Bedtime Stories Pt. IV

Michelina di Cesare & The Briganti

bedtime stories pt. 4 ~ Michelina di Cesare & Briganti

”chi tutto vo’, tutto perdi”

”whoever wants everything, loses everything” - Calabrese proverb

Maybe you’ve seen this photo before, lots of low quality copies of it have been circulated widely and often completely out of context. This is Michelina di Cesare and according to her Wikipedia page she is a highway robber. If you dig a little deeper you’ll find tiny bits about her, describing her as not much more than the lover of Francesco Guerra. The former couldn’t be further from the truth and the latter is quite the reductive biography of a person who risked and ultimately lost her life to mobilize her fellow Peasants & fight back against their oppressors. Because context is everything and the complex history of Italy & Sicily are not necessarily well known by many - here is the backdrop. What we know today as Italy, was, for the majority of its history, distinct city-state regions that endured a long history of colonization from outside forces. Various invaders include (in no particular order) Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Saracens, Turks, Phoenicians, Germanics, Normans, Moors, French, Spanish… the list really does go on. Additionally various regions of Italy were also often in conflict with and needing to defend themselves against each other. Unification, or, Risorgimento -is an often romanticized and falsely represented story of Italy’s origin as a nation. In its most distilled form, unification was the process in the 1860s, by which the Piomontese, acting as liberators, brutally colonized Southern Italy and Sicily. Many promises were made about what unification would bring to the south, namely a higher quality of life and more equitable relations between the Northern colonizers and the South which had long been oppressed and exploited by them. It didn’t take long at all for the South to realize that these were false promises as many of the unjust preexisting conditions not only continued, but often worsened. Directly following unification in 1861 - Peasants took to their Piazzas like never before to challenge these oppressive entities, namely, the rulers of the new nation-state, large landholders, and the many priests who allied themselves with these corrupt efforts and often were viewed as the worst offenders. The Italian Unification Project was only supported by the urban bourgeoisie and upper middle class - but it’s important to know that the vast majority of Italy’s people did not belong to these upper echelons of society, they were Peasants and for them unification meant exaggerated taxation, mandatory conscription, dispossession from land, police brutality, government repression, and ultimately a more severe state of poverty than what already existed. Widespread anti-nationalist and anti-fascist popular struggle ensued, or what the Italian army called the Briganti (Bandits) & Brigantaggio (Brigandage or Banditry).

“Throughout the Southern countryside - in Calabria, Apulia, Campania, Molise, and Sicily - rebels formed large bands, often with hundreds of members, hid out in mountains and caves, and attempted to unite peasants in armed resistance against the state and the new class of land owners who expropriated peasant lands for nonpayment of taxes. They resisted the draft, intimidated tax collectors, occupied land, and robbed from the rich to give to the poor. Their activities took place during a decades long period of class-conscious revolt among southern peasants against the draft and new tax policies.”1

This movement was born Anarchist and Anti Fascist, though the Italian Elite, as well as many scholars have attempted to diminish its history and influence by reducing the Peasant Rebels down to mere criminals. There is also an unfortunate misconception, started long ago by the Colonizing parties, that the Briganti were the precursor to the mafia - this is not true. The existence of the Sicilian mafia predates the formation of the Briganti. In fact, during unification - “In most towns throughout Sicily, the mafia worked alongside the gabellotti, the middlemen who managed the estates for absentee landlords, and thus were not in solidarity with peasants but rather a source of intimidation and terror. Most government officials noted this, seeing instead that peasant resistance represented, “a true civil war waged by the poor against the rich.”2

Michelina di Cesare, La Brigantessa, was a leader of the Guerra Gang, along with her partner, Francesco Guerra. Many Southern Italian women were involved in the resistance, but Michelina was one of few leaders who served as both a leader of her group and a primary tactician. Respect for her abounded among the many men who followed her into combat, but official Italian history purposely disparages women by falsely describing them as only the lovers or relatives of men brigands. And for women like Michelina who ultimately sacrificed her life to the cause, the official Italian history has also made a point to put her posthumous photo on display to continue to discourage dissent among those who object to the corruption and inequalities that persist to this day. But like so many of the cultures in our world who have endured so much, Southern Italians value story keeping & telling and have a long tradition of oral storytelling and folktales that reflect the realities of their hardships, their connection to Spirit, and their resistance.

Michelina was from Caspoli of the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. Born on October 28, 1841 (a Scorpio Sun) - she grew up very poor and of parents who resisted the Northern occupation they lived under. As a child, Michelina and her brother were known for their early acts of resistance, they often went around stealing fruits & vegetables from the rich people’s fields to distribute amongst their community. As Michelina grew up conditions only continued to worsen and by the time she was 16 she was involved in direct action anti fascist resistance movements. For more than 10 years she and her comrades harassed and attacked the occupational forces. Their resistance was met with extreme violence & threats of mass deportation by the Piedmontese, but also by incentivizing their fellow community members to turn on them by offering monetary rewards… which in a society suffering from extreme poverty and malnutrition, sometimes worked. But the overwhelming majority of fellow Peasants did not fall for the rulers pleas nor tricks to turn on those who fought for their freedom. Michelina and the many Briganti she rebelled with were loved and protected because despite the many attempts made during their time to get their communities to fear and turn on them, and the countless attempts since then to tarnish their legacy ~ the Briganti did not engage in senseless violence or petty theft against their fellow Peasant class. They were organized, strategic, and purposeful in their action - specifically targeting those who had wronged them and intended to do harm to them and their communities.

On a stormy night in August of 1868, Michelina was ultimately captured and killed. I’ll spare you the details cause it’s fucked up, but despite being given the option to turn on her Briganti and remain alive if willing to switch sides and fight for the ruling class - she chose to sacrifice her life rather than betray her comrades. The colonizers put her body on display to the entire village to serve as a warning to the rebellion, but much to their dismay it had the opposite affect. Rather than deterring people, it outraged them and reinforced the rebellion as more and more people joined the cause.

Known to many as the Lioness of the South, Michelina’s true story lives on in the hearts and from the mouths and hands of many Nonnas.

“meglio na buona morte ca na mala vita”

“better a good death than a bad life” - Napoli Proverb

Ref. 1/2 from Living the Revolution by Jennifer Guglielmo