Born in Alvito on 15 June 1834 at the age of 18, he embarked on a military career by enlisting in the Bourbon army. In Naples he came into contact with Risorgimento ideas inspired by his uncle Ernesto Capocci by Picinisco, a renowned Risorgimento man.
Returned to Alvito had contact with Alessio Mollicone, an important character of Casalvieri and with him arranged in Comino Valley a small conspiracy army against the Bourbon regime. With the subsequent passage to National Unity, he became Captain of the National Guard in Alvito and was given the task of forming a corps of local militia for public order and repression of banditry.
Famous was the clash with Wrench in Sora on 3.12.1860 to which they contested the city. When Garibaldi in 1867 to the cry of ”Rome or Death! ” he attacked the Papal State, he gathered a small army of our countrymen at Casale Branca in Sora, crossed the mountains and joined him.
From his diary we obtain the map of the route (in the photo). At Mentana near Tivoli, on 3 November 1867, there was the famous battle and here 11,000 Frenchmen with automatic weapons prevailed against 7,000 Garibaldians, armed with old rifles. But the handful of Cominensi distinguished themselves for heroism by allowing Garibaldi to escape, saving his life, and the gesture was compared to that of the Spartan Leonidas at Thermopylae.
On 29 March 1872, he was awarded the Benemeriti della Liberazione di Roma medal. Back in Alvito, he held numerous public offices and established the first national postal service on site.
In 1872, he married Rachele Rosaria Renzi from Sorano. He had a son by her to whom, naturally, he gave the name Giuseppe and it was he who tidied up and passed on his memories. He died in Alvito on 27 January 1904.
This post is made possible thanks to material provided by Prof. Saverio Zarrelli.