Viva Maria (movement)

For the film, see Viva Maria!

The Viva Maria was one of the counter-revolutionary movements, known collectively as the Sanfedisti, which arose in Italy between 1799 and 1800 against the French invading forces. It had as its main theatre first the city of Genoa, then in 1799 the city of Arezzo and the rest of Tuscany, but also in the neighboring territories of the Papal States. Their rallying cry was the Marian hymn Evviva Maria from which they had their name.

History

French invasion of the Italian Peninsula

In 1796, the French army embarked on a military campaign to conquer Italy, initially intended as a diversion to prevent a concentration of German enemy forces along the Rhine. The most experienced French units and commanders were therefore dedicated to this northern front while a young 27-year-old general, Napoleon Bonaparte, was sent to Italy to direct operations.

The warring armies had no regard for an old-fashioned republic, and Napoleon's Army of Italy plan saw the Riviera di Ponente as the theatre for a decisive strategic variant to overcome the multi-year stalemate created in the Roia valley. With the French soldiers on Ligurian soil, and with the news of the fall of the equivalent Venetian republic, the situation precipitated.

Popular insurgency in Genoa

The signal for the start of what was called the Revolution of Genoa was, on the morning of 22 May 1797, the fanfare of the Cadet regiment. As this elite unit set out to take over the guard at Ponte Reale (the maritime station at the time) at a nod from Commander Falco, trumpets and drums intoned the notes of Ah! ça ira, a revolutionary hymn banned in Genoa for its revolutionary meaning. At those notes, squads of armed Jacobins emerged from the surrounding streets and immediately joined the cadets in occupying the port gate and then spread out across the city. While the nobles took refuge in their palaces and the shops closed their doors, the insurgents garrisoned the Gates of the Walls, plundered the arms depots and freed the Malapaga inmates and convicts. A revolutionary committee, destined to lead the insurrection, set up in the Loggia di Banchi: its members were Felice Morando, Filippo Doria, Abbot Cuneo, Valentino Lodi, Andrea Vitaliani, and the monk Alessandro Ricolfi known as Bernardone. Contact was immediately made with the government, from which the insurgents demanded their immediate resignation.

Giacomo Maria Brignole and the few senators who had managed to get to the Doge's Palace were about to accept when, incited by a few patricians, a crowd of commoners moved from Portoria, the restless Balilla quarter, shouting "long live our Prince", "long live Maria" and penetrated the public armoury, taking 14,000 rifles from it. These men began to hunt down the Jacobins and the French: the streets of the city soon became a battlefield. The clashes lasted two days with many dead and wounded. Filippo Doria himself was shot dead on the steps of Ponte Reale. The cells of the Ducal Palace were filled with revolutionaries arrested by the "viva Maria" and, as these were not enough, the nearby church of Saint Ambrose was also adapted as a prison.

The popular ranks of the Viva Maria led by Nicolò Pinelli Cattaneo were supported by aristocrats, including Gian Carlo Brignole, Girolamo Serra and Gian Luca and Giuseppe Durazzo, who soon took on the role of mediators, however, and succeeded in rescue the French ambassador Faipoult caught in an assault by counter-revolutionaries.

Faipoult had the opportunity to appeal to Bonaparte. The latter sent his aide-de-camp La Vallette to Genoa with a letter for the minister and one for the Doge, both very harsh. In the first, the general accused Faipoult of having prevented the French ships from entering the port and of having acted with excessive weakness. He then invited him to leave the city in the event that the Genoese government did not comply with what was requested in the letter to the Doge. In the latter, Bonaparte demanded that all French prisoners be set free, that the nobles who had incited the 'viva Maria' and disarmed the people be arrested. "If, within 24 hours after receiving this letter, you have not complied with the request," Bonaparte intimated, "the Minister of the French Republic will be removed from Genoa and the aristocracy will ceased to exist." The Magnificents realised that they had no choice but to accept Bonaparte's diktat. Faipoult left for Milan, and a Genoese delegation composed of the former doge Michelangelo Cambiaso, the jurist Luigi Carbonara and Girolamo Serra left to agree the change of government with Bonaparte, in those days in the villa at Mombello.

In early September, a new popular uprising broke out.

Invasion of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany

In 1799, the French army had occupied all the Italian states, except the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which had declared its neutrality and had also tried to buy itself immunity by paying, on several occasions, the sum of two million liras: one of the aims of the Italian campaign was to procure funds as the Directory had expressly ordered.

On 23 March 1799, the Grand Duchy paid the last instalment of the agreed sum for its immunity. The next day, the French opened hostilities and began their invasion. Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany took refuge in Vienna. On Saturday, 6 April 1799, the French, commanded by Captain Lavergne, entered the city of Arezzo, which at that time had about 8,000 inhabitants. The next day, Sunday, the tree of liberty (symbol of the French Revolution consisting of a tall wooden pole surmounted by a Phrygian cap) was erected in the Piazza Grande.

Beginning of the insurgency and liberation of Arezzo

By April, the towns of Terranuova Bracciolini, Loro, San Giovanni Valdarno, Montevarchi, Figline Valdarno, Dicomano, Bibbiena and the entire Valdarno area, the Casentino and then Borgo San Lorenzo had already risen up; then the Val di Nievole, Val di Chiana, Volterra, Signa, Versilia, Lucca, and others.

At the beginning of May, rumours spread in Arezzo that the arrival of an Austrian or Russian liberator army was imminent. On the night between 5 and 6 May 1799, the countryside around Arezzo was mobilised to the cry of "Viva Maria". On the morning of 6 May, the city rose up: the tree of liberty was set on fire. The French garrison was few in number and was quickly put to flight. The four valleys of the province were also liberated from the French. Two deputations were formed in the city, one military and the other civil. The latter was called the Supreme Deputation and was composed of Tommaso Guazzasi, Don Benedetto Mancinotti, Luigi Lorenzo Romanelli, Francesco Fabbroni, Niccolò Brillandi and Carlo Albergotti. The Arezzo military command was entrusted to Angelo Guillichini, Giovan Battista Albergotti and Giovanni Brozzi, who assembled an initial nucleus of an army. Loyalty was declared to the legitimate ruler, Grand Duke Ferdinand III.

The first French reaction

The French army, in retreat towards the Po Valley, could not intervene directly, but from Florence the order was given to the Polish Legion, at that time stationed in Perugia, to bring Cortona and Arezzo back to obedience. The Polish Legion, with 4,000 infantrymen and 400 cavalrymen, was commanded by the Polish general Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. This column proceeded from the south towards Arezzo. The first insurgent town it faced was Cortona, which put up fierce resistance. Dabrowski, considering that he was without artillery, decided to continue towards Arezzo. The people of Arezzo had organised their defence by deploying hundreds of armed commoners a few miles from the city. The entire road from Vitiano to Olmo was lined with snipers who continuously hit the Polish column. On 14 May 1799 in the locality of Il Ghetto, between Vitiano and Rigutino (a town about 12 kilometres south of Arezzo), fighting raged that led to the killing of Dabrowski's deputy, Colonel Jozéf Chamand, and the subsequent Polish reprisal that saw 14 civilians between 70 and 90 years of age massacred. This is what is remembered as the Battle of Rigutino, which ended with the Poles retreating towards San Giuliano and then towards the territories still occupied by the French, avoiding Arezzo.

The people of Arezzo, seeing what seemed to them a flight of more than 4,000 veterans, began to believe that they were invincible because they were protected by their patron saint, Our Lady of Comfort. From that moment on, they took courage and began to liberate all the neighbouring towns and cities, pushing on towards Marche, Umbria and Lazio, achieving numerous successes: on 13 July, the fortress of San Leo fell; on 3 August, Perugia capitulated.

Liberation of Tuscany

The news of the victory over the Poles spread throughout Tuscany. A large number of volunteers enlisted in the army of Arezzo, which grew to 50,000 strong. This army, which took the name Armata Aretina, began to attack the French in the territory of the Grand Duchy. It generally had popular support, and even in places like Foiano, where the Jacobin ideology was more deeply rooted, the people sided en masse with the Viva Maria. Arezzo temporarily became the capital of a small state. To finance itself, it imposed its own taxation, took possession of the French army's material, and certainly had economic support from the English. English was also one of the leaders of the Armata Aretina who entered this phase: Lord William Frederick Wyndham. The Austrians and Russians also participated at this juncture: they sent Karl Schneider von Arno to command the army. The army changed its name: it became Austro-Aretine and then Austro-Russian-Aretine. A charismatic figure arose in the Valdarno: Sandrina, the so-called 'Maid of the Valdarno'. She was Alessandra Mari, from Montevarchi, who took the position of Adjutant Major of the Valdarno Division. Her husband Lorenzo Mari became military councillor of the Supreme Deputation.

There were criminal episodes during this phase: in Monte San Savino, Jews were mistreated and repeatedly searched by the inhabitants — especially those from the countryside. The local Deputation endeavoured to defend them, but met with general disapproval. To save them from far more violent reprisals, the city government decided to exile them. The most serious episode occurred in Siena. During the insurgents' entry into the city to drive out the French, the Sienese mob looted the local ghetto. Thirteen Jews were brutally murdered. Three of the thirteen corpses were then burnt in the Campo, together with the tree of liberty. Only the intervention of the Aretine officers, who drove out those who had penetrated the Ghetto and placed sentries in front of all the entrances, managed to put an end to the anti-Jewish violence. Pitigliano was also the site of anti-Jewish riots, with one victim in 1799.

On 4 July, the French left Florence, besieged by Aretine troops. The Aretines entered the city by parading on 7 July, after waiting for permission from the city authorities. Between 16 and 17 July, with the army's entry into Livorno and Portoferraio, the liberation of the Grand Duchy was completed. On 5 September, the legitimate authorities decreed the dissolution of the Austro-Russian-Aretine Army and on 15 September also of the Supreme Deputation. The decrees were complied with in a disciplined manner. On 10 February 1800 the Grand Duke named Arezzo a new province in recognition of the loyalty and courage shown.

The return of the French

On 14 June 1800 Napoleon, when he seemed to be beaten, won the Battle of Marengo against the Austrians and regained control. From then on, Italy was his until 1814. The Grand Duke had appointed General Hannibal Sommariva as head of the defence of the Grand Duchy. The latter, probably having judged the enterprise impossible, fled first from Florence and then from Arezzo, which was left to itself. On 18 October 1800 a division of 5000 soldiers commanded by General Monnier appeared at the gates of Arezzo, which put up desperate resistance. On 19 October, while an Arezzo delegation was negotiating the surrender, Monnier suddenly attacked the Porta San Lorentino and managed to enter. Arezzo suffered a harsh reprisal. It was sacked for four days; the French army indulged in all sorts of excesses and about 40 citizens were killed. As a consequence, there was also a very serious economic crisis from which the city only really recovered after many years.

Napoleon's defeat in 1814 at the Battle of Leipzig and the return of Grand Duke Ferdinand III were therefore greeted with enormous relief by the population of Arezzo.

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