Vincenzo Galiani
Vincenzo Galiani (22 March 1770 – 18 October 1794) was an Italian revolutionary.
Biography
He was born at Montoro Superiore in a family belonging to the provincial bourgeoisie of the Kingdom of Naples, which had made its fortune with the production and trade of woollen clothes. After studying in the Seminary of Nola, where he was a pupil of Ignazio Falconieri, Galiani attended the University of Naples, majoring in humanities and law. He had contacts with the most radical elements of the Neapolitan Freemasonry such as Carlo Lauberg, Troiano Odazi and Annibale Giordano.
In December 1792, Galiani was one of the intellectuals who met the French admiral Latouche-Tréville;[1] from those meetings started a real conspiratorial activity outlined in the birth of the Società Patriottica Napoletana ("Neapolitan Patriotic Society", August 1793), a Jacobin association in the objectives but structured on the model of Masonic lodges, with a hierarchy of degrees so that the knowledge of secrets was reserved only to the top.[2]
On February 20, 1794 the Patriotic Society significantly split into two clubs: the ROMO (an acronym for Repubblica O MOrte, "Republic or Death", radical, led by Andrea Vitaliani, which was also joined by Vincenzo Galiani) and the LOMO (an acronym for Libertà O MOrte, "Liberty or Death", supporter of the constitutional monarchy, led by Rocco Lentini).
On March 21, 1794 the organization was discovered, due to the denunciation of Donato Froncillo. The first arrests were made, followed by many others for the confessions and denunciations of the first arrested (Vincenzo Vitaliani, brother of Andrea, Pietro De Falco and Annibale Giordano). Vincenzo Galiani managed to expatriate: he fled to Civitavecchia, where in early April he was arrested by the papal soldiers and extradited to Naples. It seems that, threatened with torture, Vincenzo Galiani also denounced other companions (the fact is not certain, however, because the acts of the process were destroyed a few years later by the Bourbon government).[3] The process, which began on August 15, 1794, was conducted with great speed.
Despite the defense of Mario Pagano, on October 3, 1794 Vincenzo Galiani and two other adherents of the ROMO, Vincenzo Vitaliani and Emanuele De Deo, probably chosen at random to give an example,[4] were sentenced to death and the sentence carried out by hanging on October 18, 1794 at Largo del Castello.
Notes
- ↑ Forteguerri, Bartolomeo (2005). La Spedizione Punitiva del Latouche-Treville. Napoli: La Città del Sole.
- ↑ Pedio, Tommaso (1976). Massoni e Giacobini nel Regno di Napoli. Emanuele De Deo e la Congiura del 1794. Matera: F.lli Montemurro.
- ↑ Rossi, Michele (1890). Nuova luce risultante dai fatti avvenuti in Napoli pochi anni prima del 1799. Firenze: Barbera.
- ↑ Simioni, Attilio (1995). Le Origini del Risorgimento Politico nell'Italia Meridionale. Napoli.
