1855: Pietro Fortunato Calvi, the last Belfiore Martyr–world history and facts


Pietro Fortunato Calvi statue


1855: Pietro Fortunato Calvi, the last Belfiore Martyr–world history and facts.

Italian Risorgimento martyr Pietro Fortunato Calvi was hanged on this date in 1855 in Mantua.

The son of a Paduan police commissioner when that province rested in Austrian hands, Calvi — that’s an Italian link, as are almost all in this post — was an army lieutenant who was drawn by the swirl of patriotism into the Revolutions of 1848.

He commanded a 4,600-strong militia in Venice where the abortive proclamation of a republic was suppressed by Austria.

He fled to exile in Turin, then part of the mainland remit of the independent Kingdom of Sardinia. But his sympathy for an attempted Milanese insurrection in those parts wore out his welcome with his new hosts, and he was obliged to find refuge in Switzerland.

From there, he and four companions launched a romantic, doomed expedition to sound out the alpine north for patriotism that might be stirred into revolution anew.

Their mission was compromised by a spy, however, and the quintet was soon arrested.

Transported to Mantua for trial, Calvi successfully protected his companions by throwing all the responsibility upon himself and went to the gallows with a stirring declaration as he ought.

what I have done I have done of my own free will, that I would do it again, in order to expel Austria from the States it so infamously usurped … Pietro Fortunato Calvi, rather than betraying his homeland, offers his corpse.

The place of his execution, the valley of Belfiore, has conferred its name upon a host of Italian patriots who hanged there in the 1850s. Our guy Calvi was the last of these Belfiore martyrs.

Belfiore, Mantua, Padua, Venice, Turin, and all the rest were part of a united Italy within a generation.



We hope that you have enjoyed reading our blog on the world history and facts. If you enjoy this blog please let us know in the comments below. If you are interested in history, we recommend you check out our other blogs here on the world history and facts. Thank you for reading.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Death Of Tightrope Walker Karl Wallenda (video).

The capture of brave Russian officer Rosinski

“The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed…

Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is hanged next to the crematorium at the camp, 1947–world history and facts

The terror of the execution wheel

Skull wearing a medieval chainmail from a mass grave on the Island of Gotland, Sweden.

On this day 2nd March 1945, Burma.

THERE WERE NO BATHROOM WITH MODERN TOILET IN MIDDLE AGES– worl

80 years ago today is when World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.

Bluetooth technology was named after a Viking king by the name of Harald Bluetooth who died over 1,000 years ago.