RIPA NEWS 20 MAY 1779

UNA GIORNATA DI LUTTO PER TANTE FAMIGLIE RIPESI

A DAY OF SORROW FOR SO MANY RIPA FAMILIES

(Reprinted from Il Gazzetino, Issue Year 26, N0, 1-2, 1997 by Nicolino Camposarcuno)

218 years ago, precisely 20 May 1799, executions came in Campobasso, the sentence of death pronounced by a Military Committee against eleven Ripesi citizens (part of a mob that on the days February 3,4, & 5 revolted, cutting down the Tree of Liberty) declared to have murdered nine patriots, among them one woman.

The dates cited were three days of terror and blood, of indescribable tragedy, of pitiful events like the death of Nicola Marinelli, father of nine children, who after a day of agony, died in his house (4 February). He was only forty years old.

Many escaped the slaughter, fleeing into the countryside or taking refuge in the marchesale palace (the palace of the Marquis), pursued by a mob by now devoid of restraints, which did not force its way inside only for fear of falling into the man trap which so many talked about and feared.

The existence of this man trap was not a fable; even if not located near the front gate, it was indeed real. In 1807 in fact, the earth subsided, which caused the ruin of many buildings located below the palace – "the man trap also caved in, at the left of the tower, it contained human bones which they moved into the middle of the street, inspiring great fear to all. Afterwards they were transported to the St Rocco cemetery near Ripalimosani. Sad record of past feudalism that afflicted all.

Things did not change with the successors, the things called "zazzare e perrecchelle" were not the least of the burdens imposed to exercise tyranny in a particular way on the peasant class. It showed itself, therefore, with the hatred and the bitterness accumulated through the years, the explosion of an incredible and unprecedented violence, unthinkable in a peaceful and hard-working population; an occurrence without precedent in the history of our town which transformed poor peasants into wild assassins.

The condemned, of whom (according to a chronicle of the period) "Ripa refused shelter to the mortal remains nor wanted to record the names." Assisted by the Canon, Don Innocenzo Presutti, and by ten other confessors, they were conducted outside Campobasso to St Giovanello, shot and buried in a common grave near the chapel which overlooks the hill.

"Someone wanted to remove the heads from the bodies to place them in the towns of the Province within niches covered by grates of iron." If that is true, it is difficult to verify, but it is known for certain that the bodies of four of them were suspended at the gallows for the duration of twelve hours to serve as a warning to all citizens.

The names of these poor unfortunates, who left orphan families, were registered on 21 May in the sixth book of the dead of St Mary Major by Steward Curate Canon Don Luca Pagano.

The exposition of the bodies did not have the hoped-for affect, so it is true that on 11 August, less than two months from the executions, an innkeeper in Campobasso, Pasquale Bucci, gathered in his town about two hundred people and led them into the capitol with the intention of sacking the city. The provost forces for the care of security and of public order did not feel themselves in a position to resist and agreed to terms in order to avoid worse trouble. After long negotiations, the terms granted the group "a dinner and three carlini (coins) per person". After that they returned home.

With the fall of the Neapolitan Republic, to celebrate the return of King Ferdinand IV, a wide amnesty was granted, and among the beneficiaries were many Ripesi condemned to various penalties imposed for their participation in the riots of 1799. Returning to Ripa, they promised " to live honestly and not to molest anyone," but the anger was still alive with the memory of executed friends, and it was difficult to erase the idea that they could obtain only with force what they were not able to obtain through the courts.

Six years later, Notes Mancini, "to the idea to eliminate the town of all zazzere and parrecchelle was added the other, to avenge the shooting. On 21 September 1806, in fact, thirty desperadoes, at the order of the brigand Furia (a fugitive from the prison of Alexandria), invaded Ripa and incited the locals to revolt, and only the prompt intervention of the gendarmes and civil guard prevented a repetition of the events of 1799. At the first rifle shots, the Ripesi who had accepted the offer of the brigands disbanded and, running as far as Le Quercigliole (a hill about five miles outside the town), they found safety in the forest of Torella del Sannio.

With the passage of the years, the tensions relaxed, the hatred began to waver, the bitterness to lessen. Also, after the second world conflict, the path dug by the injustices and the blood between the various social classes began to narrow day by day, finally to disappear.

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