Page 160 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

158 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

THE EXPEDITION

Apart from the tireless Bertani, a provisional committee located in Genoa
and formed by Nuvolari, Acerbi, Guerzoni and Bixio, was attending to all the
material arrangements for the expedition to Sicily. Originally, the plan fore-
saw sending only 200 volunteers; then it was decided to increase their num-
ber to 1000, but this also increased the difficulties of providing supplies and
ammunitions and finding new funds. Missori and Torriani diligently dealt
with this aspect, whereas the officers of the Alpine Troops in Milan, Brescia
and Pavia provided a strong financial contribution. Abroad and in Sicily, the
following people worked with the utmost alacrity: Francesco Crispi,
Giuseppe La Masa, Vincenzo Orsini, Rosalino Pilo, Salvatore Castiglia,
Mario Palizzolo, Emerico Amari, the Orlando brothers, Giacinto Carini,
Giovanni Corrao, Salvatore Calvino, Gaetano La Loggia, Enrico Albanese,
Salvatore Cappello, the Pisani brothers, the Di Benedetto brothers.
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Events came to a head when Palermo rose up on April 4 , 1860. This
uprising was stifled, and apart from many victims, it resulted in the firing
squad for 13 people, but the flame of rebellion spread to Carini, Termini,
Trapani, Messina, Catania, Caltanissetta, Siracusa, Noto, and Girgenti.
«It is a hard war – wrote Castelcicala in his report – the war that these peo-
ple make against the royal troops, who must fight an enemy that never shows
in the open, but that is always invisible and scattered, that finds shelter from
the attacks, disperses, scatters, and gathers here and there. Clearly, these
bands tend to weaken our troops and to overwhelm them through this con-
tinuous fight». Once the reinforcements arrived from the continent,
Castelcicala ordered the disarmament, the burning and looting, and the hor-
rifying repressions of San Lorenzo, Carini, Bagheria took place, which still fill
us with horror. In Messina, even the artillery was used; the foreign consuls
protested against these excesses put a stop to them.
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On April 7 , Crispi and Bixio went to Garibaldi in Turin to inform him
about the uprising of Palermo. The general agreed to lead the expedition to
Sicily, and in the second half of April he went to Augusto Vecchi’s Villa
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Spinola, in the territory of Quarto. On the 20 , he wrote to Fabrizi and Pilo,
and informed them that the expedition had been decided and that they had to
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wait for them between Sciacca and Girgenti. On the 23 , preparations began.
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On the 24 th (or 25 ) Colonel Frapolli went to Garibaldi, sent by Farini
to dissuade him from this undertaking. Newspapers reported the news that