Vol. 62, No. 6 (November-December 2011) 17 the Left of Oberdan Is the Pike That Appears on the Trieste Coat of Arms
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the Italian army and was subsequently commissioned as court-martialed for treason. Conviction was probably a lieutenant in an Alpini mountain infantry battalion. By inevitable, and on August 10, 1916, lieutenant Sauro June, 1916, Battista was positioned on Monte Corno in the was hanged by Austrian naval authorities in Pola.~3 Julian Alps with fellow irredentist, Lieutenant Fabio Filzi. Like lieutenants Battista, Filzi and Chiesa, Sauro was Filzi was born in Istria in 1884, and had been a lawyer posthumously awarded the Al Valore Militare in gold. before the war.9 On July 10, 1916, lieutenants Battisti and Filzi were both taken prisoner in an Austrian attack, recognized and quickly charged with treason. Perhaps because he was a former public figure inAustria, Battista was placed in chains and paraded in the streets of Trent to the jeers of pro-Austrian citizens and militias. Battista and Filzi were both court-martialed in the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trent on July 12, 1916, and both argued their rights to be treated as an Italian prisoners-of-war. Rejecting this defense, Battista and Filzi were summarily convicted by the court and sentenced to hang. Battista requested the sentences to be carried out by firing squad, but the court not only denied the request--it also ordered Battista to be executed wearing shabby civilian clothes in lieu of his Italian army uniform.1° The sentences were carried out the same day inside the Castello del Buonconsiglio. In what can only be considered to be very poor judgment, military authorities took photographs of Austrian soldiers and civilians gleefully posing next to the corpse of Battista. These photographs were subsequently widely reproduced in Italy as anti-Austrian propaganda, Figure 1: Obverse of the Florence medal with and no doubt fanned the flames of Italian irredentism. 1~ the bust of Guglielmo Oberdan. Both Battista and Filzi were posthumously awarded Italy’s Al Valore Militare in gold. The summer of 1916 continued to take a heavy toll on Italian irredentists. Nazario Sauro was born in the Adriatic port of Koper, in what today is Slovenia, on August 20, 1880. From a young age Sauro served as a sailor and, by age 20, had assumed command of an Austrian merchant ship. Sauro was reported to be dedicated to the ideal of self-determination, and during his merchant marine career carried weapons to Albanian patriots seeking independence from Turkey. Shortly afterAustria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Sauro went to Venice and found common cause with other irredentists. Upon Italy’s entry into the war in 1915, Sauro volunteered for the Royal Italian navy and during the next 14 months completed over 60 submarine and torpedo boat missions.12 Lieutenant Sauro was the pilot of the submarine Giacinto Pullino when, on July 29, 1916, it was ordered to attack the Austro-Hungarian port of Fiume. During that mission Figure 2: Reverse of the Florence medal with the sub ran aground near Galiola, and could not be the bust of Cesare Battisti. refloated. The crew abandoned the sub the following day, but Sauro was captured by an Austrian destroyer while The bronze medal in Figure 1 was struck in Florence, trying to get ashore in a raft. Sauro was subsequently probably in 1916 or 1917, and measures 33mm x 24mm. taken to the large Austrian naval base at Pola and quickly The obverse features the bust of Oberdan over the inscription, G. OBERDAN/TRIESTE 1882/FIRENZE. To Vol. 62, No. 6 (November-December 2011) 17 the left of Oberdan is the pike that appears on the Trieste coat of arms. Over Oberdan’s bust are the words, SIA MALEDETTO L ’IMPERATORE DEGLI IMPICEATTI, which roughly translates to a curse upon emperor Franz Josef for allowing Oberdan to be hanged. Figure 2 depicts the bust of Battisti and is the reverse side of the medal in Figure 1. Below Battisti’s image is the inscription, C. BATTISTI/TRENTO 1916/PICCHIANI. Picchiani is no doubt the engraver, who has placed images of the Dolomite Mountains and the Trento eagle on each side of Battisti. Over Battisti’s bust are the words, ANCORA UNA VOL TA MALEDE TTO L ’IMPERA TORE, which again curses the emperor for allowing Battisti to be hanged. Figure 4: Reverse of the medal honoring Cesare Battisti. Figure 3: Obverse of the tnedal honoring Cesare Battisti. The medal in Figure 3 was issued by the National Society of Dante Alighieri, probably soon after Battisti’s death. The National Society of Dante Alighieri was formed in Rome in 1889 to promote Italian language and culture, and was fiercely patriotic during the First World War. The medal measures 30 mm in diameter and was struck in white metal. The obverse features a Figure 5: Obverse of the medal honoring all series of mountains, probably the Julian Alps, under a three Trento martyrs. radiant star. Underneath is the inscription, SOC. NAZ. DANTE ALIGHIERI/A/CESARE BATTISTI/E/MAR TIRI All three of the Trento martyrs are honored by the medal IRRENDENTI/1916. Laurel branches surround the depicted in Figure 5. The busts of Lieutenants Chiesa, obverse edge. The reverse side of the medal (Figure 4), Battisti and Filzi are featured on the obverse of the medal, depicts something resembling a cross p~td formed of tree along with their dates of execution. Below that is the branches. Superimposed vertically and horizontally on the Trento coat-of-arms super-imposed over TRENTO, with cross is the Latin phrase, MEMINISSE IUVABIT, which sprigs of oak and laurel at each end. The reverse side roughly translates to "someday it will help." (Figure 6) of the medal depicts the walls of the Castello del Buonconsiglio, the site of the executions, and the 18 JOMSA name of the engraver, C. PIVALLA. The reverse (Figure 8) features what appears to be a Venetian gondola partially obscured by a large palm frond on the left. Above the gondola is the caption "...PILOTA FISOA UNA STELLA," with D’ANNUNZIO tightly inserted in a box to the right. The phrase roughly translates to "pilot fixed upon a star" and no doubt combines symbolism with Suaro’s role as a ship’s pilot. It also appears to have been taken from a poem or literary work by the fascinating Italian poet, journalist, military hero and ardent fascist, Gabriele D’Annunzio. The medal is made of silvered bronze and is 25 mm in diameter. The medal’s reverse exergue is marked M. NELLI-FIRENZE, but who authorized the medal is not known. Figure 6: Reverse of the medal honoring all three Trento martyrs. graves of the three men. To the left of the castle are the words, FOSSATO DEI MARTIRI, or "moat of the martyrs." Just who issued the medal is not known, but it was apparently manufactured and hallmarked by a firm named Enea in Milan. It was struck in white medal and measures 28mm x 33ram. Figure 8: Reverse of the medal honoring Nazario Sauro. Footnotes 1. Mark Thompson. The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919. New York: Basic Books, 2008, p. 10. 2. Ibid., p. 8. 3. Ibid., p. 15. 4. Ibid.,p. 15. 5. Orisni bombs were named after Italian anarchist and irredentist Felice Orsini, who threw two round bombs at the carriage of Napoleon III on January 14, 1858. Neither Napoleon nor his wife was harmed, but eight people were killed and many more injured. Orsini was tried and executed a few months later. 6. Thompson, p. 15. 7. Wikipedia website re: Damian Chiesa 8. Thompson, p. 98. 9. Wikipedia website re: Fabio Filzi Figure 7: Obverse of the medal honoring 10. Thompson, p. 98. Nazario Sauro. 11. Ibid., p. 166. 12. Wikipedia website re: Nazario Suaro 13. ShipStamp.co.uk website re: Giacinto Pullino The obverse side of the medal in Figure 7 depicts Nazario Sauro in his Royal Italian Navy uniform, along with the Vol. 62, No. 6 (November-December 2011) 19 .