“Civitatis Iesualdinae”, Carmine Pinto presents his book “The brigand and the general”

The cultural event “Civitatis Iesualdinae” promoted by the Proloco of Gesualdo is enriched with a new important event.

After in-depth analysis and reflections on local and Irpinia history, we will return to sift through the past following in the footsteps of brigands and their hunters in the turbulent years following the unification of Italy.

On April 30th at 5.30 pm at Palazzo Pisapia di Gesualdo, Carmine Pinto, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Salerno, will be a guest of the “Civitatis Iesualdinae” exhibition, for the presentation of his latest book entitled “The brigand and the general. The war by Carmine Crocco and Emilio Pallavicini di Priola”, published by Laterza.

Carmine Pinto is full professor of Contemporary History at the University of Salerno where he is director of the Department of Humanistic Studies. Already author for Laterza of the successful publication “The war for the South. Italians, Bourbons and brigands 1860-1870” (2019), winner, among others, of the Cherasco History Prize, the Sissco Prize, the Fiuggi History Prize and the Basilicata Prize , directs the Center for Research on Conflicts in the Contemporary Age and the Historical Review of the Risorgimento and has taught in many European and Latin American universities, and is a member of the editorial committees of Italian and international magazines.

The book tells of the great challenge that took place a century and a half ago on the banks of the Ofanto, between the brigand Carmine Crocco and general Emilio Pallavicini of Priola. A story that still arouses emotions and divides today. On one side there was the brigand, Carmine Crocco. Shepherd, soldier, bandit by profession, he became the most famous gang leader in the southern countryside after 1860. At the head of pro-Bourbon brigandage, he experimented with forms of guerrilla warfare that would have success in the 20th century, anticipating its political aspects and large-scale criminal organisation. On the other side, the general, Emilio Pallavicini di Priola, a Savoyard aristocrat, military expert in special operations and in command of departments deployed in the campaign against brigandage.

The Author recounts their ‘parallel lives’ and, through these, the episodes, the places, the battles and the legends, the war between the first national army and the last of the ancient regime, up to the final clash and the surprising epilogue of their lives

The institutional greetings and the introduction of the conference curated by the Gesualdin student Valentina Cogliano will be followed by the interventions of the Principal Franco Di Cecilia and the historian Michele Sisto who will enliven the meeting with the author, opening up to a general debate on the social, political and economic implications that the facts linked to post-unification brigandage generated on the history and development of this part of Southern Italy.