Giovanni Nicotera was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 patriot and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. His surname is pronounced niˈkɔːtera, with the stress on the second syllable.

Biography

Nicotera was born at Sambiase

Lamezia Terme

Lamezia Terme, commonly named Lamezia, is an Italian city of 71,287 inhabitants in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region.-Geography:...

, in 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....

.

Joining the 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...

's movement of Giovine Italia ("Young Italy") he was among the combatants at Naples in May 1848, and battle with Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 during the Republic of Rome (1849). After the fall of Rome he fled to Piedmont. In 1857, he took part to the expedition to Sapri

Sapri

Sapri is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is one of the southernmost towns of the region of Cilento and its population is 7,105.- History :...

, led by Pisacane

Carlo Pisacane

Carlo Pisacane, Duke of San Giovanni was an Italian patriot and one of the first Italian socialist thinkers.-Biography:...

, but shortly after their landing they were defeated and he was severely wounded by the 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...

 troops.

Condemned to death, but reprieved through the intervention of the British minister, he remained a prisoner at Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 and at Favignana

Favignana

Favignana is a comune including three islands of the Aegadian Islands, southern Italy...

 until 1860, when he joined Garibaldi at Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

. Sent by Garibaldi to Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

, he attempted to invade the Papal States with a volunteer brigade, but his followers were disarmed and disbanded by Ricasoli

Bettino Ricasoli

Bettino Ricàsoli, 1.º Barone Ricàsoli, 1.º Conte di Brolio was an Italian statesman.-Biography:...

 and Cavour. In 1862 he was with Garibaldi at Aspromonte

Battle of Aspromonte

The Battle of Aspromonte, named for the mountain near Reggio Calabria in southern Italy and fought August 29, 1862, is an inconclusive episode of the Italian unification process....

; in 1866 he commanded a volunteer brigade against 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...

; in 1867 he invaded the Papal States from the south, but the defeat of Garibaldi at Mentana

Battle of Mentana

The Battle of Mentana was fought on November 3, 1867 between French-Papal troops and the Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who were attempting to capture Rome, then the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy....

 put an end to his enterprise.

His parliamentary career dates from 1860. During the first ten years he engaged in violent opposition, but from 1870 onwards he joined in supporting the military reforms of Ricotti. Upon the advent of the Left in 1876, Nicotera became minister of the interior, and governed with remarkable firmness. He was obliged to resign in December 1877, when he joined Crispi

Francesco Crispi

Francesco Crispi was a 19th-century Italian politician of Arbëreshë ancestry. He was instrumental in the unification of Italy and was its 17th and 20th Prime Minister from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.-Sicily:Crispi’s paternal family came originally from the small agricultural...

, Cairoli

Benedetto Cairoli

Benedetto Cairoli was an Italian statesman.-Biography:Cairoli was born at Pavia, Lombardy.From 1848 until the completion of Italian unity in 1870, his whole activity was devoted to the Risorgimento, as Garibaldian officer, political refugee, anti-Austrian conspirator and deputy to parliament...

, Zanardelli

Giuseppe Zanardelli

Giuseppe Zanardelli was an Italian jurisconsult, nationalist and political figure. He was the 24th Prime Minister of Italy from February 15, 1901 to November 3, 1903.-Biography:...

 and Baccarini in forming the "pentarchy" in opposition to Depretis

Agostino Depretis

Agostino Depretis was an Italian statesman.-Biography:Depretis was born at Mezzana Corte, near Stradella, in the province of Pavia ....

, but he only returned to power thirteen years later as minister of the interior in the Rudinì

Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì

Marquis Antonio Starabba di Rudinì was the 18th and 21st Prime Minister of Italy between 1891 and 1892 and from 1896 until 1898.-Biography:...

 cabinet of 1891. On this occasion he restored the system of uninominal constituencies, resisted the socialist agitation, and pressed, though in vain, for the adoption of drastic measures against the false bank-notes put in circulation by the Roman bank. He fell with the Rudini cabinet in May 1892, and died at Vico Equense, near Naples, in June 1894.

Ships

Giovanni Nicotera was the name of a destroyer of the Italian Regia Marina

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

, launched in 1926 and decommissioned in 1940.