User:Tuttoleone64/Pietro Fumel

Pietro Fumel (January 1, 1821 - August 11, 1886) was a general in the Royal Italian Army.

Biography
Pietro was born on January 1, 1821, in Ivrea, under the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. Having completed his military studies, in 1848-1849 with the rank of Artillery Lieutenant he took part in the First War of Italian Independence, in which he sided with the troops of King Charles Albert of Savoy. After a rapid career that took him to the top of the Royal Sardinian Army, in 1859 he organized the armed defense of Ivrea in anticipation of an Austrian attack. The following year he was appointed Major of the city's Mobile Militia and was sent to Bologna, where he supported the population who rebelled against the Papal States and organized the plebiscite which brought on the union of Emilia-Romagna with the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Following the unification of Italy, after the arrival of José Borjes' expedition he was sent to Calabria (precisely in the Cosentino area) with the rank of Colonel to tame the rampant post-unification brigandage. The repression implemented by Fumel was ruthless, using the most extreme methods to eliminate the brigands, resorting to torture and terror, without distinctions between brigands and brigands or presumed such and regardless of the observance of any legal guarantee. He decimated the bands of Palma, Schipani, Ferrigno, Morrone, Franzese, Rosacozza, Molinari, Bellusci and Pinnolo.

The executions commanded by Fumel took place in public squares and along the streets. The victims The best-known episode of his anti-brigandism activity occurred in Fagnano Castello, where he ordered the shooting of one hundred defenseless peasants, whom their heads were cut off and impaled as a warning to those who joined or supported the brigand gangs, while other corpses were thrown into the rivers.

From Cirò, February 12, 1862, Fumel wrote a proclamation on the resolution of the brigandage problem: "I, the undersigned, having had the mission to destroy Brigandage, promise a reward of one hundred lire for every brigand, alive or dead, who is brought to me. This reward will be given to every brigand who kills one of his comrades; his life will also be spared. Those who, despite the orders, give refuge or any other means of subsistence or help to the brigands, or upon seeing them or knowing the place where they are hiding, do not inform the troops and the civil and military authorities, will be immediately shot. All country huts that are not inhabited must be uncovered and their entrances walled up within three days. It is forbidden to transport bread or any other type of provision beyond the homes of the Municipalities, and anyone who disobeys this order will be considered an accomplice of the brigands" The echo of this proclamation also reached London, where the MP Lord Alexander Baillie-Cochrane stated that "a more infamous proclamation had never disgraced the worst days of the reign of terror in France". The deputy Giuseppe Ricciardi said to the Chamber on 18 April 1863: «This Colonel Fumel boasts of having had about three hundred brigands and non-brigants shot». Nino Bixio, as well as many other army commanders, also distanced themselves from Fumel's decisions.

He received Honorary Citizenship from several Calabrian municipalities: Cosenza, Bisignano, Roseto Capo Spulico and Amendolara in 1862, and San Marco Argentano the following year. Expelled for the first time from the province of Cosenza for having indicted Baron Campagna di San Marco Argentano on charges of aiding and abetting, he was relieved from office and recalled by the government. He retired to Ivrea and it was King Victor Emanuel II himself who gave him the job of warehouseman of private goods (salt and tobacco), first in Livorno and then in Milan. In the meantime, his intervention was requested again in Calabria. Fumel returned in early August 1866 as Inspector Major General based in Rogliano. His powers, however, were severely limited and he had strong conflicts with the Prefects so much so that he resigned and, in January 1867, returned to work in Milan, again as a private goods warehouseman, where he on 11 August 1886 at the age of 65.