Nicola Fabrizi and Maltese Weapons in Sicily During the Spedizione Dei Mille

Nicola Fabrizi and Maltese weapons in Sicily during the Spedizione dei Mille istitutoeuroarabo.it/DM/nicola-fabrizi-and-maltese-weapons-in-sicily-during-the-spedizione-dei-mille/ Comitato di Redazione 1 luglio 2021 di Arnold Cassola [*] When Garibaldi landed in Marsala with his mille on 11th May 1860, fighting immediately started in the western part of Sicily. The unification process of Italy was well on its way. In the 19th century news did not travel very fast, but of course the population living in that part of Sicily soon got to know of Garibaldi’s exploits. The same cannot be said for all parts of Sicily. How fast did news travel at that time to the more remote parts of the island? The scope of this work is to show that in fact, as regards the town of Modica, which is to be found in the South Eastern part of Sicily, and today falls under the province of Ragusa, a relevant amount of information regarding Garibaldi’s progress on the island as well as other related activity actually arrived in Modica via telegrams which were sent from the island of Malta, which lies around 164 kms. to the south of this Sicilian town. Nicola Fabrizi The texts of some of these telegrams are to be found today in the section entitled Corrispondenza e scritture varie del periodo risorgimentale (1856-1861) of the Archivio De Leva, Archives of Ragusa, Sezione di Modica. Many of them have been collected and reproduced in the thesis entitled Con il vangelo e la croce in mano – Vita dell’Abate Giuseppe de Leva Gravina (1786 – 1860), which was presented at the University of Perugia in 2003 by Rosario Distefano. Another work on the Abate De Leva’s political involvement is the thesis entitled Il Risorgimento in periferia. L’abate De Leva e le lotte politiche a Modica (1812-1861), presented at the University of Catania in 1986 by Teresa Maria Caruso. Abate Giuseppe de Leva Abate Giuseppe De Leva Gravina (1786 – 1861) is the most renowned of the De Leva family. Born in Modica into this aristocratic family, he was given an education largely based on the precepts of liberalism and empiricism. In 1812 he was one of the two deputies elected from the district of Modica to the Sicilian Parliament. In 1837 he took part in the failed insurrections clamouring for independence. In 1848 he was again at the forefront of the uprisings in Sicily, so much so that he became the President of the Comitato rivoluzionario for about a year. As a result of of his political activity, he was suspended by the Bishop of Noto from all religious activity. Abate Giuseppe De Leva Gravina 1/7 However, despite supposedly retiring to private life, the Abate de Leva continued to take part secretly in Risorgimento activities, until he became President of the Comitato Generale set up in Modica. He was tasked with coordinating affairs with the other towns and cities of the area following Garibaldi’s landing in Marsala in May 1860. He died on 21st March 1861. The section of the collection entitled Corrispondenza e scritture varie del periodo risorgimentale (1856-1861) contains various letters and other documents which shed light on the Risorgimento activity in the South-Eastern part of Sicily, but also reveal the role that Malta played in the Risorgimento vis à vis the town and inhabitants of Modica (Iozzia 2008:55-56). Why Malta? Why Malta? At that time the island was a colony of Britain. Following the various uprisings in the Italian peninsula, and especially after the failed ones in 1821 and 1848, Malta became home to hundreds of Italian patriot-intellectuals, who fled their home country and continued their fight for freedom and unification from the little island at the centre of the Mediterranean(Bonello-Fiorentini-Schiavone 1982). The first wave of exiles from the nearby peninsula had forced the British authorities in Malta to review and revise their political strategies. In fact, once these newly arrived immigrants were clamouring for total independence from foreign domination on Italian soil, they actually ended up fighting their battle against the traditional enemies of the British Empire, namely the Papal States in central Italy and the Austro- Hungarian and French empires in the north. 26th may 1860, telegram from Malta to Modica Since a ‘weak’, unified Italy was much less of a threat to British dominance in the Mediterranean than a divided Italy under ‘strong’ foreign rule, the British in Malta decided to support the Italian refugees on the island. One way of doing so was by granting freedom of the press in Malta on 15th March 1839 (Cassola 2000: 186-198). In view of this possibility of being able to freely propagate their political literature and propaganda, and using their native language, since Italian was the language of the intelligentsia and cultural and political elite of Malta, the activity of the Italian exiles knew no limits. Apart from a few newspapers written in English and others written in Maltese (Cassola 2011), in the period 1803-1870 the well over one hundred different newspapers written in Italian and printed in Malta were then sent over to the nearby island and peninsula. Moreover, communication between Malta and Modica was also facilitated through the setting up of a telegraph line between the two localities around 1857. This telegraph line at that time «era sotto la dipendenza degli inglesi» (Grana Scolari: 20). The unhindered flow of newspapers printed and published in Malta and then sent over to nearby Sicily, together with the free flow of information from Malta to Modica and vice-versa via the new telegraph line, is witness to a very open border between Malta and Sicily. This openness not only allowed the possibility of transferring concrete physical objects, like newspapers and weapons, from one island to the other, but also brought about the exchange of ideas and ideals amongst intellectuals living on both sides of the Mediterranean shores, ideals mainly pertaining to the romantic nationalistic philosophy of the Risorgimento period. It was also by means of telegrams that one could communicate quickly with one’s brothers in arms in nearby Sicily, as can be gathered, e.g., from an undated and unsigned telegram by “Il Capo della Forza di Piazza [Armerina]” to the Abate De Leva, asking for information regarding the postal ship to Malta: «La prego dirmi se è giunto in Malta il vapore postale e quale notizie hanno portato. Piazza 2. ore 8.30 ant. m.» (Archivio De Leva, Busta 5/5, fasc. 4). The existence of a telegraph connection between Modica and Malta enabled inhabitants of other parts of Sicily to be able to communicate expeditely with the authorities in Malta. For example, Francesco Giardina (1818-1899) who, at the time, was one of the leading figures of the Risorgimento in Modica, a follower of 2/7 Mazzini, and therefore a staunch republican and a sworn enemy of the Bourbon government, could keep his fellow insurgents in Catania informed of what was happening in the rest of Sicily through telegrams «che gli pervenivano telegraficamente per la via di Malta. Così in Catania fu saputa l’entrata di Garibaldi in Palermo e gli eroici trionfi della Capitale» (Belgiorno 1985: 188). Moreover, proof that the direct contact between Malta and Modica must have been a regular one can be found in the statement of accounts entitled Sovvenzioni, Gratificazioni, ed altre spese (Archivio De Leva, Busta 5/5, fasc. 5), which was signed by Raffaele Muccio, who registered all money spent by the Comitato. The above mentioned accounts record, for example, that a Maltese staffetta (couriers/messengers between Malta and Modica) was given 12 tarì on account (“Alla staffetta maltese in conto 12 tarì”) while the repairs needed for eight rifles were entrusted to a Maltese person, who was paid the handsome sum of 3 onze and 15 tarì (“Per acconciare n. 8 fucili al Sig. Maltese 3 onze 15 tarì”). Nicola Fabrizi Nicola Fabrizi (1804-1885), the famous Italian patriot who was close to Mazzini and the Bandiera brothers and had fought in Italy alongside Ciro Menotti, had first arrived in Malta on board the British ship Firefly on 1st November 1837. In Malta he became the undisputed leader of the Giovine Italia and he strived to spread his revolutionary republican ideas through the setting up of various “reading rooms”. He also set up a business concern together with his brothers, the “Ditta Carlo Fabrizi e Fratelli”. Fabrizi was convinced that the unification of Italy had to start from the south and therefore he was often away from Malta to meet and deal with other Italian migrant revolutionaries in other Mediterranean areas, such as Corfù, Bastia, in Corsica, and Marseilles. On the outbreak of the 1848 uprisings in Sicily, he went to fight alongside the insurgents and then proceeded first to Venice then to Rome to combat Monumento a Nicola Fabrizi the papal troops. With the fall of the Roman Republic, he tried to return to inaugurato a Modena nel 1896 Malta on 15th July 1849, together with another 123 exiles, but the British Governor of the time, Richard More O’Ferrall, did not authorise the landing. Fabrizi could not set foot again in Malta until November 1853. In Malta, he tried to gather weapons and munitions for the insurgents in Italy and, as from 1859, he started travelling to and from Malta on a regular basis. In 1860, together with twenty five volunteers, he crossed over to Sicily to join Garibaldi in his quest and to hand over the weapons collected in Malta.

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