ZAPPI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA - Gen. Z. converses with Francis II during a visit to the training camp at the "Campi di Annibale" (1868).
ZAPPI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - General, b. at Imola of a family of marquises on 2 June 1816, d. in Florence on 28 Dec. 1885.
He had served until 1848 in the cavalry of the Austrian army. On 10 March 1851 he was admitted into the pontifical sbirri with the rank of major of the Dragoons regiment. A lieutenant colonel on 1 May 1859, transferred to the general Staff corps, he cooperated promptly in quelling the disturbances of Ancona by seizing its fortress with a coup de main. At the outbreak of hostilities with Piedmont in 1860, he commanded the stronghold of Pesaro, and, hemmed in on 11 Sept. by Cialdini's entire army corps in the Rocca Costanza, with only 1200 men he delayed its march by twenty-two hours, earning from Lamoricière (v.) promotion to colonel on the field.
Returning from imprisonment in Alessandria, he was appointed brigadier general and placed in command of the second Brigade with the task of maintaining order in Rome and forming its first defensive cadre (Dec. 1865). This he accomplished especially in the course of the harsh Garibaldian guerrilla warfare of the autumn of 1867: in less than an hour he repressed the numerous revolutionary riots of 22 Oct.; on the 23rd he crushed the Cairoli raid at Villa Glori; on the 25th he extinguished the resistance of Casa Aiani in Trastevere. He then had a large part in keeping the port of Civitavecchia open for French relief, and, after Mentana (v.), in the recapture of the Viterbese, while chivalrously assisting the wounded Giovanni Cairoli, and, at the request of his mother Adelaide Bono Cairoli, personally arranging the return of the body of the fallen Enrico.
Even in the extreme crisis of 1870 he was an active partisan of strenuous resistance, and on the morning of 20 Sept. he exerted himself personally especially at Porta S. Giovanni and at Porta Pia, ceasing fire only at the order of the Holy Father.
After having commanded, the next day, the parade of the pontificals at Porta S. Pancrazio to receive the honors of arms from the royal troops, he once again followed his soldiers into imprisonment at Alessandria, and having returned to Rome he defied the hostility of the crowd (24 Nov.), withdrawing, after an energetic protest, to Florence.
Bibliography14 worksbesides the Necrologio, in L'Osservatore Romano of 30 Dec. 1885, cf.: J. De Lamoricière, Rapporto sulla campagna del 1860, in Giornale di Ro
BIBL.: besides the Necrologio, in L'Osservatore Romano of 30 Dec. 1885, cf.: J. De Lamoricière, Rapporto sulla campagna del 1860, in Giornale di Roma, suppl. al n. 259 (second sem. 1860), parte 2ª: E. Kanzler, Rapporto sulla invasione dello Stato Pontificio nell'autunno 1861, Rome 1868, pp. 9, 28, 31 and 32; G. G. Franco, I Crociati di S. Pietro, Rome 1869-70, see indexes; P. Balan, Continuaz. alla Stor. univ. della Chiesa dell'ab. Rohrbacher, II, Turin 1879, see indexes; A. M. Bonetti, La Liberazione di Roma e del gen. R. Cadorna, Siena 1889, pp. 10, 127, 265; id., Venticinque anni di Roma capit. d'Ital. e suoi precedenti (1825-1895), II, Rome 1896, see indexes; A. Mario, Garibaldi, Genoa 1895, pp. 105-97; P. V. Ferrari, Villa Glori, Rome 1899, pp. 110-23; K. von Schlözer, Rom. Briefe, Stuttgart-Berlin 1920, see indexes; A. Vigevano, La fine dell'Esercito Pontif., Rome 1920; id., La Campagna delle Marche e dell'Umbria, ibid. 1923, pp. 286-291; A. Monti, Pio IX nel Risorgim. Ital., Bari 1928, p. 266; P. Dalla Torre, L'Anno di Mentana, Turin 1938; C. De Vecchi di Val Ciamon, Le carte di Giov. Lanza, VI, Turin 1938, pp. 290-91; R. Galli, Il generale è anche buono: A un alto ufficiale pontificio, lo Z., si rivolge con riconoscenza la madre del martire Enrico Cairoli, in Corriere Padano, 22 May 1943.
Dalla, Torre Paolo. “Zappi, giovanni battista.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, col. 1780. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/zappi-giovanni-battista.
MLA
Dalla, Torre Paolo. “Zappi, giovanni battista.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, col. 1780. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/zappi-giovanni-battista.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_zappi_giovanni_battista,
author = {Dalla, Torre Paolo},
title = {Zappi, giovanni battista},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {1780},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/zappi-giovanni-battista}
}
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