Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco

Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco
Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco
Born	March 3, 1813; Palermo, Province of Palermo, Sicily
Died	January 8, 1881 (aged 67); Naples, Campania, Italy
Allegiance	Two Sicilies
Branch	Army of the Two Sicilies
Years of service	1822–1881
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	Sicilian revolution of 1848 Siege of Messina ; Expedition of the Thousand Italian Campaign Siege of Gaeta ; ; Sicilian Campaign Battle of Milazzo ; ;
Alma mater	Nunziatella Military School

Last updated October 02, 2024

Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco was a Two Sicilian Brigadier General of the Army of the Two Sicilies. He was one of the few charismatic figures during the Expedition of the Thousand and a primary figure of Two Sicilian resistance against the Sardinian forces.

Education and early career

Ferdinando was born on March 3, 1813, at Palermo as the son of Aloisio Beneventano del Bosco and Marianna Roscio who were nobility of Syracusan origins.^[1] At the age of nine, he enrolled in the Nunziatella Military School as a pupil.^[2]^[3] He began studying there at the age of twelve in 1825.^[4]

Del Bosco graduated in 1829 and was appointed second lieutenant within the 2nd Guard Grenadiers. He was then promoted to First Lieutenant in 1840 within the 2nd Infantry Regiment.^[4] With a strong-willed and aggressive character, endowed with a natural propensity for command, he had to temporarily leave his roles to take refuge in Malta since he had gone against the prohibition to participate in duels. He then returned to Naples after a pardon from King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies, he was able to continue his career and was promoted to Captain in 1848.^[2]^[3]^[1]

Sicilian revolution of 1848

He took part in the repression of the Sicilian revolution of 1848, during which he performed commendably by participating in the Siege of Messina, during which he suffered a slight wound. He obtained the praise of the general commander in chief of the Two Sicilian troops, Carlo Filangieri for his service in the revolution. During the assault on Taormina, he asked in vain to lead the first wave and at Catania, he was at the forefront of the attack on a barricade and achieved two important successes in sequence in the area of Monserrato and Punta Verde.^[2]^[3]

In 1850, del Bosco was among the few to be awarded the first class gold medal by King Ferdinando II which also made him the knight of the Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit and the Constantine Order of Saint Giorgio.^[2]^[3]

Expedition of the Thousand

In 1858, he was promoted to major and he was in command of the battalion stationed in Monreale. In April 1860, he suppressed the Gancia Revolt and in May, against the Garibaldians during the Siege of Palermo.

Promoted to Colonel, he was sent to command three battalions to reinforce the fort of Milazzo and on 20 July he clashed with the Medici column in the Battle of Milazzo and was forced to take refuge in the fort until an officer sent from Naples negotiated the surrender with the Garibaldini. Del Bosco along with the Bourbon troops were able to embark for Naples, where he was promoted to Brigadier General. Arrested and immediately released upon Garibaldi's entry into Naples in November 1860, he went to the fortress of Gaeta to fight alongside Francesco II during the Siege of Gaeta.^[2]^[3]^[1]

Two months later however, there was the surrender and he followed Francesco II to Rome until he was expelled by Pope Pius IX from the Papal States in September 1861 and del Bosco continued to organize the anti-unification movement, strengthened by the reputation of having been one of the few Bourbon officers not to have fled before Garibaldi.^[2] After his expulsion from the Papal States, del Bosco would wander through various capitals until reaching Spain and Morocco.^[4] From there, his whereabouts remained unknown until his return to Naples at some point as he would die there on January 8, 1881.^[3]

Legacy

On December 12, 2014, a street in Milazzo was named after del Bosco after the council headed by Mayor Carmelo Pino approved the resolution for the renaming.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Sicily is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy. With 4.8 million inhabitants, including 1.3 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is the most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is generally considered part of Southern Italy.

Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death in 1859.

Francis II was King of the Two Sicilies. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule, as part of Italian unification. After he was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia were merged into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Italy</span> Macroregion of Italy

Southern Italy, also known as Meridione or Mezzogiorno, is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele Amari</span> Italian politician (1806–1889)

Michele Benedetto Gaetano Amari was a Sicilian patriot, liberal revolutionary and politician of aristocratic background, historian and orientalist. He rose to prominence as a champion of Sicilian independence from the Neapolitan Bourbon rule when he published his history of the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1842. He was a minister in the Sicilian revolutionary government of 1848–9 and in Garibaldi's revolutionary cabinet in Sicily in 1860. Having embraced the cause of Italian unification, he was active in his later years as a senator of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Expedition of the Thousand was an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto al Mare near Genoa and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the Spanish House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The name of the expedition derives from the initial number of participants, which was around 1,000 people.

The Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848 which commenced on 12 January 1848 was the first of the numerous Revolutions of 1848 which swept across Europe. It was a popular rebellion against the rule of Ferdinand II of the House of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies. Three revolutions against the Bourbon ruled Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had previously occurred on the island of Sicily starting from 1800: this final one resulted in an independent state which survived for 16 months. The Sicilian Constitution of 1848 which survived the 16 months was advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified Italian confederation of states. It was in effect a curtain-raiser to the end of the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies, finally completed by Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, the Siege of Gaeta of 1860–1861 and the proclamation of the unified Kingdom of Italy.

The Battle of the Volturno refers to a series of military clashes between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies occurring around the River Volturno, between the cities of Capua and Caserta in northern Campania, in September and October 1860. The main battle took place on 1 October 1860 between 30,000 Garibaldines and 25,000 Bourbon troops (Neapolitans).

Carmine Crocco, known as Donatello or sometimes Donatelli, was an Italian brigand. Initially a soldier for the Bourbons, he later fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The Battle of Milazzo was fought on 17–24 July 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies at Milazzo, Sicily, then part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and land area in Italy before the Italian unification, comprising Sicily and most of the area of today's Mezzogiorno and covering all of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States.

The Battle of Calatafimi was fought on the 15 May 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi's Redshirts and the troops of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies at Calatafimi, Sicily, as part of the Expedition of the Thousand. The battle was the first of Garibaldi's victory during his invasion of Sicily in 1860 and saw his 'Thousand' defeat a larger Neapolitan army sent from Palermo to block the roads to the Sicilian capital.

Vito Nicola Nunziante was an Italian general, politician and entrepreneur, who was active in the Kingdom of Naples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian Parliament</span>

The Sicilian Parliament was the legislature of the Kingdom of Sicily.

The Dictatorship of Garibaldi or Dictatorial Government of Sicily was the provisional executive that Giuseppe Garibaldi appointed to govern the territory of Sicily during the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860. It governed in opposition to the Bourbons of Naples.

Giacinto Carini was a politician and Italian patriot. He participated in the Sicilian independence revolution of 1848, was a Garibaldian, a general, and a member of Parliament.

The siege of Palermo took place between 27 and 30 May 1860 in Palermo, Sicily, during the Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi against the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as part of the Italian unification wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Landi (general)</span> Two Sicilian Brigadier General

Francesco Landi was a Brigadier General from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was the main commander at the Battle of Calatafimi against Garibaldi's Redshirts during the Expedition of the Thousand.

Ferdinando Lanza was a lieutenant-general who fought against Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand. During the conflict, Lanza was stationed at Palermo but surrendered after the siege on May 30, 1860.

Giuseppe Salvatore Pianell was an Italian general and politician. Count since 1856.

References

1 2 3 "Gli eroi del Sud dimenticati: Ferdinando Beneventano Del Bosco". IlSudOnLine (in Italian). June 10, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "BOSCO, Ferdinando Beneventano del". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved December 4, 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ferdinando Beneventano Del Bosco". Associazione culturale Neoborbonica (in Italian). Retrieved January 17, 2023.
1 2 3 Pescolanciano, Ettore d’Alessandro di (September 10, 2022). "La leggenda del generale D.Ferdinando Beneventano Del Bosco". Alta Terra di Lavoro (in Italian). Retrieved January 17, 2023.
↑ Sframeli, Serena (December 11, 2014). "Pino intitola una via cittadina al generale Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco". tempostretto.it (in Italian). Retrieved January 17, 2022.