Draft:Assassination of Umberto I of Italy

In the second half of the 19th century, radical anarchism in Italy was on the rise. Having succeeded his father Victor Emmanuel II on 9 January 1878, Umberto I became the main target for the anarchists almost immediately. Just ten months after ascending the throne, on 17 November 1878, he was attacked while he was visiting Naples with his wife, son and Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli.George Boardman Taylor, Italy and the Italians, America Baptist publication society, 1898, p. 88 King was suddenly attacked with a knife by the Lucanian anarchist Giovanni Passannante, while shouting: "Long live Orsini! long live the universal republic".Galzerano, p. 396 The king managed to defend himself and an officer of the Cuirassiers in his entourage lunged at the attacker, wounding him on the head with his sabre, while Cairoli, in an attempt to block the attacker, was wounded in the thigh. Umberto I suffered just a light cut on his arm.{{cite book |last1=Fetherling |first1=George |title=The Book of Assassins |date=2011 |publisher=Random House of Canada |isbn=9780307369093 |url=https://www.google.cz/books/edition/The_Book_of_Assassins/Yv2tU3yD00gC?hl=cs&gbpv=1&dq=Passannante+Umberto&pg=PT415&printsec=frontcover |access-date=8 September 2024}} The violent attempt generated numerous protest marches, both against and in favor of the attacker, and clashes between the police and anarchists occured. Following the attempted assassination, the Chief of Police Luigi Berti was forced to resign a month later. Passannante was later sentenced to life imprisonment and transferred to prison where he began to show serious mental problems,Galzerano, 642 committing suicide in 1910.

The second attempt for the kings life occured on 22 April 1897, in Rome. Umberto was riding in his carriage at the Capannelle Racecourse{{cite book|last=Nawrocki|first=Norman|title=Cazzarola!: Anarchy, Romani, Love, Italy (A Novel)|year=2013 |page=172|publisher=PM Press|isbn=978-16-0486-315-4}} when the anarchist Pietro Acciarito rushed towards his carriage armed with a knife.{{cite journal| last=Pernicone |first=Nunzio |title=The Case of Pietro Acciarito: Accomplices, Psychological Torture, and "Raison d'État" |journal=Michigan State University Press|year=2011 |volume= 5|issue=1 |pages=67–104 |jstor=41889948 }} The king, having promptly noticed the weapon in his hand, was able to easily dodge the anarchist's attempt to strike him and remained unharmed. Having just managed to scratch the royal carriage, Acciarito then calmly walked away and, in the confusion that followed his gesture, was stopped only after he had walked about 50 metres from the place of act. Acciarito was then arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Like Passannante, his sentence was very harsh and had serious consequences on his mental health.

{{Main|Bava Beccaris massacre}}

Between 6 and 8 May 1898 the population of Milan took to the streets to protest against working conditions and the increase in the price of bread in the previous months, in which also women and children participated.{{Cite book| last = Jensen| first = Richard Bach | title = The Battle Against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878–1934 | chapter = The Assassination of Umberto I of Italy| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-107-03405-1| date = 2014 |oclc=936070232 |pages=191}}

The Italian government of Antonio Starabba di Rudinì declared a state of siege and gave full powers to General of the Royal Italian Army Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris to repress the revolt. The results of the so-called Bava Beccaris massacre were drastic: 81 people were killed and 450 injured.{{Cite book| last = Jensen| first = Richard Bach | title = The Battle Against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878–1934 | chapter = The Assassination of Umberto I of Italy| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-107-03405-1| date = 2014 |oclc=936070232 |pages=191}}

After the events in Milan, on 5 June Bava Beccaris received from the king the honour of Grand Officer of the Military Order of Savoy{{cite book| last1 = Pernicone| first1 = Nunzio| last2 = Ottanelli| first2 = Fraser M| title = Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe| publisher=University of Illinois Press |page =144 |date = 2018 |isbn = 978-0-252-05056-5| oclc=1050163307 |doi=10.5406/j.ctv513d7b}} and on 4 July 1898 he was appointed Senator of the Kingdom by the king, a position he held until 1924, at the dawn of fascism , of which he supported.

The bloody repression of the revolt, the honour and the nomination of Bava Beccaris as Senator aroused strong indignation among part of the population, including Gaetano Bresci.

{{Main|Gaetano Bresci}}

File:Bresci_killing.jpg in La Domenica del Corriere (1900)-->]]

Bresci, young weaver and anarchist originally from the city of Prato, was in Italy twice arrested for leftist activities and organising labor strikes, therefore in 1897 he immigrated to the United States.{{cite book| last1 = Pernicone| first1 = Nunzio| last2 = Ottanelli| first2 = Fraser M| title = Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe| publisher=University of Illinois Press |page =135 |date = 2018 |isbn = 978-0-252-05056-5| oclc=1050163307 |doi=10.5406/j.ctv513d7b}} In 1898, while living in Paterson, New Jersey, Bresci received news of the Bava Beccaris massacre{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |year=2007 |chapter=The Anarchist Assassin and Italian History, 1870s to 1930s |editor-last1=Gundle |editor-first1=Stephen |editor-link1=Stephen Gundle |editor-last2=Rinaldi |editor-first2=Lucia |title=Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=211 |isbn=978-02306-0691-3 |doi=10.1057/9780230606913_17 |oclc=314799595}}and after that swore revenge against Umberto I, who he held personally responsible for the massacre.

On 17 May he embarked from New York and on 26 May he disembarked in Le Havre, carrying the .38 caliber revolver, which he bought in Paterson. Together with two others he visited the Paris Exhibition and then returned to Prato, his native town. There he remained until 18 July, when he moved to his sister's house in San Pietro. On the evening 21 July he then reached Bologna, then on 24 July he arrived to Milan{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Kemp|chapter=The Cook, the Blacksmith, the King and the Weaver |title=Bombs, Bullets and Bread: The Politics of Anarchist Terrorism Worldwide, 1866–1926|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7VqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60|date=2018|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-1-4766-3211-7|oclc=1043054028|pages=61–62|access-date=3 May 2024|via=Google Books}} where he rented a room in a guesthouse. On 27 July he was present in Monza,{{cite book| last1 = Pernicone| first1 = Nunzio| last2 = Ottanelli| first2 = Fraser M| title = Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe| publisher=University of Illinois Press |page =148-149 |date = 2018 |isbn = 978-0-252-05056-5| oclc=1050163307 |doi=10.5406/j.ctv513d7b}} where he rented another room and began to explore the area and the surroundings of Villa Reale also asking for some news about the movements of the royal family up until the day of the attack.

File:How the king was killed.jpg

On 29 July evening he king had been invited to the closing ceremony of the Forti e Liberi gymnastics club in Matteo da Campione street:{{cite book|last=Gremmo|first=Roberto|title=Gli anarchici che uccisero Umberto I ̊: Gaetano Bresci, il "Biondino" e i tessitori biellesi di Paterson|url=https://www.google.cz/books/edition/Gli_anarchici_che_uccisero_Umberto_I/W4JoAAAAMAAJ?hl=cs|access-date=2024-09-08|year=2000|publisher=Storia Ribelle|page=123}} after arriving by carriage and watching the gymnastics exercises and the award speech by prof. Draghino, he set off towards the carriage at 9:30 pm to return to Villa Reale. Meanwhile Bresci took a position close to the main gate waiting the carriage to pass by.{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Kemp|chapter=The Cook, the Blacksmith, the King and the Weaver |title=Bombs, Bullets and Bread: The Politics of Anarchist Terrorism Worldwide, 1866–1926|chapter-url=https://www.google.cz/books/edition/Bombs_Bullets_and_Bread/J7VqDwAAQBAJ?hl=cs&gbpv=1&dq=gymnasts+Umberto+I&pg=PT68&printsec=frontcover|date=2018|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-1-4766-3211-7|oclc=1043054028|pages=60–64|access-date=3 May 2024|via=Google Books}} As the carriage was leaving the gate, where there was a crowd of gymnasts forcing the vehicle to slow down, Bresci approached and hit Umberto three times with his revolver, firing the fourth shot blank.{{Cite book |last1=Holzer |first1=Jacob C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tc1kEAAAQBAJ |title=Lone-actor Terrorism: An Integrated Framework |last2=Dew |first2=Andrea J. |last3=Recupero |first3=Patricia R. |last4=Gill |first4=Paul |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-092979-4 |page=14 |language=en}}

Monarch was hit both in the face and in the throat. The horses of the royal carriage became restless and the king was immediately taken to the Royal Villa, but arrived there lifeless. The king, entrusted to the surgeons Vincenzo Vercelli and Attilio Savio, was declared dead by them at 10:40 p.m. Meanwhile Bresci was surrounded by the Carabinieri, after the short fight captured and taken to the guardhouse of the Carabinieri barracks.

File:Vagone funebre di Umberto I, esterno, agosto 1900.jpg

On July 30 members of the royal family arrived in Monza. The new king Victor Emmanuel III interrupted the cruise in the Mediterranean with his wife Elena of Montenegro, landed in Reggio Calabria port, and then reached Naples, where he met with the former Prime Minister Francesco Crispi. From here the new rulers arrived by train at 6:30 p.m. at the Monza station, guarded by the "Genova Cavalleria" Regiment. Victor Emanuel was thus able to meet his mother and see his father's body in the chapel of rest.

On 8 August, after a ceremony in the funeral chapel of Villa Reale, the body of Umberto I was accompanied to the station, from where it left for Rome in a special carriage with the high clergy and court dignitaries, who had also been entrusted with the Iron Crown. At 6:30 p.m. train arrived at Rome Termini station, from where the funeral procession, led by General Amedeo Avogadro, again accompanied by the crowd, reached the Pantheon, where the body was buried on 9 August 1900.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Humbert, Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio, King of Italy |volume=13 |pages=872–873 |first=Henry Wickham |last=Steed}}

File:Suicide de Bresci.jpg-->]]

On 29 August 1900, at 9:00 am, the trial against Gaetano Bresci opened at the Assize Court of Milan.{{cite journal|last=Carey|first=George W.|date=December 1978|title=The Vessel, The Deed, and the Idea: Anarchists in Paterson, 1895–1908|journal=Antipode|volume=10-11|issue=3–1|pages=46–58|issn=0066-4812|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8330.1978.tb00115.x |bibcode=1978Antip..10...46C |oclc=5155744186}} He was defended by the former anarchist Francesco Saverio Merlino,{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |year=2007 |chapter=The Anarchist Assassin and Italian History, 1870s to 1930s |editor-last1=Gundle |editor-first1=Stephen |editor-link1=Stephen Gundle |editor-last2=Rinaldi |editor-first2=Lucia |title=Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=21ž-217 |isbn=978-02306-0691-3 |doi=10.1057/9780230606913_17 |oclc=314799595}} after Filippo Turati had refused so as not to compromise the Italian Socialist Party and his political career. The sentence arrived the very same day in the late afternoon, at 6 pm: Bresci was sentenced to life imprisonment, made more severe by solitary confinement for the first seven years in the Santo Stefano penitentiary on the island of Ventotene, in a nine-square-meter cell built to guard him. Word Vengeance{{cite journal|last=Carey|first=George W.|date=December 1978|title=The Vessel, The Deed, and the Idea: Anarchists in Paterson, 1895–1908|journal=Antipode|volume=10-11|issue=3–1|pages=46–58|issn=0066-4812|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8330.1978.tb00115.x |bibcode=1978Antip..10...46C |oclc=5155744186}} had been carved into the wall. Suspicious circumstances of this event are leading to theories, than Bresci was murdered by his guards.{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |year=2007 |chapter=The Anarchist Assassin and Italian History, 1870s to 1930s |editor-last1=Gundle |editor-first1=Stephen |editor-link1=Stephen Gundle |editor-last2=Rinaldi |editor-first2=Lucia |title=Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=214–215 |isbn=978-02306-0691-3 |doi=10.1057/9780230606913_17 |oclc=314799595}}

Facing the harsh prison conditions, Italian govenrment was worried about the attempt to set Bresci free by the members of Italian anarchist groups, preventing this to set additional guards. On 22 May 1901,{{Sfnm|1a1=Pernicone|1a2=Ottanelli|1y=2018|1p=166|2a1=Kemp|2y=2018|2p=62|3a1=Simon|3y=2022|3p=20}} Bresci was found hanging by the neck in his cell.

Bresci's wife and daughter were forced to leave their home in West Hoboken, New Jersey.{{cite journal |journal=New York Herald |date=1 August 1900 |page=3}}

The assassination directly inspired some other anarchist assassins, like Polish-American Leon Czolgosz,{{Cite book| last = Jensen| first = Richard Bach | title = The Battle Against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878–1934 | chapter = The Assassination of Umberto I of Italy| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-107-03405-1| date = 2014 |oclc=936070232 |page=243}} who commited the assassination of William McKinley, 25th president of the United States.

File:La Cappella Espiatoria.jpg]]

At the site of the attack in Monza, the Expiatory Chapel was built in 1910 in memory of the murdered king, designed by the architect Giuseppe Sacconi,{{cite web |title=Royal Expiatory Chapel |url=https://www.italia.it/en/lombardy/monza/monuments/royal-expiatory-chapel |website=Italia.it |access-date=8 September 2024}} at the behest of his son, Victor Emmanuel III. Deciesed king was also themed in works of by the poets Giovanni Pascoli or Adolfo Resplendino.

Bresci's personal effects, including the gun with which he killed Umberto I with some bullets, are kept at the Criminological Museum in Rome.{{cite web |title=Rome, The Museo Criminologico |url=https://ghoulsguides.com/2016/05/04/rome-the-museo-criminologico/ |website=The Ghoul Stories |access-date=8 September 2024}}

The assassination is pictured in Italian movie L'ultimo giorno del Re (The Last Day of the King) directed by Ettore Radice from 2020.{{cite web |last1=Apicella |first1=Barbara |title=L'ultimo giorno del re: il docufilm sul regicidio a Monza finisce in tv |url=https://www.monzatoday.it/cronaca/regicidio-monza-ultimo-giorno-re-film.html |website=MonzaToday |publisher=MonzaToday |access-date=8 September 2024}}

• Gaetano Bresci
• Umberto I of Italy
• Anarchism in Italy
• History of Monza
• List of assassinations in Europe

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Castañeda|first=Christopher J.|chapter=Times of Propaganda and Struggle: El Despertar and Brooklyn's Spanish Anarchists, 1890–1905|editor-first=Tom|editor-last=Goyens|title=Radical Gotham: Anarchism in New York City from Schwab's Saloon to Occupy Wall Street|year=2017|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09959-5|oclc=985447628 |pages=77–99}}
• {{cite book|first=Michael|last=Kemp|chapter=The Cook, the Blacksmith, the King and the Weaver |title=Bombs, Bullets and Bread: The Politics of Anarchist Terrorism Worldwide, 1866–1926|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7VqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60|date=2018|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-1-4766-3211-7|oclc=1043054028|pages=60–64|access-date=3 May 2024|via=Google Books}}
• {{cite book| last1 = Pernicone| first1 = Nunzio| last2 = Ottanelli| first2 = Fraser M| title = Assassins Against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin De Siècle Europe| publisher=University of Illinois Press |date = 2018 |isbn = 978-0-252-05056-5| oclc=1050163307 |doi=10.5406/j.ctv513d7b}}
• {{cite book|last=Simon|first=Jeffrey D.|year=2022|title=America's Forgotten Terrorists: The Rise and Fall of the Galleanists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AJjEAAAQBAJ|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-1-640-12404-2|oclc=1302736396|access-date=3 May 2024|via=Google Books}}

{{Commons category|Assassination of Umberto I}}

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