The first event of 2023 with the #Fuorifestival of Salerno Letteratura (Literature Festivals). University professor Carmine Pinto will open the year by presenting his latest book, "The Brigand and the General. The War of Carmine Crocco and Emilio Pallavicini di Priola" (published by Laterza), in conversation with journalist and writer Paolo Romano.
The appointment is for Tuesday 17 January at 18 pm at the Gran Salone del Genovesi of the Via Roma headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce.
THE BOOK
Immediately after the Unification, Italy found itself fighting a real civil war, the one for the South. A war that had among its protagonists a brigand and a general, Carmine Crocco and Emilio Pallavicini di Priola. A bold heir of the feudal world against a bold swordsman aristocrat, the last army of the ancient regime against the first national army. A story that still today arouses emotions and divides. On the banks of the Ofanto, in the Italian South, a great challenge took place a century and a half ago. On one side there was the brigand, Carmine Crocco.
Shepherd, soldier, bandit by profession, he became the most famous gang leader in the southern countryside after 1860. At the head of the pro-Bourbon brigandage, he experimented with forms of guerrilla warfare that would be successful in the XNUMXth century, anticipating its political aspects and a large-scale criminal organization. On the other side, the general, Emilio Pallavicini di Priola, a Savoy aristocrat, a soldier expert in special operations and in command of units deployed in the campaign against brigandage.
The officer was part of the ancient sword aristocracy and interpreted the conclusion of a centuries-old process, in which military roles definitively passed to the professionals of war. In the first decade of united Italy, these two men, very distant in origin and education, were the most well-known protagonists of the war for the South. Carmine Pinto tells their 'parallel lives' and, through these, the episodes, places, battles and legends, the war between the first national army and the last of the old regime, up to the final clash and the surprising epilogue of their existences.
THE AUTHOR
Carmine Pinto is a full professor of Contemporary History at the University of Salerno. He deals with political history, cultural history and military history. He has worked on political systems of the twentieth century, currently deals with civil wars and national movements of the nineteenth century. He has taught in many European and Latin American universities, is a member of the editorial boards of Italian and international journals. He coordinates the scientific committee of the Institute for the History of the Risorgimento in Rome and directs the Research Center on Conflicts in the Contemporary Age. He is currently director of the Department of Humanistic Studies at the University of Salerno.
