The Bandiera Brothers were Italian patriots, Attilio and Emilio Bandiera, (1811–1844 and 1819–1844).

Background

The two brothers were born in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 and were sons of Baron Francesco Bandiera, an admiral in the Austro-Hungarian Navy

Austro-Hungarian Navy

The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine , abbreviated as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine....

, and were themselves members of that service. At an early age they were won over to the ideas of Italian unification

Italian unification

Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...

, and corresponded with Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...

 and other members of the Giovine Italia, a revolutionary secret society.

During the year 1843 the air was full of different conspiracies and various other ill-starred attempts at nationalist uprisings were made. The Bandiera brothers spread propaganda among the officers and enlisted men of the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n navy, nearly all Italians, and planned to seize a warship to bombard the city of Messina. Having been betrayed by informants they fled to Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 early in 1844.

Events

Rumours reached them in Corfu of agitation in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...

, where the people were being represented as ready to rise en masse at the first appearance of a leader. The Bandiera brothers, encouraged by Mazzini, consequently determined to make a raid on the Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

n coast. They assembled a band of about twenty men ready to sacrifice their lives, and set sail on their venture on 12 June 1844. Four days later they landed near Crotone

Crotone

Crotone is a city and comune in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Ionian Sea. Founded circa 710 BC as the Achaean colony of Croton , it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to the current one. In 1994 it became the capital of the newly established...

, intending to go to Cosenza

Cosenza

Cosenza is a city in southern Italy, located at the confluence of two historic rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. The municipal population is of around 70,000; the urban area, however, counts over 260,000 inhabitants...

, liberate the political prisoners and issue their proclamations. Tragically for the Bandiera brothers, they did not find the insurgent band they were told awaited them, so they moved towards La Sila

La Sila

The Sila is the name of the mountainous plateau and historic region located in Calabria, southern Italy. It occupies part of the provinces of Cosenza, Crotone and Catanzaro, and is divided into the Sila Greca, Sila Grande and Sila Piccola sub-ranges...

. They were ultimately betrayed by one of their party, the Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

n Boccheciampe, and by some peasants who believed them to be Turkish pirates.

A detachment of gendarme

Gendarmerie

A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...

s and volunteers were sent against them, and after a short fight the whole band was taken prisoner and escorted to Cosenza, where a number of Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

ns who had taken part in a previous rising were also under arrest. First, the Calabrians were tried by court-martial, and a large number were condemned to death or the galleys. The raiders’ turn came next, and the whole party, save the traitor Boccheciampe, were condemned to be shot, but in the case of eight of them the sentence was commuted to the galleys. On the 23rd of July the two Bandiera brothers and their nine companions were executed by firing squad; some accounts state they cried "Viva l’Italia!" (Long live Italy!) as they fell.

The remains of the Bandiera Brothers and of their companion Domenico Moro were brought back to Venice on June 18, 1867, following the liberation of that city after the Austro-Prussian War

Austro-Prussian War

The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...

 of 1866. The three remains are buried in the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo, at the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, where the equestrian monument of Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni was a Venetian condottiero, who became Captain-General of the republic of Venice, where there is a famous statue showing him on horseback.-Biography:...

 is located.

Aftermath

The moral effect was enormous throughout Italy, the action of the authorities was universally condemned, and the martyrdom of the Bandiera brothers bore fruit in the subsequent revolutions. It also created a profound impression in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, where it was believed that the Bandiera brothers’ correspondence with Mazzini had been tampered with, and that information as to the proposed expedition had been forwarded to the Austro-Hungarian and Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

 governments by their own Foreign Office.