1/20/13

Garibaldi and the Risorgimento

Ugo Bassi

by Angela De Benedictis (Professor of Modern History, University of Bologna)

If ever Italy comes to be united may God restore her the Voice of Ugo Bassi. When Rome had fallen, when nothing was left for me but exile hunger and misery, Ugo Bassi did not hesitate a moment to accompany me. The name of Ugo Bassi will be the match-word of the Italians on the day of vengeance!! Giuseppe Garibaldi, as quoted in the Panorama lecture of the Heroic life and career of Garibaldi. This passage appears in the section of the script accompanying the Panorama, immediately following the general recapitulation of its scenes (Panorama Lecture - Image 129). It is here that the name of Ugo Bassi, one of the martyrs of the Risorgimento, is mentioned for the first time in the manuscript, together with an almost word-for-word quotation from the commemorative discourse that Garibaldi pronounced in 1859, ten years after Bassis death (the discourse is transcribed by Didaco Facchini in his Biografia di Ugo Bassi, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1890, II ed. riv., facsimile edition: Bologna, Forni, 1981). The image of Ugo Bassi, however, makes an earlier appearance, in scene 18 of the panorama, representing Garibaldi defending Rome. We recognize him in the figure of the priest who appears to the left of Garibaldi (in relation to the observer), positioned slightly in the background, behind the group of people shown aiding a wounded or dying soldier. Ugo Bassi was indeed a man of the church. He had been a member of the Barnabiti order since the age of seventeen (he was born in Cento, near Ferrara, on August 12, 1801): to be precise, from October 24, 1818 to April 1848. On April 15 of that year, pope Pius IX signed a decree expelling Bassi from the order. The decree was issued by the pope whilst under great pressure by the numerous detractors who were accusing Bassi of heresy in order to stop him from inciting the people to take up arms and liberate Italy from foreign rule. Bassi was well known throughout the peninsula for his activity as a preacher, that he passionately practiced in Bologna and elsewhere out of love for both Christianity and his homeland, Italy. His endeavor in the fight for the liberation of Italy had begun in the Spring of 1848, when it still seemed that the pope wanted to position himself at the head of the national movement. Bassi had been appointed military chaplain in the pontifical army. However, after Pius IVs promulgation of an encyclical refusing to wage war on Austria, Bassi had left Bologna and followed the army of volunteers who instead held the war to be indispensable. The encounter between Ugo Bassi and Garibaldi took place on April 4 1849, the day after Bassi had been nominated chaplain of the Italian legion commanded by Garibaldi. From then on, Bassi was often at the side of the general fighting against the French. He remained with Garibaldi and assisted him during the escape from Rome, until he was taken prisoner by the Popes gendarmes near Comacchio, on August 4 1849. The author of the panorama has portrayed Bassi dressed in an cassock more similar to that of an Anglican priest (above all the collar) than to that of a father of the Barnabiti order (as one can see, for example, in the portrait by G. Raimondi, P. Ugo Bassi, 1849, reproduced in C. Collina, M. Gavelli, O. Sangiorgi, F. Tarozzi, eds., Ugo Bassi metafora verit e mito nellarte italiana del XIX secolo, Bologna, Museo Civico del Risorgimento, 1999, p. 80). The script highlights Bassi's "apostolic" heroism and powerful preaching for the cause: He was present at all the Battles and all acts of devotedness, he acted as a sister of charity, an apostle and was an intrepid soldier...His powerful eloquence not only raised the Italians to the love of Italy and a devotion for her, but it drew from the most rebellious coffers [sic] numerous and rich offerings. At Bologna the rich gave money by thousands: the women gave their Jewels their ring and their earrings. One young girl having nothing to give him cut off her magnificent hair and offered to him [sic](Panorama lecture - image 130). Two paintings from circa 1850 show the effects of Bassis powerful eloquence in soliciting the people of Bologna to offer their personal possessions for the common cause: the first (shown here to the left) by Napoleone Angiolini depicting Ugo Bassi On the Steps of San Petronio. And the second (shown on the next page of this essay) by Gaetano Belvederi, which portrays Ugo Bassi at the Pia Column, in Rome.

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Garibaldi and the Risorgimento

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