AMILCARE CIPRIANI
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...They spent their last evening in the castle’s
small study. Eleonora, still too sick at heart to talk about Eloïse, was saying
that she was
worried about Amilcare. How was he going to manage in the
regular army? For one
thing, he was as undisciplined as he was generous. For another,
he was not the
type to go around burning villages to the ground.
“He’ll just run away a second time,” Goffredo said. “And the next time he’ll be shot for it,” Sandor added. |
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A
Little-Known Figure from the Past:
Life as an On-going Revolution (Amilcare Cipriani)
1843. Amilcare Cipriani was born in a town near Rome on July 1st.
1859. Lying about his real age, he managed to enlist in the Piedmontese Army and fight against Austria during the Second Italian War of Independence.
1860. Cipriani deserted the army and sailed off on the second expedition to Palermo, joining Garibaldi and the Thousand in the fight for Italian unity. At the end of this Sicily campaign, he rejoined the Piedmontese Army.
1863. He deserted the army a second time in order to join Garibaldi’s (failed) attempt to take Rome, known as “O Roma o morte.” After Garibaldi was wounded, Cipriani escaped to Greece, where he participated in the insurrection against despotic King Otto of Bavaria. Then he went to Egypt to be part of the second expedition organized by Giovanni Miani to find the source of the Nile. When the expedition proved fruitless, Cipriani walked, alone and without supplies, from Khartoum to Cairo. There he got involved in a brawl (though he always sustained that he had been assailed). Charged with killing three people with his knife, he was forced to flee to England.
1866. Cipriani returned to Italy and fought in the Third Italian War of Independence as part of Garibaldi’s Cacciatori delle Alpi division.
1867. Cipriani fought in Crete with the Greeks against the Turks, who had occupied the island.
1870. After Napoleon III was defeated by the Prussians, Cipriani showed up in France to fight with Garibaldi in the desperate attempt to defend the self-proclaimed Republic trying to bear up under the impossible peace agreement imposed by Prussia.
1871. The Paris Commune lasted for 72 days. Cipriani fought against the regular French Army that had been ordered to re-establish order. He was captured, given a life sentence, and sent to the infamous French penal colony in New Caledonia.
1880. France granted an amnesty to all political prisoners. Cipriani returned to France and organized an anachronistic demonstration in favor of the old communards, which provoked protests and unrest. He was expelled from France and returned to Italy, where he organized socialist marches and was condemned to eleven years in prison.
1897. Cipriani returned to Greece with a group of Italian volunteers to fight against the Ottoman Empire. He was gravely wounded in battle and acquired a limp that would last to the end of his life. After being hidden by Greek patriots, he succeeded in making his way back to Paris, and soon was making his living as a journalist for socialist newspapers. Thanks to the support initially received from Mussolini, a socialist at the time, he was elected numerous times to the Italian Parliament but never went down to Rome to participate.
1915. Mussolini had Cipriani expelled from the Socialist Party on ideological grounds.
1918. Cipriani died peacefully in a hospital in Paris.
We thank Guglielmo Natalini, who recently and suddenly passed away, for giving us the historical details used in this biographical summary.
1843. Amilcare Cipriani was born in a town near Rome on July 1st.
1859. Lying about his real age, he managed to enlist in the Piedmontese Army and fight against Austria during the Second Italian War of Independence.
1860. Cipriani deserted the army and sailed off on the second expedition to Palermo, joining Garibaldi and the Thousand in the fight for Italian unity. At the end of this Sicily campaign, he rejoined the Piedmontese Army.
1863. He deserted the army a second time in order to join Garibaldi’s (failed) attempt to take Rome, known as “O Roma o morte.” After Garibaldi was wounded, Cipriani escaped to Greece, where he participated in the insurrection against despotic King Otto of Bavaria. Then he went to Egypt to be part of the second expedition organized by Giovanni Miani to find the source of the Nile. When the expedition proved fruitless, Cipriani walked, alone and without supplies, from Khartoum to Cairo. There he got involved in a brawl (though he always sustained that he had been assailed). Charged with killing three people with his knife, he was forced to flee to England.
1866. Cipriani returned to Italy and fought in the Third Italian War of Independence as part of Garibaldi’s Cacciatori delle Alpi division.
1867. Cipriani fought in Crete with the Greeks against the Turks, who had occupied the island.
1870. After Napoleon III was defeated by the Prussians, Cipriani showed up in France to fight with Garibaldi in the desperate attempt to defend the self-proclaimed Republic trying to bear up under the impossible peace agreement imposed by Prussia.
1871. The Paris Commune lasted for 72 days. Cipriani fought against the regular French Army that had been ordered to re-establish order. He was captured, given a life sentence, and sent to the infamous French penal colony in New Caledonia.
1880. France granted an amnesty to all political prisoners. Cipriani returned to France and organized an anachronistic demonstration in favor of the old communards, which provoked protests and unrest. He was expelled from France and returned to Italy, where he organized socialist marches and was condemned to eleven years in prison.
1897. Cipriani returned to Greece with a group of Italian volunteers to fight against the Ottoman Empire. He was gravely wounded in battle and acquired a limp that would last to the end of his life. After being hidden by Greek patriots, he succeeded in making his way back to Paris, and soon was making his living as a journalist for socialist newspapers. Thanks to the support initially received from Mussolini, a socialist at the time, he was elected numerous times to the Italian Parliament but never went down to Rome to participate.
1915. Mussolini had Cipriani expelled from the Socialist Party on ideological grounds.
1918. Cipriani died peacefully in a hospital in Paris.
We thank Guglielmo Natalini, who recently and suddenly passed away, for giving us the historical details used in this biographical summary.
French court sentencing Cipriani and other anarchists and socialists to confinement in the penal colony on New Caledonia Island (courtesy of Mendrisio - Museo d'Arte).
