzo (1892 –1915); 65 – Martinello, Vincenzo (1883 – 1916); 66 – Mazzeo, Angelo Maria (1885 –1917); 67 – Melaccio, Canio Vincenzo (1884 –1918); 68 – Merola, Raffaele (1883 – 1918);  69 – Metallo, Giambattista (1899 –1918); 70 – Metallo, Giuseppe (1883 –1916); 71 – Miele, Giuseppe (1895 –1918); 72 – Nicolais, Francesco (1889 –1918); 73 – Quaranta, Vincenzo (1885 –1918); 74 – Rabasca, Giovanni (1896 – 1916); 75 – Rabasca Michele son of Giuseppe (1887 –1916); 76 – Rosania, Luigi (1885 – 1918); 77 – Rubino, Vito (1885 –1916); 78 – Schettino, Vincenzo (1898 –1917); 79 – Scoca, Alfonso (1898 –1917); 80 – Simone, Giuseppe (1898 – 1917); 81 – Toglia, Giuseppè son of Michele (1884 – 1916); 82 – Toglia, Michele (1891 – 1915); 83 – Tornillo, Giovanni (1896 – 1916); 84 – Zabatta, Angelo (1894 – 1915); 85 – Zabatta, Gaetano (1892 –1915); 86 – Zabatta Leonardo (1878 –1917); 87 – Zabatta, Michele (1888 – 1915); 88 – Zabatta, Nicola (1898 – 1918); 89 – Zarrilli, Canio (1899 – 1919); 90 – Zarrilli, Donato son of Luigi (1881 –1918); 91 – Zarrilli, Donato son of Vincenzo (1888 – 1918); 92 – Zarrilli, Francesco (1885 –1917); 93; Zarrilli, Giovani (1894 – 1916).

            b) Died in the territorial hospital of wounds of illnesses contracted in the war:

            94 – Bozza, Gaetano (1886 – 1917); 95 – Cesta, Francesco (1893 –1918); 96 – Codella, Luigi (1878 –1916); 97 – De Nicola, Giovanni (1895 –1916); 98 – Di Maio, Canio (1890 –1919); 99 – Di Muro, Leonardo Antonio (1891 – 1916); 100 – Galgano, Vincenzo (1898 – 1919); 101 – Galgano, Vitantonio (1893 –1916); 102 – Iannolillo, Sem Luigi (1897 – 1920); 103 – Margotta, Pasquale (1896 – 1917); 104 – Martinello, Michele (1890 –1916); 105 – Metallo, Rocco, Brother in the Capuchin Order (1890 – 1918); 106 – Rinaldi, Canio (1896 –1917); 107 – Russo, Giuseppe (1888 – 1917); 108 – Scoca, Michele (1883 – 1916); 109 – Tornillo, Vito (1883 – 1916).

            c) Died in Calitri, as a result of wounds or illnesses contracted in service:

            110 – Cubelli, Michele (1892 –1918); 111 – De Nicola, Donato (1895 – 1916); 112 – Ferri, Edoardo (1880 –1919);  113 – Maffei, Luigi (1878 – 1921); 114 Minichino, Raffaele (1879 –1919); 115 – Rabasca Michele son of the late Vito (1877 – 1919); 116 – Russo, Giovanni Michele (1876 –1921); 117 – Zarrilli, Giuseppe Antonio (1866 –1919); 118 – Zarrilli, Leonardo (1897 1919); 119; Zarrilli, Michele (1885 –1919).

            d) Died in France, in the army of the United States of America;

            120 – Galgano, Antonio (born in Calitri on April 1, 1891; ^ September 29, 1918); 121 – Mafucci, Vincenzo (born in Calitri September 26, 1893: ^ October 22, 1918).

            To the memory of many generous sons, who with their blood sealed their love of their country,[4] Calitri  – tender and grateful mother – with the contributions of the sons who emigrated to America and with the local enlistments, began, on August 31, 1924, a monument with the Winged Victory , on a marble pedestal, handing down to the farthest generations their names and their sacrifice.[5]             Glory, eternal glory to the heroes who gave their life in the holocaust to their country, which is deserving of triumphal fame!

---

[1] The altitude data, referred to here, was kindly furnished by an engineer of the Società «Ercole Antico», contractor for the work of the Acquedotto Pugliese – who, in 1911, came to Calitri to carry out the surveys and the studies for the branch line of the aqueduct into the habitat.

[2] There was another earthquake on July 23, 1930, which caused only slight damage in Calitri.  The first shock was noticed on July 23, at 1:10AM; other shocks of minor intensity followed.

[3] If our village was able to obtain a branch line of the water of the Sele – destined exclusively for the hygienic and economic regeneration of Puglia – it was owed to great interest of the Onorevole Luigi Copaldo – deputyat Parliament of the Collegio of Lacedonia – and above all to the important work conducted by S. E. Francesco Tedesco (1853 –1921), more times Minister of Public Works.  He in fact pleaded for since 1904 – when the revolutionary aqueduct of Puglia was started – the Royal Decree of July 10, 1904 in favor of the above mentioned work, «under the tutelage of the large interests of Calitri and Caposele.»  Work on the Pugliese aqueduct was begun in 1906.

[4]  For other news, Cfr. Albo d’oro degli irpini caduti, dispersi, feriti nella Quarta Guerra di redenzione 1915 –18, [Record of the Irpini fallen, missing in action, and wounded in the fourth war of redemption]edited by the Province, Avellino, 1928, Pages 333-344.

[5] The inscription was dictated by Avvocato Professore Alfredo De Marsico, Member of the Chamber of Deputies.

^ Back to Contents ^

Chapter 27

Illustrious and deserving Citizens: bio/bibliographical notes – The archpriests/curates from May 1473 to our day.

            1 – Alfonso Gesualdo, cardinal

In the magnificent castle of his ancestors, in Calitri, «Don Alfonso Gesualdo, son of the Illustrious Luigi, was born on October 20, 1540, at two AM.» – as is read in the Birth Registry.[1] He passed his childhood and adolescence in Calitri, imagining his name, many times, as godfather in the baptismal certificates, until he was fifteen.  At the age of twenty one, he was made a cardinal by Pope Pius VI on February 23, 1561; and shortly after, on March 1, 1563, he obtained the governorship of the Archdiocese of Conza, to which he directed his pastoral care for ten years, up until 1572, in such a way as to «render his diocese one of the most outstanding of the kingdom, he was almost the founder of it » – as Ughelli writes. He claimed many goods and rights of the archbishopric table, for the previously abandoned.  Also during the ten years he governed the Archdiocese of Conza , he continued to live in Calitri, from where on June 30, 1565, he issued a decree, with which, while improving the economic conditions  of the Cathedral Chapter [clerical assembly] of Conza, he reduced the number of the canons  to twelve.

      At the beginning of 1572, he renounced the archbishopric of Conza, having been called to Rome by Pope Pius V, who transferred him to the order of Cardinal Priests, and on March 9^th of that year, named him Bishop suburbicario [suburbicarian]of Albano.  Following a diplomatic mission that he wisely brought to an end in the Marches, he was transferred on December 1, 1587 to the bishopric of Frascati, where on May 6, 1589 he passed to the bishopric of Porto and S. Rufina; and finally, on May 20, 1591, to the bishophric  of Ostia and Velletri, and was named deacon of the S. Collegio.  He was also Prefect of the Congregation of the rites and Protectors of the churches of the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and of Portugal.

      On February 25, 1596, he was sent by Clement VIII to take over the Archdiocese of Naples, where he died on February 14, 1603 and was buried in the cathedral of that city.  He was endowed «with great keenness of mind; to such prayer was united interest in custom, modesty of behavior, liberality toward the poor, assiduous pastoral care, great vigilance in the protection of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.» [2] He collected and published, in one volume, Litterai pastorales ad clerum et popolum Neapolitanae Ecclesae, Neapoli, 1596.

      2 – Francesco Cicoira,  doctor

      The first doctor – then called dottor fisico[3]of which has been given to me certain news, is Francesco Cicoira son of Giuseppe, born in Calitri in February 1558 and was confirmed on November 8, 1562.  Among his contemporaries, he was famous as a good doctor.  He died on October 14, 1614.

      3 – Giovan Matteo De Loisi, Jurist

      A native of Teora, he always lived with his family in Calitri, where he was already residing on May 1, 1574.  A profound student  of Canon and Civil jurisprudence, he was chosen by Scipione Gesualdo, archbishop of Conza (1584 –1608) as Vicar General of the Archdiocese, notwithstanding that De Loisi did not take Holy Orders.  He held the high post in 1598, as was learned from the many times cited Cronica Conzana [Conzan Chronicles] where one reads that Di Loisi, «after having exercised praiseworthily said office for many years, and because he only had the first tonsure, he married in said land a woman of the Cioglia house.»

      He composed Mille conclusioni legali [one thousand legal conclusions] in order to give them to the printer, however, the printer, for unknown reasons, did not publish it.

      He died in Calitri on January 1, 1621.

      4 – Don Francesco Margotta, priest of great piety and learning.

      He was born on February 12, 1699 of Donato and Orazio Urso.  He graduated in utroque jure [in both branches of law], acquired a great reputation in the legal debates; so that Giuseppi Nicolai, archbishop of Conza (1731 –1758) chose him for his Vicar General and Rector of the Seminary.  And while accompanying the archbishop in St. Visita in Calabritto, in 1746, he met  Alfonso Maria dei Liguori and was taken by the hieratic attraction, which emanated from that noble figure of priest.  Margotta inspired Alfonso Maria to open a religious house at Materdomini (Caposele), obligating himself to pay, every year, one hundred ducats; [4]and in such circumstance, Margotta urged Alfonso Maria to hold a preaching course in Calitri, in the beginning of 1747. [5] And it was during that sacred mission that Margotta, taken by a profound veneration for the missionary saint, renounced the job of Vicario Generale in order to enter humble service, in December of 1747, in the nascent Cangregation of the Most Holy Redeemer: «Don Francesco Margotta – wrote Berthe – one of the promoters of the foundation of the Caposele, after having given away his property, wanted to give himself; and notwithstanding his forty eight years, he humbly asked for the grace to be admitted to the institute.»  Great was the joy that Alfonso Maria  of the Liguori felt for him; and from Ciorani he wrote to him on December 7, 1747: «My dear and beloved Don Francesco, I know how to tell you that, yesterday evening, here one read the letters with the news of the already established foundation, and then your letter telling of your resolution; and I no longer know if it was the consolation of everybody because of the news of the foundation, then because of the news of the resolution of Your Carity: I speak of your charity, because since today I intend and I am letting you know that I have already received him as a brother and beloved companion…. You have donated all of your possessions to the Congregation and everybody love you very much… because we know that we have for a companion one who wants to make himself truly a saint and so I have faith that that you must do it.»  Margotta endeavored with great ardor, the increase the prestige of the Congregation, being a man of conosciuta e sperimentata virtù [know and proven virtue].  Soon afterwards, he was named Rector of the House of S. Angelo in Cupolo, then advisor and in October of 1749 Procuratore Generale.

      He died in Naples on August 11, 1764, «mourned by the people, by all his fellow brothers, who carried him with holy affection, and especially – wrote Berthe – as S. Alfonso who lost in him one if his most affectionate sons, the veteran of the Congregation, his faithful.»

      5 — Giuseppe Cioglia, Jurist

      Born about 1750 of Giovanni and Angela Cetti, he graduated on March 24, 1777 in Jurisprudence, in Naples.  Just one month after graduation, he participated in the competitive exam on April 18^th of the same year for the university Chair of Ius Regni, [diritto civile (civil law)]; and although he «demonstrated his value and learnedness» – as the Capellano Maggiore [= Prefetto of studies] stated in the Relazione [report] –was not chosen; however, he obtained, on November 25, 1750, the appointment as Lettore straordinario [special reader] of Antichità romane [Roman antiquity].  In that same year, he published a learned dissertation, in an elegant Latin form and with purity of style, with the title De Judicio Christi.  On the lines of the Jewish-religious trial – given to Christ, the author inserts the civil –roman Jurisprudence.  It is an analytic and deep treatment of legal doctrine, so that the illegality of the whole process acquired particular emphasis, in light of the evangelical documentation and the Jewish traditions.  The investigation is divided into two parts.  In the first, the author exposes the true political condition of Judea under roman domination, and emphasizes – in light of the forense Iudaeorum regimen – the responsibility of the Sanhedrin and the part that Pilate, the roman procurator, played in the formulation of the capital sentence.  In the second part, he refutes, with historic – legal arguments, the discordant opinions that historians and jurists of every religious faith and of every time demonstrated on the trial of Christ.  The work draws the praise of scholars.

      On November 134, 1784, because of the great reputation that he enjoyed, Cioglia was called to teach, as Lettore Straordinario, Isituzioni Civili; and in this chair he continued until 1787, when he was hit by ulcera depascente all’ugola.[6][consuming ulcer in the throat].  The serious illness prevented him from continuing to teach.  I was unable to determine the year of his death; it was only learned that, on May 11, 1792, he obtained from the Government an income for life because of his infirmity.[7]

      6 – Don Angelo Cerrata, vicario generale [Vicar General]

      Born on February 7, 1799 of Ciriaco and Teresa Cerrata.  Ordained priest, and capably and profoundly taught letters in the Seminary of S. Andrea.  His education, however, was not limited to simply literary studies; «he was gifted with a vast memory and a perceptive metaphysical acumen – wrote G. Nicolais, in his funeral eulogy – prior to the study of Greek and Hebrew» he delved into philosophy, into dogmatics, into rhetoric, and into cannon law.  Valuing his genius and vast education, the archbishop of Conza, Monsignore Ciampa, called him on January 28, 1839 to take on the high office of Vicar General of the diocese of Campagna.  To his new assignment, Cerrata brought his zeal and the best efforts of his powerful intellect; there was no question or dispute that was not legally examined by him and resolved.  For such erudite preparation in jurisprudence, in July 1840, the Royal University of Naples conferred the degree honoris causa  «in utroque jure. [in both branches of law]»

      On the strength of such a vast legal education, he managed to settle a long and difficult dispute between the Capitolo Cattedrale of Campagna and the Collegiata of Eboli.  His fame brought him to litigate civil cases at Courts of the kingdom and religious cases at the Roman Congregazione, elevating him to such reputation and esteem that, in July 1846, he was requested, as Vicar General, by the bishop of Potenza, Monsignor M. Pieramico.  Here, Cerrata – in a wider field of action – quickly made a name for himself because of the rectitude of an unblemished life and because of his deep educational preparation.  In 1848 he began to publish a work on Limiti del potere civile ed ecclesiastico [Limits of civil and ecclesiastical power], in which «clearly discerning the rights of the faithful from the needs of the citizen, he beautifully marks the limits between civil and ecclesiastical power, in order that they not invade each other, and together in concert they, through the road of earthly prosperity, guide man to his immortal destiny.»  The first folios of the work met with great success: «the patriots were pleased with it – noted Iannacchini – for his liberal senses, and they congratulated him for his original concepts, all were delighted by the sublime dialectical freshness.» [8]

      The political events of 1848, however, involved Cerrata in a serious but unfounded accusation of having participated in the movements of that famous insurrection.  The bourbon reaction to it, hit him squarely, prohibiting, by censure, the publication of his work.[9]  Consequently, Cerrata saw himself forced to leave Potenza and to ask for hospitality from some friends at Trani.[10]  Here, on July 4, 1849, he was called by Archbishop  Bianchi to work, as Vicar General, the vast archdiocese.  He kept this high office for over fifteen years, and «was very worthy of the miter, but his liberal and adverse feelings towards the regime prevented him from getting it.»  And in truth, when in 1860, the idea of Italian unity triumphed, all Trani gathered round, exultant, in the Cathederal to sing the Te Deum, Monsignor Cerrate, with elegant orations, singing hymns to the indeptndence of the fatherland, among unanimous feeling and pleasure.

      He was, also, an eloquent and learned orator: he preached the Quaresimo in Campagna in 1838, in Potenza in 1847, in Trani in 1857, that in S. Severo and in other cities in Puglia.  He was one of the three orators chosen, in 1852, in the feast for the column Crowning of Maria SS. Del Pozzo, in Capurso (Bari) at which Cardinal Mattei intervened.

      He died on May 16, 1864 in Bisceglie.  Of him the Trani newspaper La Ragione wrote, (1864, No. 36): «He is one of those providential men, destined to perpetuate in the bosom of society the true religion of Christ.»

      7- Giovanni Margotta, martyr to the fatherland

      Born on December 23, 1822 of Michele and of Maria Ruberto, he was sent by his paternal uncle, Don Gaetano, to study humanities and philosophy, as well as love of country.  Ordained a priest, he was more and more dedicated to the independence and unity of Italy.  Still young, he was hired as secretary to the archbishop of Conza, Monsignor Ciampa.  And when, in March of 1848, in Naples, a Corpo di epedizione [expeditionary force] was organized under the command of General G. Pepe, he, exuberant of temperament, abandoned the office of secretary; and from Campagna – where he was near Monsignor Ciampa – he ran to enlist as a simple soldier in the Battaglione dei Volontari [Volunteer Battalion].  It is well known how the Corpo di spedizione, as soon as it reached Bologna, had orders to return; General Pepe did not want to obey – although almost all the troops retirned on the first of August – and, with a single battalion of Voluntari [Volunteers], rushed to the defense of Venice, the only city that still fought to keep its liberty and independence.  Giovanni Margotta belonged to the battalion of Voluntari and Giovanni Margotta responded valiantly and with full knowledge to the appeal of General Pepe: he, a priest of Christ and fervid with the passion for the fatherland, felt in himself all the greatness of his heroic gesture, and he left for the war of independence in the battalion of Voluntari, commanded by Major Vaccaro.  He was only twenty six years old.  With youthful enthusiasm, he took part in the most risky engagements, meriting promotion to Lieutenant: «Margotta as lieutenant of the Compania Scelta [handpicked company] – writes D’Ayla – had himself assigned to the defense of Venice,» the only city that, in the treacherous lagoons, still was resisting.  And from Venice, in August of 1848, he sent by his paternal uncle, Don Gaetano, a letter imbued with patriotic feeling.  The letter was seized by the Bourbonic Police in Naples, in precisely the house of the uncle – as is show on page 134 – 135 of this volume – and so was summarized in the atti dell’Istruttoria  [preliminary hearing documents] of the famous trial:  «a letter dated August 1848 was found written to him by his nephew Giovanni Margotta, one of the volontari who left for Lombardy in which was spoken exaltingly of liberty and the independence of Italy.»

      In the heroic defense of Venice, then, the Neapolitan volunteers, reorganized into Battalion – composed of a Stato Maggiore [General Staff] and six Compagnie [Companies] – gave such a strenuous test of boldness and valor that, without considering anything else, they were sufficient by themselves to justify, fully, the flattering expression of praise by General Sanfermo, when he wrote on December 8, 1848 that «the Corpo di Voluntari  became an undoubted demonstration of Neapolitan co- partnership with the cause of our independence.» [11] When, then, the Austrians, no longer being able to operate with sufficient naval forces in order to squeeze Venice from the Mestre section, they turned their 150 cannons against the Fort marghera, at the entrance to the lagoon, the Neapolitan Battalion with the heroic Compagnia Scelta – in which Margotta was a lieutenant – was sent, in March of 1949, to its defense.  And to say that Margotta came out, just then, from the hospital, exhausted by fever.  He did not want – as D’Ayala wrote – to remain resting, to which his commanders obliged him.  Around the Fort Marghera was concentrated a formidable duel of artillery: «The defense of Fort Marghera, the great fort that dominates the Padua road and the railroad bridge of Venice, would have done honor the most warlike troops in the world.  The garrison counted 2500 men; the besiegers, under the command of Haynau, thirty thousand.  Radetzky came with three archdukes to visit the siege….  The bombardment began on May 4, 1949.»[12] The heroic defenders of Marghera vigorously to the uninterrupted attacks of the Austrians; numerous were the acts of bravery and of true scorn for death by the tireless besieged troops; one month of heroic resistance, of extended fatigue, of continuous hardship and privation of every kind.  Lieutenant Margotta was always ready go where the danger was great.  And in a sortie led by the valiant Colonel Cosenz on May 9, 1949, Margotta fell wounded in the enemy trenches.  He was taken to the hospital, and, after many days of terrible suffering, died on May 27. [13]

      Giovanni Margotta was the first martyr that Calitri gave to the cause of the Italian Risorgimento.  D’Ayala indicated his great heroism with the words: «The love of country and of Italy made the other priesthood in him feel like liberating our land from foreigners… He did not want to remain in the position in which his commanders obligated him, and in a sortie commanded by Cosenz, fell mortally wounded in the enemy trenches.»  A sublime elegy, worthy of a Homeric hero, which of itself constitutes the greatest triumph!  Glory, then to him who is immortal and triumphant as is the idea of the fatherland!

      8 – Giuseppe Tozzoli, deputy in the Italian parliament

      Born in Calitri on August 21, 1826 of Francesco Tozzoli and Serafina Zampaglione, he graduated in Law at the University of Naples.  With a heightened sense of liberty and of love of country, he enrolled in the Giovane Italia, and on May 15, 1848 fought on the barricades of Naples.  A person of wealth and positive temperament, he made of his vast landholdings a modern farming business, introducing machines and rational methods of cultivation.  His example served as a stimulant to the other farmers to break with the traditional methods of cultivation, and defined the true economic risorgimento [rebirth] of the people, who live mostly from the fruits of the soil.

      All this ardent love earned him such great esteem that he was elected head of the Amministrazione Communale, to which he contributed his experience in the solution of some very annoying problems.  His name quickly became known also in the nearby villages.  And the magistracy of Lacedonia sent him from 1867 to 1871 as its representative in the provincial council; there he earned the trust and esteem of all the member and was unanimously, in the tornata [round of elections] of September 8, 1868 as president.  In the Consiglio Provinciale [provincial council] he was among the most esteemed because of his competence and rectitude.  He was a strenuous supporter of the network of roads to be constructed in the High Irpinia in order to increase the value of that still inaccessable region.  To him is owed the construction of the carriage-able road that, starting from the Crocifisso di Bisaccia – and linking itself to the Avellino – Melfi national road – had joined Calitri and the other communes road called Di Matera, at Ficocchia, after having built a bridge across  the Ofanto.  The construction of this bridge, which was truly a monumental task, was approved, because of his involvement, by the Consiglio Provinciale in 1889 by a unanimous vote; and was therefore  called «Ponte Giuseppe Tozzoli.»

      He had just reached the age required by law when from the Collegio of Lacedonia he was sent, in 1865, as Deputy, to the Parliament, where he took his place on the Sinistra [left side], «in that youthful left of 1865, composed mostly of rich land owners and local VIP’s, who tossed off the so called consorteria[14] and came to the parliament to protest against bad administration.»[15]In the Camera, fighting in 1865 the suppression of the planned Conza railroad, he planted the first seeds that led the minister of Public Works to study that complex network of railroad lines, which – called, later on, Ofantine – has given to the Irpinia rapidity of communication and development of commerce.  To such an end, he wrote a well-respected work: La convenzione del 28 novembre 1865 e la Società delle Ferrovie Meridionali (Torino, 1865). [The convention of November 28, 1865 and the Company of Southern Italian Railroads. (Turin 1865). 

      Having closed, in 1867, the brief and stormy 9^th Legislature, Tozzoli was reelected for the 10^th and for the 11^th legislature, and held the political mandate until November of 1874, when he returned to private life, leaving the Collegio to Francesco De Sanctis and working for the victory of the great man of letters: «Giuseppe Tozzoli, my colleague, friend, and companion, the deputy coming out – wrote De Sanctis himself  in Un elettorale viaggio – retired from the struggle with a very noble letter addressed to me: I entrust to you my banner, he wrote, and I trust that you will not let it fall from your hands.»  And with the support of Tozzoli, « after many immense pains, De Sanctis felt, for him, the satisfaction of representing his native body of Lacedonia» – as «La Provincia» [The Province] the newspaper of Avellino, reports. (October 30, 1892).

      He died on August 19, 1881, leaving one son, Francesco, to whom De Sanctis, at the sad announcement of such a loss, telegraphed: «inconsolable news, I lament the premature death of this celebrated friend of mine, a man of decent family and one who honors his native city.»

      9 – Francesco Tozzoli, Parliament Deputy

      Son of Giuseppe, he was born in Calitri on September 22, 1852, He graduated in Law in 1876, and attended enthusiastically attended the Circles of Legal and Historical studies in Naples – which were very famous then – and, in December of 1875, he was among the founding members of the Società di storia patria per le province napoletane [the historical society of the Neapolitan provinces.].  He fervently supported the political candidacy of De Sanctis in the famous bitter election struggle of 1874 –1875: « The young, intelligent, and hard-working Tozzoli was always at my side – wrote De Sanctis himself – and he was among those who had more clearly understood the concept of that political movement.»  His quick mind, his tenacity, and integrity earned him, while still young, the trust of his fellow citizens, who elected him first Consigliere Communale[town council], then Sindaco [mayor]; afterwards, in 1890, they sent him to the Consiglio Provinciale as a representative for the magistracy of Aquilonia.  In public life, he followed in the honored footsteps of his father; and many were the deeds that, in particular, showed his goodness and strength of his intellect.  The Collegio of Lacedonia, appreciating such merits, sent him on November 6, 1892 as a deputy to the Italian Parliament.  Tozzoli, «who came from good stock,» was of sincere democratic feelings, and he had it in mind to develop a vast program for the benefit of the neglected communes of the High Irpinia.  But, on January 15, 1893, he passed away just sixty nine days after he had taken his seat in the Parliament, in Naples.  His moral figure  was thus delineated by a well-known southern member of parliament: «The son of a man already dear to the people of the high valley of the Ofanto, whose name is still down there a symbol of patriotism and merit, Francesco Tozzoli had for a while known how to show that he was a worthy follower of the paternal teachings.  Moreover, he was a diligent, assiduous administrator of public affairs in the commune and in the province.  At the age of thirty four he entered parliament because of the true, sincere will of the people, won over by his shy and sincere virtue, by the sweet constitution of his heart which ignored even what he was, and which meant providing for the hurt or pain of his neighbor.[16]

      10 – Michele Zampaglione, High Magistrate

      Born on June 2, 1802 of Lorenzo Zampaglione and Cecilia Pionati, he graduated in Jurisprudence.  At the age of twenty two, in 1824, he entered through competition, in the apprenticeship of the Magistracy, where he remained until 1826, when, having been promoted to judge on the Tribunal, he was assigned first to Avellino and then to Salerno.  Everywhere, he distinguished himself because of his scrupulous rectitude and for his great legal competence.  Afterwards, he was appointed Procurator of the king and then president of the Gran Corte Criminale [High Criminal Court] in Aquila.  In 1859, he was Consigliere of the Suprema Corte di Giustizia – today called the Court of Cassazione – in Naples.  And with that annexation of Naples to the Kingdom of Italy, he was chosen to proclaim the results of the plebiscite on November 3, 1860, in the square of St. Francesco di Paola.

      He died on May 29, 1887.

      11 – Vito Antonio Margotta, Doctor – Hygienist

      Born in Calitri on January 24, 1828 of Michele Margotta and Maria Ruberto, he graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1851 in Naples, and was quickly hired as Surgeon in the Hospital of Marina, at Pozzano (Castellamare di Stabia.)  In 1860, as chief surgeon of the National Guard, he tended the wounded on the battlefields at Maddaloni and at Capua; one year later, he obtained, by competition, the post of Vice –Conservatore of the vaccine and was appointed Secretary in the «Health council of Naples.»  From then on, Margotta devoted himself, principally, to the study of public hygiene; and it is possible and it can be said that that had never been a health investigation of any importance in which he did not take part.

      In 1867, he introduced in Naples, animal vaccination, which, until then, was used only in private practice.  From here, the chance for special studies and his invention of a new method for harvest, for the multiplication and conservation of animal vaccine in tube and in powder, which was praised by scientists, as something which facilitated health practices.[17] Such hard work earned Margotta prizes and honorifics, among which is remembered the Medaglia d’oro dei benemeriti per la salute pubblica, which was conferred on him for the cholera of 1873.

      He died, in Naples, on January 31, 1892.

      His principal scientific writings are: Sull’origine, natura e trattazione della gotta [on the origin, nature, and treatment of the gout](Naples, 1860), which constitutes the first work on the principle of uric diathesis as the efficient cause of that disease; Relazione storico Medico – statistica sul Cholera del 1866 nella provincia di Napoli, 1866; [Medical statistical report on the Cholera epidemic of 1866 in the province of Naples.] Cenni sulla Vaccina e ricordi al vaccinatore, [notes on the vaccine and memories on the vaccinator]1869; L’epidemia del 1871, statistiche, confronti, and questioni sulla Vaccinia, 1871[the epidemic of 1871, statistics, comparison, and questions on the vaccine]; Il Cholera in rapporto alla medicina pubblica [Cholera in relation to public medicine], 1873, which, in a short time, had two editions.

      Finally, it is to the credit of Margotta to have promoted the founding, in Naples, of the «Gazzetta di medicina pubblica» [Journal of Public Medicine] in which questions relating to the vaccine were properly treated.

      12 – Alfonso Maria De Carlo, Professor of philosophy

      Born on October 24, 1831 of  Pasquale and Giovanna Bozza he entered the Minorite minor Order of the Reformati, and took the name of Alfonso Maria.  He so successfully completed his classical and philosophical studies that he merited, at age 24, the coveted title of Lettore  [lector] in mathematics and physics. He continued teaching such disciplines to the young of his order, in Salerno, up until 1862, when, having won the government competition of philosophy in the licei [secondary schools], De Carlo was assigned to the «Tasso» Royal Lyceum in Salerno.  He quickly learned German and translated the Logic of Emmanuel Kant, which he gave to the press in 1874: He was one of the first scholars to penetrate the thought of the great philosopher in its original conception and the clarify it with notes and explanations.  In October 1877, he moved to Bergamo, taking off the Franciscan habit forever.  Here he dedicated himself to expounding the philosophical thought of Rosimini – Serbati, preparing an extensive thesis on such a system, which he was not able to finish because of an unexpected illness, and he published only the first part of it.  In October of 1879, he obtained the transfer to Modena where «like the trumpeting of the swan, he held his last discussion on the occasion of the distribution of the prizes: it was like the synthesis of his philosophical thought and his testament to the young pupils – as Iannacchini writes – and  he had for a subject: Lo spirito nella scienza e nella vita [Spirit in science and in life].» This work remains unpublished because De Carlo, weakened by disillusion and by sharp words, passed away on August 29, 1887.

      His philosophical works, which reveal his sharp genius and the scientific method, aim at resolving «the knowledge of the most recent theories with the well thought out criteria of ancient wisdom.»  His principal works are: Prolusione al corso di filosofia, [Introduction to philosophy] Salerno,1862; La mente d’ Italia o G. B. Vico, [The mind of Italy or G. B. Vico]Salerno, 1868; La logica di Kant[The logic of Kant], translated from the original German and annotated.  Salerno, 1874; Preliminari di filosofia e principii di psicologia, [Introduction to philosophy and principles of psychology]Salerno 1875 (428 pages); Introduzione alla esposizione critica della filosofia di A. Rosmini-Serbati,[18] [Introduction to the critical exposition of the philosophy of A. Rosmini-Serbati.] Bergamo 1878.

      13 – Don Giuseppe Nicolais, priest and educator

      He was born on June 29, 1821 of Raffaele Nicolais and Rosa Fastiggi.  He studied in the Diocesan Seminary of San Andrea and was ordained a priest in 1844.  He dedicated himself to teaching, while still young, teaching philosophy in the seminary of Campagna.  In the years 1846 and 1847, he taught in the seminary of Marsico Nuovo (Potenza), then at Cava dei Tirreni [near Salerno] and in 1851at Sessa Aurunca [In the province of Caserta]; wherever he went, he was esteemed by his students and friends.

      Afterwards, he was sent by his own archbishop to teach philosophy and theology at the Seminary of San Andrea di Conza, which in those years boasted of illustrious teachers, such as Santoro, Guida, Di Maio, Corbi, Cerrata, and others.  Having closed the Seminary following the independence movements of 1860, which was also endorsed by the seminaristi [seminarians], Nicolais withdrew to Calitri, where, in February of 1862, the Amministrazione Comunale entrusted to him the teaching in the newly instituted public elementary school.  In 1875 he was again called to teach at the diocesan seminary of which he held the management in the years 1879 – 1880 and 1880– 1881, but, Archbishop Nappi having lost faith in him, he returned to Calitri, dedicating himself to the instruction of youth.  He took to preaching, in which he excelled because of the depth of his discourse, because of the forcefulness of his speech and for the purity of its literary form.  On December 22, 1883 he was named archpriest-curate, with the great applause of the people: he was then 62 years old.  Still looking after souls, he labored with fervor and with the rectitude of a blameless and hardworking life.  He did not shrink from hard work and sacrifice of any kind in order to take it easy, in order to rescue from the covetous hands of Marianna Berrilli in Lettieri, the patrimony of Pio Monte dei Maritaggi Margotta – Cubelli: after a long and complicated trial, he had the satisfaction of «giving back to the poor maidens that which the piety of the testator Margotta had bequested to them.»  He was an exemplary figure of a priest and educator who prepared various generations of young for life and studies.

      He died on January 4, 1896.  Indications of his vast theological and philosophical culture are the numerous panegyrics, conferences, courses of spiritual exercises, all unpublished: no one took care to collect the, so that many works have been tampered with or lost.  He published: Elogio funebre di Mons. A. Cerrata, Naples, 1864; Elogio funebre in onrore di Michele Zampaglione, Naples, 1887.

      14 – Pietrantonio Cioffare, surgeon and patriot

      He was born on February 24, 1826 of Luigi and Lucia Mafucci.  He studied Medicine and surgery as a student intern in the Royal College of medicine and minor surgery of Naples.  In the Neapolitan movements of May 15, 1848, with the boldness of youth, he left college to run, valiantly, over the barricades raised in Toledo, where he fought against the Swiss soldiers.  The participation of Cioffari and the other students of the Royal College passed almost unobserved; and the Director himself, DeMeis, a fervent patriot, tried to make sure that nothing leaked to the police.  And the incident remained hidden to the point that Cioffari, having completed his studies, was able, undisturbed, to graduate at the beginning of 1849. 

      But, as a result of a complaint, in 1850, there was held a very detailed preliminary hearing on the movements of May 15; from it emerged serious accusations on the participation of Cioffari at the barricades and his arrest was ordered.  Cioffari, however, had gotten wind of such order, and got away from Naples, in order to keep himself out of preventive detention.  Meanwhile, the minutes of the voluminous inquest were sent to the Gran Corte Criminale [High Criminal Court]for examination; but the judicial authorities believed that the evidence gathered was neither sufficient nor valid «in order to be able to successfully to take the defendant to trial.» and with the judgment of April 5, 1851 the court sent back the minutes of the voluminous inquest to the archives, ordering the release of Cioffari «because his conduct turned out to be irreproachable.»[19] Before the judgment was issued, Cioffari, in order to take advantage of the absolution, had himself properly put in jail, where he remained for a few days.

      Always fired up with sincere patriotism, he participated on September 3, 1860, as a Major of the Guardia Nazionale, in the insurrectional movement of the Province of Avellino, and was part of the Colonna Irpina – commanded by the celebrated Colonel De Concilj – who headed for Ariano di Puglio [today Irpino] to relieve the population from the Bourbon tyranny.

      In the rest of his life, he kept, always lit, the flame of liberty and independence of his country.  This feeling of pure Italianità [Italianess] did not take his mind off his studies, and he exercised his profession in Avellino, where he enjoyed well-deserved fame and esteem.  Of his intelligent activity, both professional and patriotic, a contemporary made honorable mention, and his contemporary wrote: «He was an eminent doctor and patriot.   He had such love for his country that he never hesitated for a moment to risk his life for it.»[20]

      15 – Michele Nicolais, Royal Superintendent of Education.

      Brother of Don Giuseppe, , he was born on July 2, 1831.  He was educated in the Seminary of San Andrea di Conza and of Marsico Nuovo (Potenza) and was ordained a priest in September of 1854.  He continued his philosophical studies at the Royal University of Naples, following graduation.

      Having been sent, in October of 1857, by the bishop of Cava dei Terreni to teach philosophy and mathematics in that seminary, he knew, in brief, how to acquire the respect of the students.  With the death of Cavour, (June 6, 1861), the young professor was chosen by everybody to draft his eulogy, which he gave with eloquence, and with depth of thought, and with high feeling of love of country.  He continued to teach at Cava until 1862 when, having won the philosophical competition in the Royal Lyceum, he was assigned to the «Cirillo» of Bari, on January 10, 1863.  In December of 1867, he was named Headmaster and Rector of the Royal Lyceum, a «Campanella» boarding school in Reggio Calabria.  Here, in March of 1871, he was appointed  Superintendent of Education of the Province of Catanzaro; but not wanting to leave Reggio Calabria, he was able to remain, here, as Superintendent, because of the kind petitions of that Prefetto [Prefect].  In 1873, he was transferred to Chieti, in 1876 to Foggia, in 1881 to Potenza and finally in 1884 to Rovigio; and here, hit by a sudden and cruel disease, he passed away on 21 December of the same year.[21]

      Nicolais was an extremely well educated and cultured man, and «a true friend of public instruction»; but, above all, he was very kind and had great strength of character.  « He was a very honest person – as the Royal Commissario Zecca states – he worked for the reclamation of the state property due our people, and with the petition dated at Naples on January 18, 1863, the prompt definition of the state property questions of Calitri was promoted by the Ministry of the Interior, revealing that the existence of State Property had been denied by the Consiglieri Comunali, they being personally interested to keep the above mentioned property in their own families.» [22]

      He printed some occasional discourses: Pietro Giannone o Lo Stato e La Chiesa,[Pietro Giannone or The State and The Church] Bari, 1866; Il morte di Vittorio Emmanuele II, Commemorative speech held in the Cathederal of Foggia on March 22, 1878, For the awarding of prizes to the students of the Royal Lyceum «Campanella» for the school year 1869-1870, Reggio Calabria, 1870.

      16 – Monsignor Evangelista De Milia, bishop

      On January 6, 1842 of Giuseppe and Francesca Margotta was born Michele Antonio, who, at sixteen years, entered the order of the Capuccine Fathers, with the name of Evangelista.  He celebrated Mass on July 16, 1864.  When the religious orders were suppressed a little later, Father Evangelista went to France where he preached the divine word in Paris and in other cities.  And in 1870, when the Prussian army advanced, victorious, into France bringing destruction and death, Father Evangelista ran onto the battle fields to discharge his priestly ministry in the assistance of the wounded.  Then, in order to avoid the antireligious delirium of the Comune, he sought refuge in England, where he was given the office of parish priest of the church of the Seven Dolors of London and Pontypool, not allowing to fulfill himself as a priest and able organizer.  And one can well understand what unlimited esteem he enjoyed in London, when one thinks that he, under the humble robe of a Capuchin, was chosen  as companion and counselor of a catholic ambassador at the Court of the Roman offs in St. Petersburg (Leningrad).  He resided in the Russian capital for about one year, and he would have remained there longer if the extremely cold climate had not obliged him to return to England.

      After twelve years of apostolic work done in London, he was recalled to Rome by the General of his order, he was named Superior of the basilica of San Loranco in Campo Verano in Rome; and in the following year by unanimous vote, was elected Provinciale of the monastic province of Salerno.  So many were the works completed by Father Evangelista in such a position that the Holy See sent him, as Commissiario  in the monastic province of Siracusa.  And here he remained, until, on December 22, 1888, he was named bishop of Cassano at Ionio (Cosenza).  He took possession of the diocese on August 25, 1889.  Having found that diocese without a seminary for more than twenty nine years, it was to his credit to reclaim in from the Municipality; works of Christian piety, for which the Pope transferred him, on November 29, 1898, to the most important seat of Lecce, conferring on him the noble title of Conte Romano  It is still remembered, in the history of Lecce, the triumphal entrance of Monsignor Evangelista on March 5, 1889, how living and eternal remain the acts of charity and justice, from which are imprinted his short governance of that diocese.  His work was interrupted by his sudden death, which took place in Calitri on September 17, 1901.

      17 – Angelo Maria Maffucci, luminary of medical science

      Born on October 17, 1847 of Michele Maffucci and Benedetta Nicolais, he took up the study of medicine in Naples, where he graduated in 1872.  In the following year, , he was hired as an assistant at the «Ufficio Municipale per la conservazione del vaccino.» Municipal office for the conservation of the vaccine. As a Municipal Physician, he took part, in the same year, in the fight against cholera that earned him not only the Medaglia di benemerenza di primo grado, but opened the doors to him of the Institute of Pathological Anatomy which was directed by the celebrated Schrön, where he was admitted in 1875 as Assistente (Coadjutor).  In 1880, he won, by competition, the chair of General Pathology at the University of Messina; but he did not accept it, because the University did not have a laboratory.  Two years later, he had the chair of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Catania (1882); and from there; in 1884, he passed to the University of Pisa, which he earned through competition as well and under the title of Professore Ordinario.[full professor.]  And it was in this Atenio that he began and continued, with success, the studies that secured him great fame.  Because of his strong-willed character, although suffering from tuberculosis, he dedicated himself, in 1889, completely to the study of the bacilli of that disease:  «it is worth remembering – wrote Di Vestea, his collaborator – the multiple contributions made by Maffucci to the modern doctrine of tuberculosis, the discovery of the velenosità del protoplasma [toxicity of the protoplasm] of the specific mocrobe, a pathogenic concept of extraordinary fertility, which has been the point of departure of the recent studies that are aimed at the search for a rational means to cure the terrible disease.»[23]

      His research was illustrated with such depth of investigation that, in the first communication that he made on Tuberculina of the Tenth International Medical Congress in Berlin (1890), the name of one single experimenter – who was not German – heard his name uttered  by the celebrated R. Koch and that name was Maffucci.

      He was a untiring worker, although, absorbed by his research on tuberculosis, he did not neglect other studies, and, in 1898, published an original research document on the «pathology of the cauda equina and of the cono terminale [terminal cone],» that earned him the congratulations of the knted scientists, among which was Koch, who held him in the highest esteem.  The results of his investigations were awaited, with lively interest, be the whole scientific world, and his publications were, quickly, translated into many languages.

      To Mafucci is owed the credit for the doctrine of eredo-immnuità, «which is that the descendents of the tuberculine parents have a greater resistance to tuberculosis, as if they had in themselves an abundance of defensive material greater than that which those affected with turbulosis have because of the disease.»  In the last years of his life, he carried his scientific activity on the doctrine of Koch considering human tuberculosis and bovine tuberculosis and he published La tubercolosi bovine sotto il rapporto industriale ed igienico. [The industrial and health connection of bovine tuberculosis.][24] With this new research, this untiring scholar closed his scientific activity: The deadly bacteria of  the terrible disease had mined his organism and on November 24, 1903 he died, in Pisa.  In order that his research on tuberculosis continue, he left, in favor of the Pisan Ataneo, a biennial Scholarship for  a «post graduate course at the Institute of Pathological Anatomy.»

      Always in conformity with the austerity of his character, he did not solicit honorifics, nor did he make a show of them – and they were many – which reached him in the silence of his laboratory.  He was an ordinary member of the Accademia dei Lincei, and a member of many national and foreign academies.

      Numerous publications – over seventy – in Italian and foreign languages, attest  to his vast learning.  A little before the closing of his earthly days, he wrote two works, which can be considered as the synthesis of all his research and his studies: Istruzione al popolo intorno alla profilassi e cura inienica della tuberculosi, Pisa, 1899; and the other: Intorno alla diversita de decorso della tuberculosi congenital ed acquista, Catania, 1902.  Whereby, and quite rightly, Professor Tito Carbone, his successor, in the Prolusione [opening speech] at the Corso di Anatomia Patologica, had to say: «If we consider the theory of infective embryonic pathology, which emanated from a series of publications in which is considered the fruit of almost years of tireless work, our mind bends in front of such document of the genius and activity of A. Mafucci, while revering and being almost incredulous that a similar jumble of facts, of delicate and difficult experiment, and of rigorous logical deductions can be the product of a single worker.»

      Calitri, grateful and proud of its indeed great son, placed, in his honor, on October 12, 1922, on the face of the municipal building a memorial plaque with the inscription dictated by Senator Professor Enrico Coccia, of the University of Napoli.

      18 – Monsignor Bernadino Di Milia, Bishop

      Born on the 26^th of October 1839, of Giuseppe Di Mila and Antonia Mafucci, Vincenzo, having entered the order of the Capuchin Fathers, took the name of Bernardino.  Ordained a priest on September 23, 1864, he taught philosophy and theology in various convents.  In 1874, he was chosen as secretary and collaborator of another Capuchin, Monsignor Rocco Coccia, Apostolic Delegate to the republic of San Domingo, of Haiti, and of Venezuela.  Those people were savaged by military despotism and civil strife, and the two Capuchins used prudence and truly exemplary sweetness in order to reestablish peace and harmony.  Moreover, it took fifteen years of intense diplomatic and priestly work to reach a pacification of the souls. 

      In September of 1877, the name of Father Bernardino – which was inseparable from that of Monsignor Cocchia – occupied world public opinion, when – that is – in the execution of some restorations carried out in the Cathedral of San Domingo, there was found the sarcophagus, well preserved, with the ashes of Christopher Columbus.  The civil world greeted, with applause, the event.  To Father Bernardino was entrusted the honorable mission of carrying to Italy part of the ashes of the Great Genovese in two urns, one destined for the University of Pavia – where Columbus had completed his studies and the other to the Vatican.  The solemn ceremony for the delivery of the ashes to Pavia took place on August 5, 1880: «Father Bernardino Di Milia was sitting to the right of the prefect; to the left was the Rector of the University…The prefect, presenting the emissary of the Donating Republic, congratulated Pavia for the singular distinction that he had.  The educated Capuchin father responded to him with a no less courteous facial expression than casual; and he recounted, rather, behind the invitation of the authorities that approached, the method whereby the bones of the great navigator were discovered.[25]

      A few years later, Monsignor Cocchia having been recalled to govern the important diocese of Chieti, in his stead was appointed Father Bernadino Di Milia, who was consecrated bishop in 1884.  In this capacity, Monsignor Di Milia continued the diplomatic and priestly work in those republics until 1890, when the Holy See transferred him to govern the diocese of Larino (Molise).  Monsignor Di Milia, full of renewed apostolic fervor, governed the diocese with the sweetness of a diplomat and the firmness of a religious, doing much good for the people.

      He died, in Larino, on April 6, 1910.

      There remains from him a Raccolta di Lettere pastorali, Notificazioni ed altri scritti (Larino, 1897), which, by itself, constitutes the most beautiful and perennial monument of his action and Episcopal piety.

      19 – Michele Maffucci, model of a hard worker

      In Michele Maffucci, I intend to honor the material work that is the basis of every moral and social elevation, that is the source of merited wealth and of general esteem.  It is not surprising, therefore, if, among the figures of illustrious citizens, I locate, in full light, Michele Maffucci, intelligent, industrious, and honest worker.

      Michele Maffucci was born on May 22, 1861 of Vincenzo Maffucci and Flavia Margotta.  His parents, poor laborers, seeing him grow up delicate and thin, sent him to a trade more suitable to his health and had him enter as an apprentice in a modest tailor shop.  Good, intelligent, and active, he quickly distinguished himself because of his lively ingenuity, which facilitated his learning of the trade; because of which he was sent, with great sacrifice, to Naples, to improve his craft.  Oh, at the cost of how many privations and sufferings, did he lead the new life in that metropolis!  He also felt, in the first months, the pangs of hunger, which he tolerated with resigned serenity.  But the time of his sacrifice was short.  His intelligence, his love for the work and the gentleness of his ways caught the kind attention of another of our illustrious citizens Pasquale Del Re, son of Raffaele, who hired him in his well-established tailor shop, paving the way for his rise.

      And in that laboratory, Mafucci continued – let us say thus – throughout the whole of his career as a tailor, to the point of holding the highest and most delicate job of cutter, in a renowned tailor shop in a large city, which implies maximum competence, knowledge, and taste of the fashion and also gentleness of way, in contact as he is, always, with customers of refined elegance and who are difficult to please.  His was a true affirmation both for competence in the job and for respectful and patient behavior; whereby, at the death of Pasquale Del Re, he opened a large tailor shop, with an annexed English cloth business for men, on the main street of Naples, in the Via Toledo. 

      Animated by a tireless passion for work, he was always in front of the large table, bent over between the measuring tape, the tailors chalk, and the large scissors, intent on cutting and preparing the work even during the most memorable feast days.

      He earthly life came to an end on August 13, 1913.

      20 – Giuseppe Nicola Berrilli, true gentleman

      He was born on October 27, 1840 of Giambattista Berrilli and Rosina Carlucci and, having completed his studies in jurisprudence, returned to his family – he belonging to a rich and well-respected family – in which he lived to a ripe old age, and dedicated himself to the careful administration of his vast land holdings.  He was the true type of lord of the good old days, humble and of right conscience, benevolent and generous with everyone, without ostentation.  His look was serene, his smile was amicable and almost trepidating.  At the base of that smile that was a whole ethic, an experience, a real life.  To these admirable qualities was added a vast knowledge of the laws and of the local customs, which made him the village oracle.

      All the villagers, to whatever social level that they belonged appealed to his wisdom and to his uncommon legal competence in order to get advice, to resolve a dispute, and on order to smooth over a hate.

      And he, with a serene and patient soul, listened to everyone, and, with the knowing hour to find the just road to peace and reconciliation, drove away the shadows, and sweetened their hearts. What was most attractive in him was a good moral conscience, a harmonious mental equilibrium and objective impartiality.  Through these distinguished qualifications, he was, still a young man, called by all to the administrative life of the commune.  Surrounded by general esteem, he would have been able to occupy high level posts in public life, but his natural modesty kept him in the shadows; and he renounced, many times, the pressing invitations that were issued to him not only by his fellow citizens to have him as head of the Amministrazione Comunale, but also the people of Aquilonia and Monteverde, in order that he represent the Mandamento [district]  in the provincial council of Avellino.  He was only satisfied, for the public good, to administer justice as Giudice Conciliatore for twelve years and as Vice – pretore [magistrate] for twenty two years: an office he held with dignity and rectitude.  His life was honest and had he loved justice. 

      A very wealthy man, he did not like the chivalrous and idle life in the great centers; he preferred to live, modestly, amid the people, occupying himself with various agricultural things.  Because of these noble virtues, the Società Operaia di Mutuo Soccorso named him an honorary member, and the Arciconfraternita dell’Immacolata Concezione, making an exception to the by-laws, a unique case in the history of the Pio Sodalizio – elected him Prior for life.  He loved without ostentation the Religion he received in his early education and which constituted the beautiful tradition of his family.  Because of this solid conviction, he bought, at his own expense, the little church of Sant’Antonio Abate, to keep it from being desecrated; he restored and redecorated it, and together with an organ, endowed it with a beautiful statue of St. Ann, promoting also devotion to her.

      He passed away on July 26, 1917, leaving behind «still a yearning in himself.»

      21 – Alfonso Del Re, Teacher of Mathematics

      He was born on October 8, 1859 of Raffaele Del Re and Rosa Rapolla.  While still a student of the Technical Institute of Naples, he won, in 1880, the competition to be a student at the Royal Military Academy of Turin.  He turned out to be the first among all the competitors; but, because of the austerity of his character, he did not know how to bend himself to military discipline and he resigned.  «What a great general Italy has lost!» – exclaimed De Sanctis, when he saw him return.

      Having graduated in Mathematics in 1886, he had the job of the esercitazioni  in Rational Mechanics at the Naples School of Engineering; and in 1887, who won the competition as teacher at the «Scuola Militare» of Caserta, and held the two teaching jobs until 1889, when the Department of Mathematics of the University of Rome entrusted to him the official course of Geometria proiettiva ed analitica [Projective and analytic geometry].  In November of 1892, he was named professor of Geometria proiettiva e descrittiva [Projective and descriptive geometry] at the University of Modena where he was also entrusted with the teaching of Analisi Algebrica. [algebraic analysis].  Here, on November 16, 1896, on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of the academic year, he gave a talk : Struttura Geometrica dello spazio in relazione al mode di percepire i fatti naturali,[Geometric structure of space in relation to the method of perceiving nature]  which was very interesting to the scientists.

      In 1899, the Department of Mathematics of the University of Naples offered him the chair  of Descriptive Geometry.  As soon as he took over, he had the arduous task  of re-ordering the «Veterinary school»: a task that in 1900 he discharged with great zeal and attitude, winning the praises of the Minister of Public Instruction.  Very zealous in his duty, he brought both in teaching and in any office that he held, enthusiasm, selflessness, and an almost religious fervor.

      He also gave lessons on Algebra della Logica [mathematical logic], which – included in the volume – was spread throughout the scientific world; Miss Ladd of «Johns Hopkins University» used it for her students; and professor Bernstein in Chile, made a very special study of it.

      Of an energetic and clean character, Del Re was twice Preside [chairman] of the Department of Mathematics, and in such a capacity founded a Gabinetto di scienze matematiche. [Laboratory of mathematical science.]  Modest and solitary by nature, he worked, untiringly, to open up unexplored branches of scientific vistas.  Over 150 publications indicated an anxious temperament for every new research.  He had a feeling for the most recent theories and hypothesis, not excluding Einstein’s theory of Relativity.  In mathematical literature of the last twenty years of the 19^th Century, his work occupied an eminent place; and some of them indicate a resolute progress, with the opening above all of new roads to geometric knowledge.

      From all his vast scientific production, shows a great independence of though and a brilliant originality. 

      He was a member of the Royal Society and the Accademia Pontaniana of Naples, and the Royal Academy of Arts and Letters in Modena, and of the French Astronomical Society, and of many others.  Because of the serenity and objectivity of his evaluation judgements, he was sent, from 1892 to 1915, as Commissario to the exams for the admission to the Military Academy of Turin.

      He died on September 15, 1921.

      In his memory, Calitri placed, on September 7, 1923, a marble stone on the face of the Municipal building, with the inscription dictated by the illustrious mathematics professor Enrico D’Ovido, of the University of Turin.

      22 – Giuseppe Del Re, director of the office of the Banco di Napoli.

      The brother of Professor Alfonso, he was born on May 4, 1861.  As a young man, he distinguished himself because of his precocious ness and keenness of mind, for which, among many fellow students, he was chosen to recite a sonnet in homage to Francesco De Sanctis, when he, in 1875, went to Calitri on his Campaign Trip.  Having obtained his certificate from the technical institute, he enrolled in the Department of Natural Sciences at the Royal University of Naples.  But, because of the death of his father, he was forced to interrupt his studies, and, because of the changed family conditions, he participated in a competitive exam  at the Banco di Napoli [Bank of Naples]. He was among the top and was immediately hired.  And for more than forty four years Del Re dedicated, with passion and a lively attitude, his intelligence and his activities to the glorious banking institute, which is very important to the economic life of Italy, at first as in employee in the offices in Naples and in Turin, then as an accountant – a supervisor at Calgari and Bologna.  And in the large institute he passed from level to level throughout his whole career.  In 1906 he was named Director of the Catanzaro office, from which, in 1921, he was transferred, because of exceptional merit, to direct the most important office in Bologna: and here, because of his untiring activities and competence, the bank extended his sphere of activity into the industrial and commercial sphere of action, because in addition to his technical expertise, it appreciated the exquisitely courtly tact of Director Del Re.  He closed his professional career in Bologna in 1927, leaving indelible footsteps of scrupulous rectitude.

      He died on April 25, 1932.

      Some of his publications reveal his vast knowledge of economic and financial disciplines:  La cambiale di favore (Zanicheli, 1906), which was believed indispensable to anyone who worked in that field; La cambiale agraria, which had a large echo among all agricultural scholars; and finally a work of historical investigation: Some ancient history of the Banco di Napoli.

      23 – Alessio Nicolais, district doctor

      Born on August 25, 1877 of Giuseppe Nicolais and Mostiola Mazzeo, he studied medicine and surgery in Pisa, where he graduated on July 12, 1892.  Here while studying Bacteriology, – in classes held by the Scientist A. M. Maffucci, our fellow citizen – he also obtained a diploma as a health officer, on December 20, 1905.  He competed for the post of Secretary doctor in the Ufficio di Sanità Pubblica [Office of public health] turning out to be second among the competitors; he was appointed on January 7, 1906. 

      When, in August of 1911, cholera hit Verbicaro (Cosenza) to the point that it moved the whole nation because of the number of victims, Nicolais was sent there by the Minister; he, in a brief amount of time, managed by means suggested by science to eradicate the deadly disease, despite the resistance and opposition to the prophylactic cure by that still primitive and superstitious population.  Because of merit, he was chosen to take part in the Corpo di spedizione militare in the colonial conquest of Libya, and on October 25, 1911 he was assigned to Tripoli to direct public health and hygiene services.  In this mission, as in the preceding, Nicolais proved his high mental and moral qualities, as well as his ability to organize.

      As a result of a competition, he was appointed on April 7, 1913, Provincial Doctor and sent to Lucca.  On May 24, he was transferred to Brescia, where he radiated his distinguished education, revealing an uncommon wise intelligence and spirit of initiative.  He opened Dispensari antituberculari, labori d’Igene e di Profilassi [Antituberculine dispensaries, Health and prophylactic laboratories]; he directed with a loving intellectual spirit, the Opera per la protezione della maternità ed Infanzia, [work for the protection of Maternity and Infancy.] as well as numerous hospital institutions promoted by the province, among which  is remembered «Villa Paradiso» for the tuberculin children, which constituted a model of its kind.

      And in Brescia, a cruel disease killed him, still young, on November 3, 1929.

      24 – Vito Margotta, department head for railroad construction.

      Born in Calitri on June 1, 1856 of Giuseppe and Cleonice Teresa Chiaia.  He successfully completed the course of classical studies in Avellino.  He graduated in Mathematics at the University of Naples in 1878, and was assistente [assistant] to the Chair of Astronomy. With a «ready and continuously fertile mind», he graduated in 1880 as a Civil Engineer, which signaled a long series of successes and ascents.

      His genius came to light in the competition in 1882 for the Royal Corps of Engineers, where he was ranked among the first. Following his innate inclinations, he passionately dedicated himself – which is then his great vocation – to the detailed study of railroad problems, and to the design and construction of new railroads; and into this vast and arduous field of study, he valiantly threw the basis of his splendid future.  He was at first assigned , on July 23, 1888,  to the Circolo Ferroviario [Railroad association]of Foggia; then was the object of great esteem by his superiors, and was transferred on July 16, 1904 in the role of Royal Inspector General of the Railroads.  A valued, and profound thinking technician, he began the organization of the railroad of the port of Genoa, constructing the parco ferrovario dei Giovi; then he prepared a «draft» study for the rail network of Basilicata; finally, he was at the head of a Missioni di tecnici, which went to Italian Somalia in order to study, in place, a plan for a railroad in that vast colony.

      But where the great craftsman of a railroad technician shone brilliantly was during the first world war (1915 –1918) when he organized and brought to completion a vast railroad construction plan for military and strategic purposes.  By way of honor,, the ferrovia Montebelluna – Susegana (Treviso) must be remembered, which railroad Margotta, overcoming numerous and bitter difficulties of nature and the contingencies of the historic moment that the nation was going through, and which he completed in a short time.  This railroad was inaugurated, suddenly, the night of May 16, 1916, in the storm of the great Austrian offensive on the high plain of Asiago – the co called strafe expedition or punitive expedition, which was done to put Italy out of the fight – thus giving a decisive and valid contribution to the defense of the alpine front, which was violently threatened, which could of itself give a man great satisfaction.  And the historic importance of that railroad was recognized by the government when, on May 22, 1919, Margotta was awarded the Distintivo di speciale benemerenze per il personale delle Ferrovie esposto ai rischi di Guerra in zona d’operazione.

      Because of the proof given of undisputed confidence and because of his adamantine rectitude of life, Margotta reached, in a short time, the highest level of the hierarchy, Capo del servizio delle costruzioni ferroviarie. [Chief of the railroad construction service.]  Among the works of exceptional importance that were completed under his high technical direction, must be remembered the two famous «direttissime,»[high speed rail lines] Florence to Roma and Rome to Naples. Of this last, he had the coveted honor of inauguration, on July 16, 1922 – in the presence of the King – of the Roma – Formia trunk line, with a brilliant speech.

      He was a member of the Consiglio Superior dei Lavori Pubblici in which he showed rare competence even at very difficult political moments and in questions that were not easy to deal with.  He was also director of the Consiglio Superiore, and in such a position, on the occasion of the Ninth International Railroad Congress – which took place in Rome – he held, on April 23, 1921, on behalf of the Governor, an interesting conference on «Railroad construction in Italy, from the founding of the Kingdom until today.»  And when, on April 10, 1923, because he had reached the age limit, he was put into a quiescent state, because of his competence and because of his truly exceptional merits, he was called, by Royal Decree of October 1923, to take part – as a foreign expert – in the Consiglio Superior dei Lavori Publici, and he remained there until late in life, a little before he died.  Surrounded by the general favor and the constant trust of the authorities of the political authorities, he was, in 1923, appointed a member of the. Royal Commission for the provincial administration of Avellino., of which on August 29, 1929 he became chairman  With his intelligent activity and technical preparation, he gave to the Irpinia a new approach to life; to his honor, one remembers the plan for an inter-communal consortium of the supplying of water of the people with the head waters of the Calore, and the repeated attempts by him to re-connect Avellino to Naples with a direct railroad.  To the advantage of our province, Margotta labored zealously and affectionately, and this was demonstrated with the words that he used to conclude his Relazione [report] which he himself compiled, in 1933, at the end of his tenure:  «In addition to having tended to, by the righteous administration of public things, obtaining a wise and rigid administration, without having our work impact in any way on the budget, we have also placed at the service of our village our personal influence and our prestige in order to address problems of great local interest without any burden on the administration, to which we have had the honor of being placed at the head.»

      Also the nobility of feeling in him, which had the cult of the family, was intimately connected to his intellectual energy and his completed works, and which entwined the vague light of his merit and greatness.

      He died in Rome on August 3, 1935.

      25 – Giuseppe Polestra, General practitioner

      Born on February 24, 1872 of Rocco Polestra and Lucia Stanco, he graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Naples, and attended the School of Military Hygiene in Florence, graduating in June of 1898 with the rank of Sottotenente Medico di Complemento.  Carried by innate inclination to the military life, he felt that he possessed all the education in order to stay in it, and, in August of 1898, he entered «Servizio Permanente effettivo.»

      As a Sottotenente Medico, he took part in the Corpo Internazionale di spedizione militare on the island of Crete, the theater of a bloody revolt against Turkish domination.  He returned to Italy on June 28, 1899.  From then his life took a decisive turn: he began to consider the colony, which had become in him a fervid and heartfelt passion, a mission full if dedication and victory.  And was not happy except when, on June 2, 1900, he was assigned as Sottotenente Medico in Eritrea; and here he resided for many years – the best years of his life – practicing his profession – actively and intelligently – at the Armies of Eritrea.  On August 23, 1900, with his promotion to Tenente Medical, he began his ascent, which continued with honor and rapidity to the highest levels of the military hierarchy.  In the untiring and intelligent medical activity he contributed his scientific preparation and attitude to his duty to the point of sacrifice, which earned him the esteem of his superiors and the trust of the soldiers.

      Promoted to Capitano Medico on January 28, 1908, he returned to Italy and was assigned at first to Salerno and then to Novi Ligure (Alessandria) at the 3^rd Regiment of the Genoa Cavalry.  While he took a short rest in that year,  he felt it his duty to lend a hand in the Calabro – siculo earthquake (December 28, 1908).  He distinguished himself in Messina for self-denial and courage.  But the colonial life was his ideal and his aspiration and here he was, again, in December of 1910, in Eritrea.  Here, he held at first the job of Director of Military Health, and then Director of the «Regina Elena» military hospital, in Asmara.  And as director of the hospital, he found a way to implement – as they say – his multiple talents of positive and realistic organization and his medical competence.  He upgraded the hospital with every health and prophylactic service, in according with the latest scientific developments; he saw to the water supply, after which it was used for the construction of the main aqueduct of Asmara.

      Because of his distinguished talents, he was promoted to Maggiore Medico on January 16, 1916.  And since all of Italy was engaged in the First World War (1915 –1918), he returned to Italy on July 27, 1917 and was sent to the operations area.  Because of his passionate zeal which he used in the health service to which he was assigned, he was quickly assigned to direct the Military Hospital of Montagnana (Padua), which had over one thousand beds; and there he was promoted to Tenente Colonello, on January 10, 1918.  The terrible conflict having concluded in November 1918, le left the directorship of the hospital and was at the head of the Commissione Medica per le pensioni di Guerra presso l’Ospedale Militare of  Cava dei Tirreni; and here he remained until 1920, when he was placed he the Posizione Ausiliaria Speciale.  He returned to his family, in Calitri, and passed in repose and serenity of spirit the rest of his life.

      While he was in Posizione Ausiliaria Speciale, he was promoted on May 28, 1928, to Colonello Medico.  Placed, afterwards, in the reserve, he ultimately rose to the final rank of his military career: On July 1, 1935 he was promoted to the rank of Maggiore Generale Medico and in July of 1939 to Tenente Generale Medico.

      Modest, he never flaunted his Distintivi [rank] and his many Onorificenze [awards].  He died in Calitri, on December 22, 1940.

      26 – The Archpriest – Curates

      The series of archpriest-curates dated from May of 1473.

The first in the long series was Don Nicolò de Impomola; at his death, there was an interruption of a little more than a half centure; it began again in 1555 and continues, almost uninterrupted, up until our time.

	First and last name	Date of appointment	Date of death or resignation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13   14 15   16 17   18   19 20	Don Nicolò de Impomola Don Dionisio Zampaglione Don Ridolfo De Loisi Don Giovanni Balascio Don Salvatore Zampaglione Don Francesco Margotta Don Giuseppe De Simone Don Francesco Ranaldo Don Giovanni Barrata Don Donato De Simone Don Giovanni Borrillo Don Angelo Gervasi Don Nicolò Berrilli     (office vacant) Don Vito Codella Don Canio Vitamore – Cioglia     (office vacant) Don Pasquale Berrilli Don Giuseppe Nicolais   Don Luigi Di Milia   Don Antonio Cestone Don Antonio Rossi	In office, May 1473 In office, in 1555 January 6, 1613 January 31, 1649 July 1, 1677 …January 1688 November 15, 1692 February 1, 1703 September 19, 1707 May 25, 1720 January 24, 1726 February 17, 1765 October 25, 1783   October 10. 1816 December 17, 1821   March 28, 1830 December 22, 1883   July 2, 1896   September 7, 1910 October 8, 1938	1588 November 8, 1648 December 31, 1676 June 25, 1687 August 16, 1692 November 6, 1702 January 29, 1707 September 27, 1719 July 22, 1725 October 13, 1764 September 16, 1783 December 30, 1814   February 11,1821 March 5, 1826   July 1, 1883 January 4, 1896 Resigned Sept. 7, 1910 _ November 7,1930 April 15, 1938 living

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[1] Parish Archives of Calitri, Reg. 1555 – 1588, page 200. – The place of his birth was ignored up until 1900; biographers called it generically neapolitanus (Cfr. Ughelli , Op. cit. volume 1, page 82; volume VI, page 167) The Holy See engaged the archbishop of Conza, Monsignore A. Buglione, to look into the Diocesan Archives.  Research in the archbishopric Curia  of Conza having proved fruitless, Monsignore Buglione had the investigations continued in Calitri, where the Gesualdo family lived; and Don Luigi Di Milia, archpriest (1896 – 1910) managed to find the birth certificate in the first and oldest parish register, which is still preserved.

[2] L. Parascandolo, Memorie Storiche – critiche – diplomatiche della chiesa di Napoli, Napoli, 1847 51, vol IV, page 103.

[3] The profession of doctor was then distinguished from that of surgeon: doctors were called dottori fisici and the surgeons called dottori cerusici.

[4] A. Berthe, Sant’Alfonso Maria dei Liguori, translation of A. Alfani, Firenze, 1903, tome I, pages 312 13.

[5] A. M. Tannola, Vita di S. Alfonso Maria dei Liguori etc, revised by P. Chiletti, Torino, 1888, Page 134.

[6] State Archives in Naples, Consulte del Cappellano Maggiore, vol. 58, folio 63; vol 61 folio 11, 30 and 348.

[7] Ibidem, Espedienti dell’Ecclestiastico, fascio 744, fascicolo proprio non numerato: maggio 1792.  Cfr V. Acocella, Triste sorte d’un giurista irpino, G. Cioglia, in «Samnium» Rivista storica, Benevento 1938, No. 3-4.

[8] A. M. Iannacchini, Topográfica storica dell’Irpino, Avellino, 1889 – 94, vol IV, pag. 310.

[9] He published some chapters of it under the title La Chiesa e lo Stato, in the periodical «Religione e libertà,» Napoli, 184, No. 7 and 8.

[10] Trani is a port on the Adriatic coast in Puglia.

[11]  E. Iäger, Storia documentate dei Corpi Voluntari Veneti ed Alleati negli anni[Documentate history of the Venetian Volunteer Corps and allies in the years] 1848 –49, Venezia, 1889, pag. 317

[12] E. Martinengo, Storia della liberazione d’Italia [History of the liberation of Italy.](1815 – 1870), 2^nd Edition, Milan, 1915, page 159.

[13] D’Ayala, Op. Cit., page 248. D’Ayala, however, states erroneously that on «September 27, Margotta fell mortally wounded and was taken to the hospital, after 37 days of pain, died there.»  To the critical historian, the two dates given by D’Ayala are completely wrong: Fort marghera was abandoned on May 27, 1849, according to Iäger (Op. cit. Page 254), who thoroughly studied the event.  There is a confirmation in Martinengo (Op. cit., pages 159 – 160), who in that regard states: «During the night of May 25, 1849, the commander of Fort Marghera, by order of the government, evacuated the square in silence and pulled back his troops; it was only in the following morning that the Austrians found Marghera abandoned and were able to possess the pile of rubble, who was all that remained.

[14] An association of noble families united in some common interest.

[15] F. De Sanctis, Un viaggio elettorale [an election campaign trip](ed. Morano) cap. VII.

[16] G. Fortunato, Pagine e ricordi parlamentari, Firenze, 1927, page 135 – 36.

[17] Cfr.  A. De Gubernatis, Dizionario biografico degli scrittori contemporanei, ornato di oltre 300 ritratti, Firenze, 1879, page 686 –87.

[18] Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855), Italian priest, philosopher, theologian and patriot, and founder of a religious congregation, aimed principally in his philosophical work at re-addressing the balance between reason and religion which had largely been lost as a result of the Enlightenment. To this purpose, he absorbed the tradition of philosophia perennis, read extensively the works of post-Renaissance philosophers, and developed his own views on philosophical fundamentals and many of their applications. Best known in Italy, but a controversial figure there during his life and for a century or more after his death, his philosophical work, centered upon the notion of being and the dignity of the human person, can be summarized under the headings: aims and method, the objectivity of thought and the concept of certainty; the dignity of the human person; morality; human rights; the nature of human society; natural theology; and being.

[19] State Archives in Naples, Giustizia, trial 4969, volume 180, pages 1-82.

[20] F. Barbalato, The geography and the history of Principato Ulteriore, Torino, Paravia, 1887, pages 61 – 62.

[21] The professors of the Royal Liceo – Ginnaseo of Rovigo published the pamphlet «A memoria del Cav. M. Nicolais, questo tributo d’una amicizia  non interrotta dalla morte,» [In the memory of Il Cavalliere M. Nicolais, this is the tribute to a friendship that is uninterrupted by death.], Rovigo, 1885.  Cfr. Aalso «L’independente,» a newspaper of Potenza, January 29, 1885: «Per la morte di M. Nicolais,» Sonnetts by N. Paldi.

[22] L. Zecca, L’Amministrazione Provvisoria del Comune di Calitri, Chieti,[The provisional administration of the Comune of Calitri] 1902, Pages 60 -61

[23] A. Di Vestra, Angelo Maffucci, in «Annuario della R. Università di Pisa per l’anno scolastico 1904 –905, » Pisa, 1905, page 362.

[24] Angelo Maffucci was born into a farming family at Calitri near Avellino. After graduating in medicine at Naples in 1872 he spent three years in country practice. He then returned to Naples, where he commenced his scientific work in the institute of pathological anatomy under Otto von Schrön (1837-1917).  At this time he earned his living as a vaccination physician to the city of Naples as well as surgeon at the Ospedale degl’ Incurabili.

 In 1882 he became head of general pathology at Messina University. In the following year, he was called to the chair of anatomical pathology at Catania and in 1884 assumed the chair of pathological anatomy in Pisa, where he died in 1903.

 He worked in almost every field of pathological anatomy.  He was a diligent researcher and a massive collection of his meticulous notes, which was found in his home after his death, is now in the Institute for the History of Medicine in Rome. He recorded details of classical chick experiments, in which he isolated the bacteria causing avian tuberculosis (B. gallinaceous) and determined that avian tuberculosis had a different etiology from the bovine and human forms. He also recognized that chick embryos had defense mechanisms that could destroy bacteria.

Despite the importance of his contributions, his work attracted little attention outside Italy.

As a person he was described as sincere and genial.

[25] C. Dell’Acqua, Nuove osservazioni confirmano che Cristoforo Colombo studio in Pavia. In the Appendix: Sul ricevimento di porzione delle ceneri donate all’Università ticenese, Pavia, 1880, pages 36 – 37.  On page 40 – 42 it is reported also the Discorso held by Father Bernadino Di Milia, in those circumstances.

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