Carlo Pisacane

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Carlo Pisacane.

For the actor, see Carlo Pisacane (actor)

Carlo Pisacane, Duke of San Giovanni (August 22, 1818 - June 28, 1857) was an Italian revolutionary.

[edit] Biography

He was born at Naples to an impoverished noble family, and entered the Neapolitan army in 1839; but having become imbued with Mazzinian ideas he emigrated in 1847, and after a short stay in England and France served in the French army in Algeria.

The revolution of 1848 recalled him to Italy; he played a part in the brief Roman Republic, and was an instrumental part of the war commission in the defence of the city. After its capture by the French, he again went into exile, first to London and then to Genoa, maintaining himself by teaching.

He regarded the rule of the House of Savoy as no better than that of Austria. When Mazzini, undeterred by the failure of the abortive Milan rising on February 6, 1853, determined to organize an expedition to provoke a rising in the Neapolitan kingdom, Pisacane offered himself for the task, and sailed from Genoa with a few followers (including Giovanni Nicotera) on board the Cagliari steamer on June 25, 1857.

They landed on the island of Ponza, where the guards were overpowered and some hundreds of prisoners liberated, and on 28 of the same month arrived at Sapri in Campania and attempted to reach the Cilento. But hardly any assistance from the inhabitants was forthcoming, and the invaders were quickly overpowered, Pisacane himself being killed at Sanza.

Pisacane is considered an early propoponent of propaganda of the deed, arguing that "ideas spring from deeds and not the other way around... The use of the bayonet in Milan has produced a more effective propaganda than a thousand books."[1]