The siege of Messina during the Sicilian Revolution of 1848 was the final moment in a series of events that, from January to September of that year, pitted the forces of the Sicilian insurgents and those of the Bourbon army against each other in Messina, which, after a series of defeats, recaptured the city at the end of a heavy bombardment. Rather than a siege in the classical sense of the term, it can be described as a very long military operational cycle, with an uninterrupted succession of clashes of varying magnitude and scope.

Context

The fortified system The port of Messina consists of a peninsula that starting from the southern end of the city turns north and then west in the shape of a sickle. At the starting point of this small peninsula, a massive fortress, known as the Citadel of Messina, formed by a pentagonal construction protected by deep moats and ramparts, had been built after Messina's great insurrection of 1674–78 against the Spaniards.Franz Riccobono; Adolfo Berdar; Cesare La Fauci, La real cittadella di Messina, prefazione di Rodo Santoro, Messina, EDAS, 1988 In addition, on the other end of the peninsula there was another, smaller fortress, Fort San Salvatore, flanked by Fort Real Basso, located in front on the city beach. This complex of fortifications entirely barred the entrance to the harbor. On the opposite side, the Citadel at the point where it connected with the mainland also had a fortified arsenal and another fort, Fort Don Blasco.

Three other forts still existed to guard the city of Messina, those of Gonzaga, Rocca Guelfonia and Castellaccio, but they did not constitute a system with those placed at the port. There were also military garrisons at the prisons and the civic hospital. Messina was thus guarded by as many as seven different fortresses of varying sizes, among which the massive Citadel stood out.

The anti-Bourbon uprisings

September 1847

The Sicilians' hostility to Bourbon rule was due to a variety of reasons, including the suppression of all forms of autonomy and the dominance of Neapolitan influences, the island's poverty-stricken condition, the harsh police regime, and the violations of commitments made by the governments in Naples.“Archivio storico siciliano”, pubblicazione periodica della Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria, nuova serie, anno XXVI, Palermo 1901, pp. 116 sgg.

In this context, Messina had become in Sicily one of the epicenters of the clandestine anti-Bourbon political network, along with Palermo and Catania, in connection with exiles residing on the neighboring island of Malta.C. Naselli, Il Quarantotto a Catania: la preparazione, gli avvenimenti, in «Archivio Storico per la Sicilia orientale», serie IV, a. II e III, 1949-1950. Already on March 2, 1822, four liberals who had participated in an insurrectional attempt in Messina had been shot, namely the priest Giuseppe Brigandì, Salvatore Cesareo, Vincenzo Fucini, and Camillo Pisano. Many other Sicilians who had taken part in the movement were instead sentenced to prison or forced into exile.L. Tomeucci, Messina nel Risorgimento, Milano 1963, pp. 14-15.

Another insurrectionary attempt in Messina had taken place on September 1, 1847, but had been crushed by the Bourbon troops within hours.Luigi Tomeucci, La verità sul moto del 1º settembre 1847, in Messana, Messina 1953, vol. II The insurgents, led by Giovanni Krymi, Antonio Pracanica and Paolo Restuccia, had gathered in front of the square in front of Messina Cathedral, with improvised weapons and a kind of uniform, consisting of a broad white smock and a wide-brimmed hat with a tricolor cockade on it. Bourbon troops came out of the Citadel and attacked the patriots, a violent clash that lasted many hours and ended with the defeat of the insurrection.A. Caglià-Ferro, Monografia sui fatti del 1º settembre 1847 in Messina, Messina 1890; L. Tomeucci, Messina nel Risorgimento, Milano 1963, pp. 44-74. A heavy repression by the Bourbon authorities then followed. Some insurgents were sentenced to death, many others forced to flee for their lives. The police also severely tortured the Abbot Giovanni Krymi, the priest Carmine Allegra and the chaplains Simone Gerardi and Francesco Impalà, but did not succeed in making them denounce others. Nevertheless, the Bourbon authorities ordered the closure of cultural clubs and associations and placed the university under control. All this, however, had strengthened the opposition to the regime, which now extended to all social classes and could rely on an extensive and ramified network of artisan associations, religious orders, monasteries, and academic circles.Ernesto Consolo-Nino Checco, Messina nei moti del 1847-1848, in Il Risorgimento: rivista di storia del Risorgimento e storia contemporanea, a. 51 (1999) n. 1, pp. 4-5, 24-25.

The sudden insurrection that broke out in Palermo in early 1848 had freed almost all of Sicily from Bourbon rule, which was much hated on the island. However, the Bourbon army had taken care to retain the rule of the Citadel of Messina, which was large in size, powerfully fortified, and because of its location apt to constitute a real bridgehead for the reconquest of Sicily. The Citadel had about 300 cannons and a strong garrison, secure behind walls and moats.

January 29/February 21, 1848

The citizens of Messina thus did not resign themselves to the defeat of the 1847 uprising and reconstituted a revolutionary committee in early January, with the collaboration of patriot Giuseppe La Masa.

On January 12, Palermo had risen up under the leadership of La Masa and Rosolino Pilo, and on the 23rd the Bourbon monarchy in Sicily had been declared overthrown.

On January 28 a public security and war committee was also created in the city, chaired by lawyer Gaetano Pisano, which decided in favor of the insurrection for the following day. In the course of the night the uprising was prepared and at nine o'clock on the morning of January 29, the people of Messina took to the streets en masse, improvisedly armed with hunting rifles, old firearms such as muskets or even white weapons such as sabers, rapiers, and knives. The insurgent committee tried to negotiate with the commander in charge, General Cardamona, but he refused. The Bourbon command, which included Generals Cardamona, Busacca and Nunziante and the Duke of Bagnoli, had received orders from King Ferdinand II to hold Messina at all costs, as the city represented the indispensable bridgehead for the reconquest of insurgent Sicily. The Bourbon high officials therefore decided to have the city bombarded with the numerous cannons and mortars at their disposal in the many fortresses, to which were still added the mobile artillery placed in the so-called Terranova plain, in front of the Citadel, and those of the warship "Charles III." The first victims were a child, killed while in his mother's arms, and an elderly woman. Taking advantage of the massive bombardment, Bourbon troops came out of the fortresses and attacked the insurgents, in an attempt to regain possession of the city. Their action, however, met with compact resistance from the entire citizenry, which saw together men, women and even children fighting against the Neapolitans.Piero Pieri, Storia militare del Risorgimento, Torino 1962, pp. 485-486. Among others, Francesco Munafò, Antonio Lanzetta and Rosa Donato, later nicknamed "artillerywoman of the people," distinguished themselves.Francesco Guardione, “Antonio Lanzetta e Rosa Donato nella rivoluzione del 1848 in Messina”, Messina 1893. Among the many Sicilian fighters who had to distinguish themselves in the long battle, Stefano Crisafulli also stood out.G. Falzone, Il problema della Sicilia nel 1848 attraverso nuove fonti inedite, Palermo, 1951. The Bourbon forces, contained and then counterattacked, were forced to retreat inside the forts.

General Cardamono, furious, ordered the bombardment of the city to continue purely in retaliation, but this did not frighten the insurgents. On the contrary, Messina lit up festively,Documenti della rivoluzione siciliana del 1847-1849 in rapporto all'Italia illustrati da G. La Masa, Torino 1850, p. 108. and the elderly Salvatore BensajaOn this figure see the entry devoted to him in the Dizionario del Risorgimento Nazionale walked the streets of the city at the head of a band playing warlike marches. In the meantime, the insurgents' forces were strengthened by the influx from the countryside and inland towns of groups of volunteers, with tricolor cockade on their heads and tricolor sashes slung over their shoulders, armed with firearms and white weapons. The Patriots' Public Security Committee assumed the organization of the struggle and together with the administration of the city and territory.Piero Pieri, Storia militare del Risorgimento, Torino 1962, pp. 487 sgg.

On January 30, General Cardamono attempted a counterattack to unite the Bourbon divisions scattered around the city, but it was decisively repelled. The attack by the Neapolitans, carried out with infantry and artillery, had moved from the entrenched camp known as Terranova, coming out of the Saracen gate, to try to break into the Pizzillari quarter. Sicilian squad leader Munafò, who was lightly wounded in the clash, pushed back the royals, also inflicting many casualties on them.Documenti della rivoluzione siciliana del 1847-1849 in rapporto all'Italia illustrati da G. La Masa, Torino 1850, p. 109. However, on January 31 it was the insurgents who went on the offensive, targeting the smaller garrisons and weaker forts: the Neapolitan garrisons at the civic hospital and prisons and those placed at Rocca Guelfonia and Castellaccio surrendered practically without a fight. The following day, February 1, the Sicilians attacked Fort Gonzaga, which surrendered after almost no resistance. At this point only the Citadel and the forts attached to it remained in the hands of the Neapolitan royal troops. The Bourbon command attempted another counterattack and to do so ordered troops to raid the women's monastery of Santa Chiara. The Bourbons broke through a solid perimeter wall of the convent and raided it, to the dismay of the nuns. The monastery was then immediately used as a fortress by the Neapolitans, who attempted from this point to carry out a sortie against the insurgents. It was, however, energetically repelled by the Sicilians.Piero Pieri, Storia militare del Risorgimento, Torino 1962, pp. 487-488.

The military failures were compounded by political ones. The Archbishop of Messina, Monsignor Francesco di Paola Villadicani, outraged by the desecration of the sanctuary by the Bourbon army, issued an excommunication against those responsible. The English and French consuls, on the other hand, presented their protests to the Royal Military Command for the manner in which the repression had been carried out.Ernesto Consolo-Nino Checco, Messina nei moti del 1847-1848, in Il Risorgimento: rivista di storia del Risorgimento e storia contemporanea, a. 51 (1999) n.1, p. 27.

A truce phase began at that point. The insurgents received some aid from other parts of Sicily, while the Bourbon government attempted to detach Messina from the rest of the island, offering it a special status and its proclamation as the island's capital to replace Palermo. The insurrectionary committee responded, however, that the city preferred destruction to betrayal.Piero Pieri, Storia militare del Risorgimento, Torino 1962, pp. 488-489.

The taking of fort Real Basso and the fortified camp of Terranova