The Lovely Queen of May

Remember

The Roman Legacy in Royal Italy

Today, Italy is so familiar to people all around the world (being one of the most easily recognizable countries anywhere) that it is easy to forget that before the unification of the Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy, the Italian peninsula had not known unity under a single government since the time of the Roman Empire. Given that fact, it is perfectly natural that the glory days of ancient Rome were at the forefront of the mind of every Italian patriot from the time of unification throughout the life of the Kingdom of Italy. At the time, many countries were quick to ridicule this fascination with ancient Rome and treat the Italians with condescension, as if this newborn country was wrong to aspire to the Roman legacy. Yet, this was arrogance of the worst kind; unjustifiable arrogance. After all, many other countries had already tried to lay claim to the old Roman legacy. The Germans had with their Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which lasted, in name at least, for quite some time. More recently there had been the French Empire of Napoleon which had adopted the Roman eagle, the laurel crown, even Roman styles of fashion and furnishings. Even the British were not immune from portraying their empire as ancient Rome reborn and then surpassed. From the Iberian peninsula to Russia others had been claiming the Roman legacy as their own for centuries and with unification the Italians finally came together to reclaim their own history.

That was one thing which all of the otherwise diverse factions among Italian nationalists had in common. Even at a time when they were often at odds, it was what drove Giuseppe Garibaldi and King Vittorio Emanuele II to agree that Italy must be one and must be united from Rome. Turin or Florence, lovely as they might be, simply could not take the place of the “Eternal City” which had been the seat of power for the Caesars. Even the republican Giuseppe Mazzini who tried to claim the Roman legacy while at the same time deriding the history of the great Roman Empire, saying that the world had seen the Rome of the Caesar’s and the Rome of the Pope’s but he would bring about the people’s Rome. That, of course, put him squarely at odds with the most prominent living relic of ancient Rome; the Roman Catholic Church whose organization, titles and even vestments and language were all Roman in origin. When Mazzini drove the Pope out of Rome and established his short-lived Roman Republic he won only a temporary victory against the Church which was soon back and in control thanks to the French army sent by another man trying to reclaim an imperial legacy; Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.

The ideal of Cavour of a “free Church in a free State” was moderate enough to attract a large following even if it still mean a stand-off with the Church since, unlike the situation in the old Roman Empire, the Pope was intent on filling the role of Caesar as well as Vicar of Christ, at least as far as Rome and central Italy was concerned. Fortunately, it was a standoff that was ultimately resolved, though it robbed the early years of the Kingdom of Italy, the formative years, of much Catholic influence which most would have expected as being only natural. However, in every walk of life, memories of ancient Rome and the Roman Empire permeated all levels of society in the Kingdom of Italy. It was seen in very grand, impressive ways such as the architecture of the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument down to small ways such as in certain office titles, ranks and military insignia. During World War I, for example, the Arditi, the elite trench-raiding units of the Italian army displayed as their unit badge a wreathed roman short sword bearing the motto of the House of Savoy.

It is also no surprise that Imperial Rome was on the mind of every Italian when it came to the subject of colonial expansion. The first Italian overseas colony, Eritrea, received its name from the old Roman term for the Red Sea. Likewise, when Italy gained the north African provinces of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan from the Ottoman Empire they revived the old Roman name for the region; Libya. And, even before the colonial period, King Vittorio Emanuele II had envisioned the House of Savoy presiding over a revived Roman Empire by providing monarchs for formerly Roman countries such Greece and Spain, though nothing came of the first effort and the second did not last for long. When the first King of Italy departed this life he was laid to rest in one of the most visible remnants of Imperial Rome; the Church of St Mary and the Martyrs, also known as the Pantheon, which had originally been built by Marcus Agrippa as a pagan temple and later rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian. When the King was entombed a large Imperial Roman eagle was used to decorate the resting place.

The areas of “Unredeemed Italy” were, for the most part, the lands of Venice which had been taken by France during the Napoleonic Wars and then handed over to Austria, however, all had also been originally Roman and that fact was never lost on zealous Italian nationalists. Even Albania was an area that had been settled by the Romans even before the northern extremes of the Italian peninsula had been. The Roman legacy was never far from the thoughts of those advocating expansion and this was tied in with the former territories of the maritime republics such as Genoa and Venice. During World War I, in 1915, when expansion into Ottoman Turkey by the Allies seemed a real possibility, Luigi Medici del Vascello famously said, “Remember, gentlemen, that Constantinople was built by a Roman Caesar on the gorgeous banks of the Bosphorus, … and, while the call of the Muezzin rocks the Turk in his fatal torpor, the Galata tower sighs imploringly still to its Genoa: come back Italy!” Such stirring words were fairly common in bridging the gaps between the Roman Empire, Renaissance Italy and the Kingdom of Italy which was still making a place for itself in the world.

Of course, and this is somewhat unfortunate, the memory of Imperial Rome was never greater or more emphasized than during the Fascist era. This was rather different than what had gone before though in that this was somewhat artificial, it was not a natural expression but something imposed from the top down. Mussolini wanted to mimic ancient Rome as much as possible and so there was the symbol of the fasces everywhere, the Roman salute, Roman style flags, the Fascist militia was organized into legions, centuries, cohorts, maniples and so on. Mussolini liked to portray himself as a new Caesar and many propaganda pieces of art did this, sometimes including the King but more often than not the Fascists tried to ignore him as much as possible. Latin inscriptions began to appear on the walls and buildings of Rome, Roman relics were excavated and Roman styles began to influence architecture again, though in a more simplified, modernist fashion more in keeping with the Fascist conceit of being the ‘way of the future’. Mussolini also, of course, boasted that he would restore the “glory that was Rome” by dominating the Mediterranean basin and forging the Second (or Third) Roman Empire.

There actually was some very beneficial archaeological and historical preservation work done during the Fascist era because of the fascination Mussolini had with recapturing Roman glory. However, it was also extremely unfortunate in that, for the post-war generations, it has to a large extent tainted the Roman legacy because so many now associate anything Roman with the misdeeds and bad reputation of the National Fascist Party and the actions of other parties in other countries which were influenced by the Fascists of Italy. That is too bad as the Roman legacy is something every Italian should be proud of. It represented the peak of civilization in the ancient world and it established the foundation upon which almost everything in all of subsequent European history has been built.

General Ettore Perrone di San Martino

Ettore Perrone conte di San Martino was born in Turin on January 12, 1789 to a prominent aristocratic family of Canavese. He began his military career in the service of France when the French dominated northern Italy. In 1806 he volunteered for the “Legion du Midi”, graduated from Saint-Cyr military academy and then served as an infantry junior officer in the campaigns of 1807 to 1809. He earned the Legion of Honor for gallantry at the battle of Wagram where he was wounded. From 1810 to 1811 he fought in Spain as an officer in the Young Guard, in the summer of 1811 becoming a member of the prestigious Old Guard grenadiers. Despite being wounded, he hobbled off on crutches to serve in the invasion of Russia. As an infantry captain he fought at Luetzen and Bautzen in 1813, was stabbed by a bayonet and was wounded no less than three times at the battle of Montmirail. The following year Napoleon promoted him to command of the 24^th Infantry Battalion and during the famous Hundred Days campaign he served as adjutant to General Gerard.

Perrone stayed in France after the Bourbon restoration and was recalled to the army in 1817. After his service he returned to Turin after a stopover in England. When the House of Savoy restored the monarchy to its pre-Revolutionary form he tried to enlist the support of other nobles against it, advocating instead for a constitutional monarchy. This coincided with the Carbonari uprising in Piedmont-Sardinia and a resulting crackdown by government forces. He was arrested and condemned to death for revolutionary activity, however, he managed to escape to France and rejoined the army there, rising to the rank of general. Back home he was hanged in effigy by the authorities. In France, Perrone married a relative of the famous Marquis de Lafayette but took his family out of Paris during the uprising that brought down King Charles X. Perrone stayed with the army, rising to command the Loire Department command. However, his homeland was never far from his thoughts, nor was he from their own and in the revolutionary year of 1848 22,330 people voted for him in elections for the Constituent Assembly, despite his still being in France. That month, after the proclamation of March 23 by King Carlo Alberto, after 27 years in exile, he left France and wrote to his old friend, Cesare Balbo, offering his sword for the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

It was also in March of 1848, in the famous “Five Days” that Italian nationalists in Milan rose up and expelled the Austrian garrison. Afterwards, the Provisional Government of Milan gave him the post of Inspector General of the Army of Lombardy and the city of Ivrea nominated him to be their Deputy in the recently formed Subalpine Parliament in Turin. However, General Perrone dismissed all praise for himself, claiming all the time to be nothing more than a humble farmer and foot soldier. Nonetheless, the government in Turin named him Minister of Foreign Affairs though at the same time others cast aspersions on him for his long stay in France and his handling of the army. From October 11 to December 16 he held the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, though his enemies still tried to spread opposition to him. Not allowed to stand for elections, King Carlo Alberto stepped in and appointed him to the rank of general in his army, giving him command of the Third Infantry Division consisting of 12,027 men and 16 canon. It was in this capacity that, the following year, he took part in the pivotal battle of Novara in the First Italian War of Independence.

The Austrians under Field Marshal Graf Radetzky had marched into Lombardy and seized Mortara and the Piedmontese army under the Polish Napoleonic veteran General Wojciech Chrzanowski (who was ignorant of the ground, the situation and did not even speak Italian) rushed to meet them at Novara. Lt. General Ettore Perrone commanded the left wing of the Piedmontese forces. A key portion of the army was cut off (whether by treachery or incompetence remains debated but the general in charge was shot) and the whole Austrian army fell on the Piedmontese at Novara. The Austrians were experienced, well trained and disciplined and with a veteran and skillful commander very familiar with northern Italy. The Piedmontese had a slight numerical advantage but were disadvantaged in every other way. The Austrians launched a heavy attack on his sector and he at least held firm but he was cut down in a heavy fusillade, being shot in the head and knocked from his horse, dislocating his shoulder in the process. He lingered for several hours in great pain before passing away.

His funeral services were large affairs attended by many people and his family went on after him. His great-great granddaughter is HM Queen Paola of the Belgians.

Images of the First War for Independence

The End of the Western Empire

It was on this day in 476 AD that Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer, bringing the Western Roman Empire to an end. Odoacer would go on to become, effectively, King of Italy (as he was hailed by his troops) and the course of history would become quite terrible until the struggle to restore civilization reached the heights of the High Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance.

Italians in the Battle of Britain

The Kingdom of Italy was a pioneer in aerial warfare, the first to use aircraft in combat and the first to theorize on the strategic use of aircraft for large-scale bombing. However, a lack of industrial development as compared to other powers and a shortage of resources meant that the Kingdom of Italy lagged behind some of the other European powers in the deployment of modern aircraft. When Mussolini and his Fascist Party came to power he made many promises about devoting greater attention to the Regia Aeronautica but delivered very little. When the Duce entered World War II by declaring war on France and Britain, most Italian aircraft were still out of date. Nonetheless, Italy had the experience, the talent and the determination to make a respectable fight for the air over the battlefields and soon after war began, received a new incentive to take to the skies. Only days after Italy entered the conflict a group of British Wellington bombers attacked Turin, intending on striking the headquarters of Fiat and the manufacturing center. They missed, however, in spite of encountering absolutely no resistance. There were no air raid alarms, no ground fire and no Italian planes to intercept them. Their attack missed its intended target but killed fourteen civilian men, women and children, and wounded thirty more before returning to France.

BR.20 Cicogna

The British also struck at Milan but with similar results. The Breda airplane factory, Pirelli tire factory and the steel mill were all undamaged but five bombs had hit a Catholic children’s home. Churchill had hoped that by getting in the first blow he would break the Italian will to fight but he could not have made a greater miscalculation. The Italian press labeled the raid as a “terrorist” attack since only civilians had been killed and injured and the whole public was outraged and support for the war skyrocketed as the people called out for revenge against the British. A retaliatory raid was launched on France within 24 hours but retribution against the British would have to wait until the conquest of France and the launching of the “Battle of Britain” by the German Luftwaffe. In September of 1940 the Corpo Aereo Italiano was dispatched to German-occupied Belgium for participation in the air war against Britain under the command of Air Marshal Rino Corso-Fougier. The force consisted of three Stormi of 87 fighters, 5 reconnaissance planes and 78 bombers. Later this was reinforced to include another Squadriglia of CANT Z.1007bi long-range triple-motor reconnaissance planes, a number of Caproni Ca.164 communication planes and one Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 transport. They were based out of Melsbroek.

A great deal of nonsense has been written about the Italian participation in the Battle of Britain, mostly that it was of no consequence and that the Italians in their antique-looking planes were easily dealt with. In fact, they proved quite capable of holding their own and gave as good as they got. Of course, it was a modest contribution and no one was under any illusions as to the disadvantages Italy faced. However, because of that, their mission was a limited one and within the confines of that mission they were successful, overall, in accomplishing their goals. The aim of the Italian Air Corps was simply to bomb the harbor and port installations at Folkstone, Harwich, Foulness, Ramsgate, Margate and other areas on the south coast of England because it was clear from the start that the naval war effort was what kept Britain in the fight. In damaging these areas there was also the secondary goal of attracting British air resources away from the major cities and airfields that were under attack by the Luftwaffe.

CR.42 Falco

The Germans were initially not too impressed with their Italian allies but changed their opinion after being invited to test fly a Fiat Falco biplane which, despite its outdated appearance, they found to be quick, sturdy and extremely maneuverable. Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring said that the plane was a “delight” to fly and quite capable of holding its own until Italian aircraft designers could produce something more modern. Still, there was no doubt that the Italians were at a great disadvantage. Their most dangerous enemy in the air was the Hawker Hurricane which was 102kph faster than the Falcos, more heavily armed and had a higher climbing rate. The British were able to intercept all Axis radio communications, alerting them when an attack was being launched and yet the Italian forces had trouble coordinating since the vast majority of their aircraft lacked radio equipment. However, by far, the biggest handicap suffered by the Italian fighters was their range and fuel capacity which often left them with as little as ten minutes of flying time over England before they had to turn back across the Channel to reach Belgium before exhausting their fuel. Nonetheless, they put up a hard fight in southern English skies though their first operation showed the effects of being unfamiliar with the area and lacking up-to-date navigational equipment.

After being prepared for action on October 22, Air Marshal Corso-Fougier launched the first Italian air attack three days later with eighteen Cicogna (Stork) bombers being sent to raid Felixtowne and Harwich just after dark. All the planes returned without suffering any losses and Italian newspapers trumpeted the success of their aircraft over Britain. A more serious attack was launched on October 29 in a daylight raid on Ramsgate. Fifteen BR.20 Cicogna bombers with fighter escort carried out the bombing attack successfully with only five Italian planes suffering damage from anti-aircraft fire. They flew very low in a tightly packed formation that amazed observers, especially as their Mediterranean paint jobs made them stand out against the dull sky of an English autumn. Later, on November 8, 22 G.50s on a patrol between Dungeness, Folkstone, Canterbury and Margate clashed with RAF fighters, putting up a spirited fight against veteran professionals so that neither side was able to claim any victories. However, that same day a flight of Hurricanes took a heavy toll on a group of Storks they picked up on radar approaching the coast.

On November 11 forty ‘Falcons’ escorted ten Storks in a daylight bombing raid on Harwich. However, there was bad weather which caused the force to be called off but they were still intercepted by the RAF. Three Falcons and three Storks were shot down with no losses for the British who were all veterans of heavy combat against the Germans. If there was any doubt about the sturdiness and reliability of the Italian aircraft these were disproved when a Canadian rammed a CR.42 with his propeller, beheading the pilot. In spite of this, the plane continued to fly straight back to Belgium to finally land in a field not far from its home base. On November 29, ten BR.20s took off for a daring nighttime raid on two critical British seaports, loaded with bombs and without a fighter escort. They avoided detection crossing the Channel and split up at the coast with half going to hit Lowestoft and the other half Great Yarmouth. At Lowestoft they hit Richards Shipyard and at Great Yarmouth they attacked the harbor works. All were under intense anti-aircraft fire but managed to score 61 hits on both installations, fighting off the belated RAF fighters sent to intercept them and all returned to Belgium without loss.

Air Marshal Corso-Fougier

By December the RAF was stretched to the limit and the Italian Air Corps returned to bomb Harwich almost without opposition though, as always, fire from the ground remained heavy. The British tried to counter-attack the Italian air base but had little effect. On January 2, 1941 Corso-Fougier sent a quartet of Stork bombers against Harwich for a nighttime raid but they ran into snow crossing the Channel, forcing two to turn back but the other two carried on, reached Harwich, catching the British completely off guard and delivering their bomb load, causing considerable damage to the port. That was to be the end though as only a few days later Italian air forces began pulling out of Belgium due to their being sorely needed in North Africa and other areas. Two squadrons still stayed behind until April 1941 but their mission was effectively over. They had dropped 54 tons of ordinance on the enemy, with 883 missions by the fighters alone and suffered a negligible 22% damage rate. Only 2 bombers had been lost to ground fire and only 10 Falcos had been shot down. In 1,800 hours of flying time with 1,076 operations carried out with a loss of only 21 airmen. For their total loss of 15 fighters and bombers they had taken down an equal number of superior British aircraft in the fight. In short, despite great disadvantages, they had done their duty and done it well.