Carmine Crocco

Carmine Crocco

Carmine Crocco , called Donatelli (born June 5, 1830 in Rionero in Vulture , † June 18, 1905 in Portoferraio ), was an Italian brigand and leader of an armed gang in the Basilicata , known for its struggle against the representatives of the monarchist state order has been. Even today, Crocco's interpretation ranges between rejection as a bandit and murderer on the one hand and admiration as a regional folk hero on the other.

biography

youth

Crocco's birthplace

Carmine Crocco was born in Rionero in Vulture in 1830 , a place that had about 10,000 inhabitants at his birth. His father, Francesco Crocco, was a shepherd of the wealthy noble Santangelo family, while the mother Maria Gera di Santo Mauro was a small farmer in Rionero. With three brothers and a sister he experienced a poor childhood marked by hardship.

One morning in April 1836 a hunting dog came into the yard and bit a rabbit dead, which it took away. His brother Donato then killed the dog. Unfortunately, the dog belonged to a nobleman named Don Vincenzo who, when he found the dead dog near the farm, hit Donato. His mother, who was five months pregnant, intervened and was kicked and had an abortion and lay in bed for three years. A few days later the nobleman went to the judge and accused Donato's father, Francesco, of trying to shoot him.

As a result, Carmine Crocco's father was jailed in Potenza by the police without evidence and presumably innocent . Due to the loss of the father and the injury to the mother, the family had to sell all meager possessions and give the children to other families.

Carmine and Donato went to Apulia as shepherds and were only able to visit their homeland sporadically. Her mother went mad and no longer recognized her. In 1845 Carmine saved a local nobleman, Don Giovanni Aquilecchia of Atella , from drowning from the Ofanto River . For this he received 50 ducats from Aquilecchia, a large sum at the time. Crocco bought his father free and was able to return to Rionero after five years.

Since his father was old and sick, he took on the role of breadwinner and worked on an estate. There he met Don Ferdinando in 1847, the son of Don Vincenzo, who had kicked his mother. Unlike his father, he offered the position of administrator of one of his farms because of the injustice of Carmine. Instead, Crocco asked for three mounds to be rented out in the hope of earning 200 scudi to buy himself out of the military.

Don Ferdinando accepted. Nevertheless, in 1848 Swiss soldiers near Naples pressed him to serve in Ferdinand II's army . He served in the first artillery regiment, first in Palermo , then in Gaeta .

The first murder

In 1851 Crocco's sister Rosina, who had now become the “mother of the family” and had to work a lot for it, constantly received letters from Don Peppino, who courted her. She, not interested in him, did not answer the letters, whereupon Peppino bitterly began to slander her.

Carmine, just promoted to corporal , decided to punish him and killed him near his house. He then fled to the Forenza forest , where he met other law refugees, such as Ninco Nanco and Vincenzo Mastronardi . They formed an armed gang that lived on robbery. In 1855 he was arrested in his sister's house and sentenced to 19 years in prison. On December 13, 1859, however, he was able to escape and hide in the forest of Monticchio .

There he learned from Don Pasquale Corona of the pardon that Giuseppe Garibaldi had promised the soldiers who supported him against the Bourbons. Crocco and his comrades joined in, but despite their bravery in battle, they were neither awarded a medal nor pardoned, but instead arrested. He fled again.

Disappointed by the broken promise of Garibaldi, he became a supporter and colonel of Francis II. In 1861 he commanded around 1,000 men disappointed in the new Italy and conquered Vulture within 10 days with the castle of Lagopesole and the Basilicata . In Venosa , which they looted, they formed a provisional junta and moved on to Lavello and Melfi , which they received with jubilation.

With the arrival of Piedmontese reinforcements from Potenza, Bari and Foggia , they had to withdraw to Carbonara di Nola , Calitri and Sant'Andrea di Conza . On October 22nd, 1861, on the orders of Francis II, the Spanish general Josè Borjes came from Rome, who met him in the forest of Lagopesole .

Borjes - trusting the brigand's abilities - wanted to use him in an uprising against Piedmont and turn his gang into regular soldiers in order to conquer Potenza.

Potenza

With the support of Borjes and Ninco Nanco , Giuseppe Caruso, Caporal Teodoro , Giovanni "Coppa" Fortunato and their gangs, they marched via Calciano to the right of the Basento and Garaguso on Salandra , which they wrested from the National Guard.

The sub-prefect of Matera now sent 1,200 regular troops against them. In the Battle of Stigliano his men won thanks to his right hand Ninco Nanco , who with only 100 men put the enemy to flight, and their leader was killed.

After the betrayal of an arms transport and on the run from reinforcements of the enemy near Potenza, Crocco decided to retreat to the forest of Monticchio . Here it came to a break with Borjes, who returned to Rome.

Treason by Caruso

Crocco (first from right) in Portoferraio prison

From then on he had to keep his troops by blackmailing the rich by threatening death and burning of their property. In 1863 they massacred a group of cavalry under Captain Bianchi, but were followed by others.

Shortly afterwards 200 men of his troops were caught, shot and burned. Caporal Teodoro , Tortora and Ninco Nanco then prepared their revenge and attacked a troop at Venosa . His lieutenant was beheaded and his head was placed on a pole with the words "Revenge for Rapolla" written on it.

Giuseppe Caruso, punished for disobedience, swore revenge and from then on betrayed many brigands to the Piedmontese.

As a result, Crocco had to withdraw to Ofanto . They lived in the forest with no possibility of escape and the expected amnesty did not materialize. Finally, Crocco moved into the Papal States back and wanted to meet the Pope, who had supported the Bourbons. The latter had him arrested and imprisoned in Rome. He was then transferred to Potenza. Accused of 62 murders, 13 attempted murders and other acts, he was sentenced to death in 1872, but pardoned for lifelong labor.

In the Santo Stefano camp he began to write his memoirs, which appeared in 1889 under the title “How I became Brigant” ( Come divenni brigante ). He died in 1905 in Portoferraio prison on Elba .

Afterlife

Crocco appeared as a figure in various plays, films and books. In 1999 Pasquale Squitieri filmed the story of the brigands with Enrico Lo Verso as Crocco in the lead role under the title Li chiamarono… briganti! (International title: "Brigands"). The film documentary Carmine Crocco - dei briganti il ​​generale was last published in 2008 .

On the occasion of the centenary of his death, Mauro Corona's play "The Ballad of General Crocco" ( La Ballata del generale Crocco ) was brought to the stage in Crocco's hometown of Rionero. The supporters of the local soccer team CS Vultur Rionero use the figure as an identification figure and mascot.

literature

• Carmine Crocco: Come divenni brigante. autobiografia (= Sul filo della memoria. Vol. 13). A Cura di Mario Proto. Piero Lacaita Editore, Manduria 1995.
• Adolfo Perrone: Il brigantaggio e l'unità d'Italia (= Triad. Vol. 5, ZDB -ID 1489961-9 ). Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino, Milano et al. 1963.
• Luigi Agnello:  Crocco Donatelli, Carmine. In: Massimiliano Pavan (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 31:  Cristaldi – Dalla Nave. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1985.

Web links

Commons : Carmine Crocco  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Further overview article on brigands in the 19th century in southern Italy