NAPLES 1799

IT WAS THANKS TO THE  UNTIRING CONSPIRATIVE ACTIVITY CONDUCTED  PARALLEL TO THE PROPAGANDA IN THE  CISALPINE NEWSPAPERS AND DIPLOMATIC OR UNDERGROUND CONNECTIONS WITH FRENCH AGENTS, THAT ON 21 st  JANUARY 1799 THE PATRIOTS  MANAGED TO PROCLAIM THE REPUBLIC IN THE S. ELMO CASTLE EVEN BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE TROUPS OF GENERAL CHAMPIONNET. IT IS DIFFICULT TO RECONSTRUCT IN DETAIL THE POLITICAL MOVEMENT OF THE CONCLUSIVE MONTHS THAT FOLLOWED OTHER THAN THE  LEGISLATIONS PRODUCED AND THE CIRCULAR LETTERS ADDRESSED TO COMMISSIONERS AND PROVINCES, OF THE ARTICLES  PRINTED IN THE “MONITORE”  AND THE OTHER NEWSPAPERS, OF DIARIES AND RECOLLECTIONS, MANY WERE DESTROYED AT THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC BECAUSE OF ROYAL ORDERS IN THIS SENSE BUT ALSO  FOR PERSONAL SAFETY REASONS…………

THE FACT REMAINS THAT BESIDES THE GENERAL COMPONENT, THE CULTURAL DIVISION WAS DECISIVE  -  EVEN THOUGH NOT ALWAYS THE MAIN FACTOR - IN DIRECTING THE POLITICAL CHOICES, MORE SO THAN THE SOCIAL CONNECTIONS, AND THE MODERATE EXTREMISTS WERE INDUCED TO ACT ABOVE ALL BY THEIR EXPERIENCE OF  HAVING BEING IN EXILE  BEFORE ’99.  THE  MEMBERS OF THE NOBILITY PROMOTED AND SUPPORTED THE REPUBLIC, ABOVE ALL – BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY – AMONG THOSE CADETS  WHOSE MILITARY CAREER  AND THE FORMATION OF  NEW COLLEGES HAD ALREADY  DIRECTED  THEIR IDEAS TOWARDS A  NEW CONCEPT OF  BEING NOBLE, FOUNDED ON KNOWLEGE AND CAPACITY  AND NOT ON  BIRTH ; THEY WERE MEN OF LAW, MOSTLY LAWYERS AND SOLICITORS  WHO HAD WORKED  DURING THE PREVIOUS YEARS  TO DEFEND THE COMUNITY AGAINST  ABUSE  FROM THE BARONS. THEY EVEN INCLUDED IN THEIR PLEADS IN THE  LAW CASES THE LANGUAGE  OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT  WITH THE HOPE  OF A NEW AGE :  THEY WERE CHURCH  MEN,  CLERGY OPEN MINDED TO THE CATHOLIC REFORM AND NOT AGAINST JANSENIST TENDENCIES, REGULARS WITHOUT VOCATION OR ELSE CONVINCED DEFENDERS OF A FAITH TO BE  BROUGHT ONCE AGAIN TO IT’S EVANGELISTIC PURITY. LAW, CHURCH, ARMY : THE MOST TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH  OPENINGS COULD BE FOUND BY “YOUNG STUDENTS” IN A SOCIETY OF “ORDERS” WERE  PERFORATED  INTERNALLY BY THE POLITICAL DIVISION, BY DIFFERENT CHOICES, TAKEN AFTER SUFFERED REFLECTION. THERE WERE ALSO THOUGH MEN OF SCIENCE, LETTERS AND THE ARTS OF  WHICH SOCIAL CONSTITUTION WAS OFTEN  TAKEN FOR THAT OF THE NOBLES OR ECCLESIASTIC CIRCLES : DOCTORS ( THE ENTIRE HOSPITAL OF THE “INCURABILI”  WAS ENVOLVED IN THE REPUBLICAN EVENTS ) ,  MINERALOGISTS, BOTANICS, CHEMISTS ( ALL HAVING STUDIED AT THE LAUBERG ACCADEMY ), PAINTERS AND SCULPTURES, MUSICIANS OF THAT “CONSERVATORY DELLA PIETA” WHERE IN 1795 THE REPRESENTATIVE SAVERIO MATTEI FOUND  << UNDISCIPLINED YOUNGSTERS, VAGABONDS WITHOUT SUBORDINATION (……) LANGUISHING FROM HUNGER, AND FROM MISERY >>, NEGLECTING TO STUDY MUSIC, THE SCHOOL NOT HAVING AN ADEQUATE LIBRARY  THAT MATTEI  HIMSELF HAD SEEN TO SUPPLY WITH MUSIC SHEETS AND BOOKS. THE WALLS WHICH DIVIDED THESE MEN FROM THE SOCIETY OF ORDER, ALREADY DETERIORATING FROM THEIR  POSITION ON THE INSIDE OF THE AGRONOMISTIC SOCIETY, OF THE CULTURAL CIRCLES,OF THE MASSONIC LODGES, NOW DISINTIGRATING UNDER THE POWER OF A LEGISLATION WHICH MADE EVERYONE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LAW (……..).

Anna Maria Rao

IT WAS THE EVENING OF THE 24 th  MAY 1799 AND AT THE FONDO THEATRE  THERE WAS A REPRESENTATION OF TIMOLEONE SHOWING, A TRAGEDY BY ALFIERI : IN THE BOX  OF ELEONORA PIMENTAL SAT THE BEAUTIFUL LUISA SANFELICE, DOMENICO CIMAROSA, DON LUIGI SERIO AND VINCENZO MONTI. BEAUTY AND CULTURE, MUSIC AND POETRY  PAID   HOMAGE TO THE GREAT IDEAS OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY THAT BURNT THE SOULS  IN THOSE EXCITED, FEVERISH, ELECTRIC BUT INEVITABLE  FEW MONTHS  UNTIL THE NEAPOLITAN  REPUBLIC. IN THE  START TO 1799 NAPLES ASSUMED IT’S NEW ROLE AS THE CAPITAL : NO MORE  PART OF THE BOURBAN  KINGDOM , OR OF THE SOUTH OF ITALY, OR  LAND OF OPERA MUSIC  BUT OF ITALY, ALL RELATING TO THOSE NEW SOCIAL PRINCIPLES THAT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION HAD HELPED TO SPREAD OVER THE WHOLE OF EUROPE. HERE WAS THE FIRST REAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IN ITALY WHICH ABOVE ALL FOUND LOCAL HUMAN RESOURCES , THE STRENGTH TO OPPOSE <<KING BIG NOSE >> FORMULATING A CONSTITUTION IN  WHICH , RATHER THAN  FOLLOW THE INDICATIONS OF THE  NAPOLEONIC CODE IT  CONSIDERED THE PARTICULAR NEEDS OF THE TERRITORY AND OF THE PEOPLE.  WELL KNOWN IS THE SAD ENDING TO THIS DREAM OF FREEDOM , CRUEL  IN THE SAME MEASURE AS WHEN THE REBELLION WAS AT IT’S ENTHUSIASTIC  PEAK : IN THE SUMMER OF ’99 NAPLES AND THE WHOLE WORLD LOST MANY OF IT’S MOST IMPORTANT INTELLECTUALS  OF THE CENTURY, AND ALL BECAUSE  OF THE FURIOUS SLAUGHTER  ORGANIZED BY THE RUTHLESS AND NO LESS CORRUPT  MARIA CAROLINA.

Renata Maione

THEY ARE  IMPOSING, SOMETIMES GLOOMY, DARK AND CURSING PORTRAITS. THEY ARE PORTRAITS WHICH MAKE YOU THINK OF GOYA THOUGH, THAT IS TO THE INSURRECTION OF THE SPANISH AGAINST THE FOREIGN INTRUDER. THE LACERATING COLOURS SUGGEST  AGAIN THE EXASPERATION AND HAUNTING VIOLENCE OF SOME WORKS  BY FRANCIS  BACON (…..). DE STEFANO BROUGHT US TODAY A FANTASTIC DOCUMENT  FOR IT’S OPPRESIVE STRENGTH AND GENIAL DESIGNS WHICH PERMITS US NOT ONLY TO  FOLLOW THE EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION  BUT TO IMMERSE OURSELVES IN THEM , TO SUFFER, TO SHOUT, TO CRY, OR TO BE  PROUD, LIKE  ME WHO  FOR YEARS  DEDICATED STUDIES AND  WRITINGS  TO THESE HEROES .

Maria Antonietta Macciocchi