Brunetti, Angelo, called Ciceruacchio

BRUNETTI, ANGELO, called CICERUACCHIO. - Born in Rome on 27 Sept. 1800, died at Ca' Tiepolo on 11 Aug. 1849. The son of common people (his father, Lorenzo, was a blacksmith), he had the virtues and defects of the people of Rome. Intelligent, daring, generous and violent, he managed to create for himself through his trade as a carter a modest prosperity and through his personal qualities a great ascendancy over the common people. A stranger to true political interests, he was moved by the accession of Pius IX, of whom he made himself herald and champion among the common people. With a rough but effective eloquence he supported and exalted the Pontiff's reforms and, as a respected and followed tribune, he led demonstrations and torchlight processions. His influence lasted even after the allocution of 29 Apr. 1848, which he strove to attribute to pressure from reactionaries. Without well-defined political ideas and following only the impulses of his heart, he ended by moving on to more radical conceptions. According to the studies of Giovagnoli, he was implicated in the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi, carried out physically by his son Luigi. During the republic he was commissioner for the barricades and concerned himself with the supply of provisions. After the fall of Rome, he followed Garibaldi in the retreat as far as the landing near Mesola. Betrayed, along with seven other companions, among whom was his thirteen-year-old son Lorenzo, he was captured by the Austrians at the Osteria Chiarelli on 10 Aug. and, after a summary examination, shot together with all the others (including his son Luigi under the surname of Bossi) at Ca' Tiepolo.

Alberto Maria Chisalberti