Pietro Calvi

Pietro Fortunato Calvi (also Pier Fortunato Calvi ; born February 15, 1817 in Briana Noale near Venice , † July 4, 1855 in Mantua ) was an Italian freedom fighter.

Life

Calvi came from a middle-class family near Venice, which at that time, like almost all of northern Italy, belonged to the Austrian Empire . He received his first education from a pastor , after which he attended a lyceum . Following his father's wishes, he then embarked on a military career and became an officer in the Austrian army. When the Italian unification movement gained influence in the 1840s, Calvi was transferred from Venice to Graz at the end of 1846 . In the course of the March Revolution , a popular uprising against Austrian rule broke out in Venice in 1848, whose leader Daniele Manin founded the Repubblica di San Marco , which lasted until August 1849. Without waiting for a response to his written resignation, he joined the Risorgimento and organized an uprising in the Cadore on behalf of Manin in April and May 1848.

Risorgimento

Calvi monument in Pieve di Cadore

Memorial stone at Rindemera

On May 2, 1848, Austrian troops invaded the Cadore Valley from the north. On the Antelao , Calvi and his volunteers were successful against Tyrolean units that had lured him into an ambush. In subsequent negotiations, a three-month ceasefire was agreed. Calvi and his company were celebrated in Belluno and all over Cadore. However, on May 5th, Austrian troops entered Belluno and subsequently occupied the entire Cadore Valley. On May 6th, Calvi mobilized his troops, which the following day lured a Croatian unit into an ambush near Tovanella and initially fled them. The headless chase of his people could not stop Calvi, which is why they were pushed back to Tovanella by the Croats. On May 8th, Calvi took up a defensive position in the Piave Valley between Rivalgo and Rucorvo. When the Austrians sent parliamentarians there to get their units to march through the Piave Valley, their Croatians initially attacked undetected during the negotiations, but then found themselves in front of Calvis' hidden positions and had to pay an enormous toll in blood. The "parliamentarians" were finally let go. In the meantime, other Austrian units had invaded Cadore, contrary to the agreed ceasefire. In Chiusa di Vena Austrians destroyed a Freischärlertruppe the priest of San Vito. There was stubborn resistance in other places as well. At Chiusa di Venas, the Austrians had to retreat after renewed fighting on May 21st. On May 24th, Calvi hit another successful blow against 1,200 Austrians at the Passo della Morte on the upper Tagliamento . Shortly afterwards he went to Pieve di Cadore to take care of the now critical situation there. There he received a written appeal from the Austrian commander, Stürmer, who, from Belluno, asked the people in the Cadore to lay down their arms, as they had no prospect of success. The appeal was rejected. Meanwhile 20,000 Austrian soldiers marched from all directions towards the Cadore, whose passports, however, were largely controlled by Calvi's troops. First Austrian attempts to overcome the passes failed because of the resistance of the local population. An attack on Rivalgo, personally led by Striker and repeated several times, ended with an Austrian retreat to Longarone . Similar scenes took place in Pra del Bosco, Chiusa di Venas and Sadorno (where strikers attacked with 3,000 men). On May 28, 1848 there was heavy fighting at Rindemera, which brought Pietro Calvi his greatest success. At the beginning of June, Calvi and the whole Cadore had to bow to the Austrian superiority. In Pieve di Cadore, Calvi said goodbye to the local liberation committee and went first to Venice, then to Greece , to Piedmont and finally to Switzerland . In 1853 he made his way to Cadore again to lead an uprising against the Austrian Empire . On September 18, 1853 he was betrayed and arrested in Trento , then Austria . Since he was an Austrian citizen , he was tried. During his two years incarceration in Mantua , he did not reveal the names of his former comrades-in-arms. On July 1, 1855, he was sentenced to death by hanging. He declined an offer to appeal . Pietro Fortunato Calvi was executed in Mantua on July 4, 1855.