On Sunday January 27th, 1889 the Roman republicans organized a demonstration at the Nomentano Bridge (see my web page) to commemorate the victory of Giuseppe Garibaldi n the battle of Dijon, on January 23rd, 1871, during the Franco-Prussian war. The demonstration ended with fierce clashes with the police and the carabinieri.
Prior
event no. 1: the clash of 1867:
Garibaldi tells in his memoirs that on October 29th,
1867, on the occasion of his attempt to conquer Rome, the second
after that of 1849, he was assured by a Roman relative of some
of his soldiers that the population of Rome was ready to rise
up in the same night, so he reached and occupied the Casal
de' Pazzi with a few men, on the Via Nomentana, a short distance
from the bridge and 5 km (3 Mi) from the city walls, hoping to
push the Romans to revolt with his presence. A handful of Garibaldi
soldiers, led by Lieutenant Ferdinando Gregori, from Jesi, had
a firefight with the papal soldiers at the Nomentano bridge. The
next day the papal troops received reinforcements, while the Garibaldi
soldiers were few and armed with "very bad guns",
as the general himself wrote. Garibaldi, found that the insurrection
did not take place, the next day he returned to his troops in
Monterotondo, and tried to retreat
further towards Tuscany, but on November 3rd
he was attacked and defeated in Mentana,
by the papal Zouaves under the command of General Hermann
Kanzler, and by the French troops of Baron de Polhés,
who had just landed in Civitavecchia
to help Pope Pius IX.
Prior
event no. 2: battle of Dijon in 1871:
In 1870 the tensions between France and Prussia led to a war that
saw the siege of Paris, the abdication
of Emperor Napoleon III and the
proclamation of the republic and ended after less than ten months
with the defeat of France. Garibaldi intervened
to support the newly formed French republic against the Prussian
monarchy, and on January 23rd, 1871 he managed to occupy Dijon
and defend it from the Prussian siege, conquering the insignia
of the 61st regiment of Pomerania, the only
banner conquered by the French throughout the war.
Prior
event no. 3: King Umberto in the uniform of an Austro-Hungarian
colonel in 1881
From 27th to 31st October 1881 the King of Italy
Umberto I, with his wife Queen Margherita,
the Prime Minister Agostino Depretis
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pasquale
Stanislao Mancini made an Official
visit to Vienna. On the occasion, on October 28th,
the Kaiser Franz Josef appointed
Umberto as owner of the 28th regiment of infantry garrisoned
in Budweis (today Ceské Budejovice
in the Czech Republic). On October 29th the King of Italy appeared in
the uniform of an Austrian colonel at the gala
dinner in the great Halle of the Imperial Palace as well as
the day after the Court Concert
in the Ceremonies Hall (Zeremoniensaal)
of the same palace. The Kaiserliches und königliches Infanterieregiment
nr. 28 had fought against the Italians in the battle
of Custoza, of the Third War of Independence, in 1866, and
will fight again against the Italians in the First World War,
among other places on the Soca river, on the Karst Plateau, on
the Monte San Michele and in Gorizia.
The fact that King Umberto wore the uniform of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, which still occupied lands claimed by Italy, such as Trentino
and Venezia Giulia, created a lot of controversy at home, where
a strong anti-Austrian and anti-Germanic sentiment was widespread,
after the three Wars of Independence fought against the Austrians
from 1848 to 1866.
Despite the hostility, in the following year, 1882, Italy joined
the Triple Alliance, with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
and the 28th regiment was named first to Umberto
I, and after his death in 1900 to his son Vittorio
Emanuele III, until Italy entered the war in 1915, precisely
against the two central empires.
The demonstration
of 1889
To commemorate the battle of Dijon, the Società Reduci
Garibaldini (Garibaldian Veterans Society) organized a demonstration
for Sunday 27th January, 1889, with a march starting
from piazza Indipendenza,
which ended at the Nomentano bridge, also to commemorate the battle
between Garibaldians and Papal Army in 1867.
The march of 400 people left at 2:10 pm, stopped in front of the
house of Garibaldi's son, Menotti,
in via San Martino della Battaglia
8, walked along via Nomentana, stopped in front of the villa
Cavallini, next to Sant'Agnese, the current institute Marymount,
in via Nomentana 355, where a wreath was placed on the plaque
commemorating Garibaldi's stay in 1875 and the hymn of Garibaldi
was played. Finally the procession reached Filippo Averardi's
Osteria dei Cacciatori (Hunters'
Tavern) at 3.10 pm, which still exists, albeit with a different
name, immediately after the Nomentano bridge.
During the march and the
demonstration at the bridge, the demonstrators inveighed against
the monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, an unwelcome ally,
both actions were strictly forbidden. The Italian flags with the
"ranocchia" (the frog) that
is with the coat of arms of the Savoy in the center which hung
from the façade of the tavern were lowered, and tricolor
flags without the coat of arms were raised.
From the balcony of the Osteria
dei Cacciatori, after an initial speech by the student Antonucci,
a message from the mayor of Dijon Victor
Marchand was read, then the Garibaldi officer Ferdinando Gregori
spoke, who recalled the fact he had been a protagonist of in 1867,
then Ferruccio Corradetti took the
floor, born in San Severino
Marche, in the province of Macerata, in the Marches, on February
21st, 1867, a freelance journalist for L'emancipazione and for Il
Lucifero, a republican militant who has been arrested several
times for protests against corruption in the public administration.
Corradetti later became an internationally acclaimed baritone
and a respected music critic in the USA.
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Corradetti began by saying
that Garibaldi had avenged Mentana with Dijon, while King Umberto
had dressed up as an Austrian colonel. Corradetti also mentioned
Guglielmo Oberdan, a Triestine irredentist
hanged by the Austrians in 1882.
At this point the speech was interrupted by the police, due to
its anti-monarchical content, but the crowd reacted by throwing
stones, sticks, flasks, plates and glasses from the top of Monte
Sacro. The police and the carabinieri, with their revolvers drawn
and their sabers drawn, attacked the crowd. At 4.10 pm the march
returned to Rome, with the fanfare at its head, playing the Marseillaise,
but the demonstrators were first attacked at the passage in front
of Villa Cavallini, then found the main door of the city gate
of Porta Pia closed, and were forced
to pass by side doors, where they were attacked by the police,
and later by troop reinforcements, coming from the Macao barracks,
at the Castro Pretorio, with excesses of brutality, causing many
injuries and many arrests (Il Messaggero).
The trial
On March 4th, 1890, the trial against Ferruccio
Corradetti, detained for seven months, after having fled to France
to escape arrest, began at the oratorio
dei Filippini. Corradetti was accused of provocation to commit
crimes and excitement to contempt against the institutions.
During the trial almost all the witnesses denied that Corradetti
had pronounced offenses against the king and Austria, and Corradetti
himself corrected the police depositions, stating that he had
said that Umberto had avenged Oberdan by wearing the uniform of
an Austrian colonel (in reality at the time of the events Oberdan
was still alive and free in Italy). A document was produced from
the mayor of San Severino Marche, Corradetti's hometown, which
reported his bad conduct, ignoring however that Ferruccio had
left the city at the age of twelve.
Eventually Corradetti was acquitted of all charges, as well as
the other protesters, in a previous trial, in July 1889.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
DI
COLLOREDO MELS Pierluigi Romeo (2020) Mentana 1867 : la
disfatta di Garibaldi. Soldiershop, Zanica, Bergamo, Italy.
GARIBALDI Giuseppe (1932) Memorie autobiografiche. Casa Editrice
Bietti, Milan, Italy (p. 324-325)
KANZLER Hermann (1868) Rapporto alla Santità di Nostro
Signore Papa Pio IX. felicemente regnante del Generale Ermanno
Kanzler pro-ministro delle armi sulla invasione dello Stato Pontificio
nell'autunno 1867. Roma, coi tipi della Civiltà Cattolica.
Websites visited:
Digital
collection of journals of the Library of Modern and Contemporary
History (Biblioteca di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea di Roma)
(L'Illustrazione
Italiana, L'Illustrazione Popolare, L'Emancipazione) link
Digital collection
of journals of the National Central Library of Rome (Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale di Roma) (Il Messaggero) link
page
created: February
2nd, 2022 and last updated:
February
27th, 2022