The Cilento uprisings in 1848 are rightfully counted among the key episodes of Italian history that led to the Risorgimento and, subsequently, to the unification of Italy. Despite the great attention dedicated by scholars to the Sicilian revolts that occurred in the same year, in recent years an equally fundamental importance has been recognized institutional events, which saw the Cilento territory as the protagonist, already the stage of a bloody insurrection in 1828 and a clear example of the resourcefulness and courage of the proud people who inhabit these lands.
The origin of the Cilento riots of 1848
In Europe, 1848 marks, on a historical level, a real turning point during which the discontent harbored by the people for centuries finally manages to explode and lead to the fall of the main dynasties in power. At the basis of this discontent, there were, on the one hand, the harsh living conditions in which a large part of the population found themselves and, on the other, the total indifference of the noble class towards this situation: the lack of freedom, the terrible conditions of poverty and the ferocious repression, through which the harsh police regime oppressed the population, gave rise, in fact, to strong social tensions which saw a clear contrast between rich and poor.
The events of 1848
The insurrection of 17 January 1848 occurred on the initiative of Costabile Carducci and in the wake of the riots that had shaken Palermo and the Bourbon regime just a few days earlier. Carducci, an exceptional man of action, having embraced the Carbonari ideas, organized the revolts in Cilento, initially fomenting an insurrection in Torchiara, close to Agropoli, and, later, a castellabate and pollica, with the help of representatives of the local lower middle class: the province of Salerno, in fact, offered a greater chance of success for the revolt, given that the concentration of Bourbon militias here was less massive than in the city of Naples. Carducci's project envisaged extending the insurrection to Calabria and Basilicata as well, but the lack of a solid political and military formation made him clash with the harsh reality of insignificant and uncoordinated actions. Despite the partial failure, however, the Bourbon king Ferdinand II, fresh from the defeats in Sicily, was forced to come to terms with the deputy Carducci, who was appointed colonel commander in the national guard of Salerno and who made the people grant a constitution that finally, it also recognized the right to land.
On May 15, however, the king retraced his steps, dissolved parliament and withdrew the constitution: Carducci was thus forced to flee to Sicily, where, however, he immediately set to work to organize a second revolt against the rulers. Already in the summer of 1848, in fact, he had the surviving troops of rebels gathered in Calabria and, determined to reawaken the profound anti-monarchist feelings of the brave Cilento people, he headed for Maratea, landing on July 4th on beach del Porticello, near Acquafredda.
There, joined by the priest Vincenzo Peluso of Sapri, an unsuspected emissary of the Bourbons, was captured and, after being vilified by the population, was barbarically killed with a gunshot fired in the face. The patriot's body was then thrown off a cliff, where it remained until the priest Daniele Faraco recovered it to give it a worthy burial in the small church of Maria Santissima Immacolata in Acquafredda, outside which, even today, it is possible to admire a plaque placed in his memory. After his death, the Bourbon regime instituted a long trial, at the end of which no one was convicted for the barbaric murder, and ferociously suffocated any new attempt at revolt in the Cilento territory, which ignored the wind of revolution until 1857, the year of the famous Sapri Expedition, organized by Carlo Pisacane.
The legacy of the Cilento uprisings of 1848
1848, also known as the Spring of the Peoples, was a fundamental historical moment for the birth of that phenomenon, which spread like wildfire throughout the European continent, of self-affirmation of the peoples, which led, in the immediately following decades, to the fall of absolute monarchies and the birth of democratic parliaments, where to legislate, and of new constitutions to apply, finally inspired by the principle of freedom and equality of every citizen before the law.
And, given the enormous contribution that the indomitable Cilento people have given to the cause, both in terms of human lives and of actions and initiatives, it is necessary to remember, even today, the fundamental importance that this territory has played in the events historical events that led to the birth of the Italian state.
