Naples
Page 4
At the start of 1859, Italy was divided into seven parts, with six sovereign states and one territory (part of Lombardy and Venetia) under the Austrian Empire. The peninsula had not been united since the Roman Empire, but less than two years later, unification would be achieved. [121]
When Cavour gave away Nice to appease Napoleon III, he thought he was doing what had to be done. He did not anticipate his action would inflame Garibaldi, who had been born in Nice, and spur him out of his quasi-retirement. For Garibaldi, it was a point of great humiliation that this Italian city should be used in a game of chess with France. The betrayal was all the more acute because he believed Italy’s leadership after 1848 would come from Piedmont. The secret treaty made Garibaldi believe what he had suspected: Cavour’s priority was Piedmont, not Italy as a whole.
Garibaldi was already ready to spring into action in April 1860 when he was asked to help transform a peasant uprising in the west of Sicily into a full-blown revolution. This goal had been in the sights of Mazzini for some time, and now that much of Italy had been liberated from its foreign occupiers, the time seemed right to gain back control of the initiative and head off the machinations of Cavour, who appeared to be making serious inroads. Nonetheless, Garibaldi and his supporters did believe any initiatives needed to be backed by King Vittorio Emmanuele II, who they incorrectly believed was more of a genuine believer in the patriotic cause than his prime minister.
In one of the most legendary episodes in Italian history, Garibaldi set off from Genoa to the Sicilian town of Marsala with just under 1,000 followers. As Mazzini had envisioned, these men were all young, with fervent beliefs to compensate for their lack of military training, but these were not exactly the revolutionaries Mazzini had in mind. Among the “Thousand” who joined Garibaldi on his mission to Sicily, and among those who supported them financially, there were many people who fervently supported the Piedmontese cause. Even the patriot Francesco Crispi, who planned the expedition, was prepared to support Piedmont if it helped to unite Italy, as was Garibaldi himself. [122] On the subject of this compromise, Crispi famously wrote to a friend of his in July 1860, “I love Italy above all else, and as Italy is destined to come into existence through the house of Savoy, I accept this condition without arrière pensée .” [123]
A depiction of Garibaldi setting off on the Expedition of the Thousand
Crispi
The expedition was an unthinkable success. As Garibaldi advanced throughout Sicily and expelled the Bourbons, he proclaimed Vittorio Emmanuele II the king of Italy. He captured Palermo in June, reached the Straits of Messina and crossed them in August, and triumphantly reached Naples on September 7. [124] Garibaldi used these conquests as a springboard, after which he began preparing to take Rome from the pope and make it the capital of a united Italian nation.
The seemingly impossible success of this ragtag group of soldiers owed much to Garibaldi’s leadership, as well as the groundwork prepared by other patriots such as Crispi. Moreover, it also owed much to the state of international relations at that moment, because Britain decided it was in its best interest to thwart Napoleon III’s ambition and believed a unified Italy would help ensure the balance of power on the continent tipped in its direction. [125]
A depiction of the Redshirt volunteers of the Thousand
A painting of Garibaldi liberating Palermo
A painting of Garibaldi in Naples
Of course, this perspective on history only focuses on the actions of the major powers and neglects to consider why the Sicilian and Neapolitan people welcomed Garibaldi with open arms. Historians believe Garibaldi was so successful because he represented a blank page onto which the different classes projected their needs. The peasants saw him as the agent of relief from suffering, while Sicilian landowners hoped the overthrow of the Bourbons would provide them an opportunity to gain independence from Naples. For the middle classes, they hoped the change would give them the chance to grab the upper hand in local politics. In general, it is thought the people who fought in this revolution did not know what they were fighting for and had never heard of the word Italia . One humorous anecdote suggests when they heard the slogan of Garibaldi’s “Thousand” - Italia e Vittorio Emanuele - the people thought “La Talia” was the name of King Vittorio Emmanuele II’s wife.
What began as a virtually independent expedition from Genoa to Sicily actually ended up being the necessary catalyst to turn the dream of an Italian nation into reality. Once Garibaldi had taken control of all of Southern Italy by September, Italian democrats had a huge opportunity, as they actually held power in a region of Italy for the first time since 1849. Moreover, this was the one moment in the entire risorgimento that they had an army, popular momentum, and a coherent program. [126]
However, despite their momentum, they had Cavour working against them behind the scenes. As Cavour witnessed Garibaldi’s strong support, he grew concerned the newfound hero might decide to withdraw his support for King Vittorio Emmanuele II, particularly if they were able to march on Rome and resurrect the short-lived republic of 1849. Thus, he decided to undermine Garibaldi and his men covertly. He attempted to annex Sicily to Piedmont after the fall of Palermo, but failed. After the fall of Naples, Cavour was more successful, as he managed to convince Garibaldi to hold a plebiscite on whether to accept the Savoy Monarchy. The measure passed overwhelmingly, although apparently the ballot was severely rigged, as Sicily voted 432,053 in favor and only 667 against. [127]
In the early fall of 1860, the only “unliberated” parts of Italy were the Papal States and the Veneto, and Cavour knew he had to get to them before Garibaldi. Garibaldi was already prepared to march on Rome when Cavour sent the Piedmontese army into the Papal States and then south to Naples to meet up with Garibaldi in October of that year. [128] Garibaldi, true to his word, handed over his rule of the south to King Vittorio Emmanuele II with a handshake at the town of Teano. Italy had been made. [129]
A painting depicting the meeting between Garibaldi and the king
In the years following the unification, the newly formed Italian government primarily focused its attention on the more industrialized north and the new capital of Rome, and it did little to actually help people in the south. In fact, Naples did not enjoy the same demographic boom as other major metropolitan areas in Italy. In the remaining 40 years of the century, it increased by a scant 26%, compared to other Italian cities that grew at double, triple, or quadruple that rate. [130]
Naples shouted for attention, however, when it was hit with a major cholera epidemic. [131] Although its population growth had stagnated, by 1884 Naples was the largest city in Europe. It had a population of almost half a million people, all crammed into an urban center that was a mere eight square kilometers and dealing with living conditions that were staggeringly poor. When public officials tried to bring the epidemic under control, they were caught off guard by how poorly prepared they were. Italy’s leading politician at the time, Agostino Depretis, actually argued for gutting the city in a famous declaration that led to a series of protests from southern intellectuals. In the end, the city weathered the epidemic, only to suffer more epidemics in 1910 and 1911. [132]
While the cholera epidemic did nothing to help Naples’ reputation, even before the great cholera epidemic actually hit, Naples had already acquired a reputation for its nasty odors and peculiar tasting water, such that tourists often avoided the city. Many northern Europeans believed that Europe ended with Rome and that anything south of Rome was actually Africa. [133] When they did choose to visit Naples, they claimed to stay only long enough to see the required ancient sights, and during their stay they would only drink wine and spend most of the time covering their noses.
Of course, the Neapolitans were not ignorant or happy about their city’s reputation. One public figure, Alderman Vincenzo Pizzuti, complained in 1873 that the press described the Neapolitans as if they were “semi-barbarian Africans.” [134] In an early edition, the famous Baedeker’
s guidebook urges special precautions to English people visiting southern Italy, warning them that they are likely to be cheated financially by the wily people when bargaining for souvenirs, especially if they do not speak any Italian. [135]
Another famous pair of visitors, the renowned German philosopher Walter Benjamin and his companion, Asja Lacis, were more complimentary when they arrived in 1923 and penned a short essay about the experience. [136] They reveled in the city’s picturesque elements, with its tradition of Greek costumes and deep-rooted superstitions. They famously described the city as “porous,” referring first to the porosity of the volcanic material used in so many buildings in the city. They also used porosity to refer to the blending of cultures that can be found throughout, including Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, French and Spanish influences. Finally, they mentioned the porosity of life in Naples, as the tight spaces forced bodies into close proximity, and the warm temperatures and poor living conditions pushed much of daily life into the outdoors. [137]
When Italy entered the Second World War, Naples was still a site of tourism, but it would soon be the site of an invasion. Fascist Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis, but after a series of devastating defeats in North Africa, Greece, and France, and faced with the Allies’ landing in Sicily, Italy finally deposed Mussolini and signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943. Less than a month later, the Allies had reached Naples after a four-day popular revolution had already succeeded in expelling the Germans. [138]
When the Allies entered to find cheering Neapolitans, they also found a city so beaten down that it defied description. There was no clean water and the fleeing Germans had left time bombs in major buildings that continued to take lives all the way into October. There were extreme food shortages, but there was also a prohibition against fishing in order to keep the waters clear for military personnel. Naples’ famous port had been bombed beyond recognition, as had its train lines, in order to disrupt possible movement. [139]
An aerial photo of Naples being bombed
Soon after the October 1943 liberation, Italy declared war with Germany, but even afterwards, the Allies refused to acknowledge the Italians as full allies, granting them the ambivalent status of co-belligerent. The troops’ attitude to the civilians was similarly ambivalent, so while some struck up friendships and working relationships, there was an attitude of mutual distrust. Furthermore, the Italian lire had been severely devalued because of the war, and the abrupt, unregulated arrival of the dollar in the depressed city caused a spiral of inflation that made the cost of living untenable for anyone seeking to earn a living honestly. Prostitution and the black market started to flourish, and the Allies were only too quick to point to the Neapolitans’ bad character as an explanation, even as there is ample evidence to suggest that the Allies encouraged the illegal behavior. Epidemics of syphilis and typhoid sprang up, and the Allies tried in vain to prevent any contact, sexual or otherwise, between the soldiers and the civilians, even going so far as to mark seedier parts of the town off limits to troops. [140]
As the troops continued their long journey northwards, Naples became a main base for the Allies and, thus, a place where troops would go on leave. The military actively encouraged the soldiers to take advantage of Naples’ status as a tourist destination, despite the devastation of war and warnings about getting scammed by the untrustworthy locals. [141] Naples became a true cultural melting pot once again, and the atmosphere was highly charged, as countless memoirs of the period recount.
Several of the officers stationed in Naples actually wrote literary accounts based on their time in the city, including the American novelist John Horne Burns (The Gallery ), the British travel writer Norman Lewis (Naples ’44 ) and the Italian intellectual Curzio Malaparte (The Skin ). Together, these three books, along with several films such as Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist classic Paisà, left a powerful cultural legacy of what those intense months of cultural encounters were like (at least from a privileged officer’s perspective). [142] Their intensity brought global attention to the city, reinforcing the age old stereotype of its tumultuous nature.
Today, Naples continues to demand attention for many reasons. Its streets are crowded and noisy, and its buildings are tall. Its many churches are richly adorned, and its environment is stunningly beautiful, featuring countless ruins of antiquity, exquisite coastline, magnificently verdant islands, and a fiery volcano hovering in the backdrop, always threatening to change the course of history once again. [143] One can only hope to understand what has been called the “mysterious metropolis” [144] by looking back at its history.
The natural environment of Naples is certainly responsible for this skewed history, at least in part. The warm weather coupled with the sweet and spicy food has been seen as a determinant of the people’s passionate, even irrational behavior. No doubt the Camorra (and its exaggerated cinematic representation) has played its part, too, in spreading the reputation of Naples as a place of chaos. Some of it is certainly deserved, as evidenced by the garbage crisis of the early 21st century, during which the Camorra effectively impeded trash collection in the city and all but turned Naples into an open air garbage dump. The presence of Europe’s only mainland volcano has also increased the city’s notoriety, as artists and writers have looked at this dangerous, exciting, unpredictable volcano as a symbol of the city of Naples. [145] Symbolism aside, Vesuvius does rightly elicit the need for concern because it has not erupted since 1944 and is long overdue.
A picture of a dense area in the city
For half a millennium now, the history of Naples has been the subject of intense debate, with more questions than answers. One of the recurrent themes that unites these debates is the question of foreign influence on the city. For example, historians struggle to explain the fact that Naples and its people, known for their faithfulness, let themselves be ruled by so many different foreigners. Debates continue over whether the Spanish, Austrians, and Bourbons were forces for good or bad, and whether the refusal to accept Napoleonic reform damned the city to “backwardness.”
Above all, the various influences and history leaves people asking what “Neapolitan” actually means.
Online Resources
Other Italian history titles by Charles River Editors & Sean McLachlan
Other titles about Naples on Amazon
Bibliography
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