BATTLE OF CASTELFIDARDO. - The medieval village near Ancona gave its name to the engagement fought at the locality of Crocette, between papal and royal forces, on 18 September 1860.
The papal army had been (11 September) taken by surprise by a sudden ultimatum with a very short deadline from Cavour to Cardinal Antonelli, at a time when it was in the midst of reorganization.
The calculated diplomatic duplicity of the government of Napoleon III and a whole series of circumstances not yet fully clarified kept de Lamoricière, against his will, in almost complete ignorance of the events that were rushing headlong. So that when it was realized that the adversary, without any declaration of hostilities, was penetrating with about 40,000 men, against about 14,000, simultaneously into the Marches and Umbria, nothing remained for de Lamoricière but to march hastily with the two available brigades, about 7,000 men, toward Ancona, a well-fortified stronghold capable of resisting for a long time.
But on arriving on the evening of 17 September at Loreto, he found that the royal general Enrico Cialdini had almost closed the road to him.
Most of the papal troops, both Italian and foreign, fought with the heroism of veterans, thereby saving the honor of the army and strewing the steep slope of the Crocette with dead and wounded. There fell, among others, the brigadier general de Pimodan, while his men, with a recklessness that was all too daring, carried out overwhelming bayonet charges and obtained a clear initial success, forcing the adversaries, thrown into disorder by the impetuosity of the attack, to fall back toward the top of the hill and to bring up strong reserves.
Nevertheless the battle was lost, and thus the Marches and Umbria were torn from the Papal State, thereby marking a great step forward in the unification of the country. But the painful impression of that bloody event was very strong among Catholics, provoking their barely contained anger against Napoleon III and their resentment for so many young victims fallen because of an abandonment that was certainly not honorable. The already difficult and complex question of Rome and of the temporal power was further complicated and embittered by it: C. was preparing Mentana. Pius IX wept as he recalled the fallen, and a wave of opposing sentiments shook Europe. A memento of the defeat, something without precedent in history, was distributed to the vanquished: its silver ring bore the words "Pro Petri Sede" surrounding a cross of St. Peter, "reversed" it was said - but upright like a sword drawn for justice. On the funeral monument in St. John Lateran one reads: "Victoria quae vincit mundum fides nostra".
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Paolo Dalla Torre