Ninco Nanco
Giuseppe Nicola Summa | |
|---|---|
 Ninco Nanco after his execution | |
| Born | April 12, 1833 |
| Died | March 13, 1864(aged 30) |
| Other names | Ninco Nanco |
| Organization | Brigandage in Southern Italy |
| Spouse |
Caterina Ferrara
(1851–1853) |
Giuseppe Nicola Summa,known asNinco Nanco(April 12, 1833 – March 13, 1864), was an Italianbrigand.One of the most important brigands after theItalian unification,he was a lieutenant ofCarmine Crocco,band chief of theVulturearea, inBasilicata.He was known for his brilliantguerrilla warfare[1]and for his brutality against his enemies.
Biography
[edit]Early years
[edit]Son of Domenico Summa and Anna Coviello, he was born into a poor family involved with problems with the law. His maternal uncle, Giuseppe Nicola Coviello, was a bandit who died burned in a hut where he was hiding from the police; his paternal uncle, Francescantonio, was sentenced to ten years for beating abourbongendarme and, after the imprisonment, fled toApuliaafter killing a man for a matter of gambling, working as a servant for a landowner ofCerignolabut he left soon for banditry.
His father, though an honest farmer, had alcohol problems and one of his sisters was a prostitute. Still a little boy, Ninco Nanco began to work as a servant for a nobleman and later as a keeper of vineyards. At 18, he married a girl called Caterina Ferrara, orphaned of both parents. The couple had no children and the marriage lasted two years. In his young age, he was often protagonist of violent episodes.
One day, he was beaten and stabbed in a leg by some people, forcing him into three months of recovery. Instead of denouncing the deed, he preferred personal revenge, killing one of his aggressors with an axe. Ninco Nanco was arrested and sentenced to ten years inPonzabut he escaped in August 1860.[2]He went toNaples,trying to join theGaribaldinearmy but he was rejected. He tried also to enter the Italian National Guard but the result was negative. Forced to brigandage, he began to live by robbery.
Brigandage
[edit]
On January 7, 1861, he metCarmine Crocco,becoming one of his best subordinates. Ninco Nanco participated in the conquest of the entireVulturezone, pushing forward to theprovince of Matera,IrpiniaandCapitanata.He had his own band of 50 men, remaining disposable to Crocco's orders in case of a big conflict against theroyal troops.His principal targets were rich landowners, resorting to kidnapping, homicide and properties devastation for ransom to finance his band activities.
Ninco Nanco became soon known for his cold-blooded andferineacts. The most known episode of his brigand life happened in January 1863, when he killed in the wood ofCastel LagopesoleCostantino Pulusella, director of Public Safety ofAvigliano,the captain Luigi Capoduro and some of his troops who tried to lead him to surrender. The corpses were discovered days later: Pulusella was found with his hands cut off; Capoduro was beheaded, his head was found on a rock with a stone between his teeth and on his body a cross ofSavoywas engraved.[3]
According to the accounts of the time, Ninco Nanco often tore the heart from the chest of captured soldiers. The memory of these actions was still alive among the inhabitants ofBasilicatain 1935, whenCarlo Leviexiled toAlianoduring the fascist regime. The writer met people who claimed to be witnesses of those deeds and reported the anecdotes in his memoirChrist Stopped at Eboli.[4]However, Crocco denied tortures by Ninco Nanco at the expense of military prisoners, stating that he was fierce only for his self-defense.[5]
Beside his cruelty, the brigand made also generous acts. He helped his sisters economically, who lived in miserable conditions and, being deeply religious, he donated money to the priests to celebrate masses in honour of theLady of Mount Carmel,whose effigy he carried always on his neck. During the siege ofSalandra,he spared the life of a priest who had helped his family in the past, ensuring him his protection. Ninco Nanco deposited valuable items in the chapel ofMonte Carmine,which were seized and sold in 1863, by order of the antibrigandage committee. The proceeds were used for the renovation of the building. Once, he ordered to one of his men to stop using death threats to extract money from poor people, as they could not support the bands.[6]
Death
[edit]Ninco Nanco's activity began to weaken in early 1864, because of the betrayal ofGiuseppe Caruso,Crocco's lieutenant who decided to collaborate with the Italian government. On March 13, 1864, Ninco Nanco and two of his brigands (one of whom was his brother Francescantonio), while repairing in a farmhouse in the district ofCastel Lagopesole,were suddenly surprised by the national guards, headed by captain Benedetto Corbo. The farmhouse was assaulted and, after a short conflict, Ninco Nanco and his men were captured and soon killed.
He was killed with two shots to the throat by Nicola Coviello, corporal of the guards, to avenge the death of his brother-in-law, killed by Ninco Nanco on June 27, 1863, but most probably the brigand was killed by the order of Corbo himself, to prevent his revealing his protectors, including Corbo. In fact Corbo was involved, two months later, in another affair of complicity with the brigands and was accused for having issued, without any authority, two brigands belonging to Ninco Nanco's band.[7]
Crocco wanted to avenge the death of his lieutenant but the arrival of reinforcements in the district of Avigliano forced him to abandon the plan. His corpse was taken to Avigliano and hanged as a warning to the people and, the next day, it was brought toPotenza,where it was buried. His subordinates joined the band ofGerardo De Feliceknown as "Ingiongiolo",a brigand fromOppido Lucano.
Ninco Nanco in popular culture
[edit]- William Henry Giles Kingstonwrote a novel about him calledNinco Nanco, The Neapolitan Brigand,fromFoxholme Hall(1867).[8]
- He was portrayed by Branko Tesanovic in the movieLi chiamarono... briganti!(1999)
- The Italian musicianEugenio Bennatodedicated the songNinco Nancoto him, from the 2011 albumQuestione Meridionale.
- He is the husband of one of the brigand protagonist in the 2021 Italian movieIl mio corpo vi seppellirà.
See also
[edit]Notes and references
[edit]- ^Hobsbawm, Eric(1985).Bandits.Penguin. p. 25.
- ^Bianchi 1903,p. 24.
- ^Del Zio, Basilide (1903).Il brigante Crocco e la sua autobiografia.Melfi: Tipografia G. Grieco. p. 172.
- ^Levi, Carlo (1947).Christ Stopped at Eboli.New York: Farrar, Straus and Company. p. 71.
- ^Cinnella 2010,p. 168.
- ^Bianchi 1903,p. 113.
- ^Fioravante BOSCO."Giuseppe Nicola Summa, alias Ninco Nanco".brigantaggio.net.Retrieved7 May2012.
- ^William Henry G. Kingston,Foxholme hall; and other tales,1867, p. 244.
Bibliography
[edit]- Maffei, Andrea;Monnier, Marc(1865).Brigand life in Italy: a history of Bourbonist reaction.Vol. 2. London: Hurst and Blackett.
- Bianchi, Quirino (1903).Il brigante Ninco-Nanco.Naples: tip. Gazz. Dritto e Giuris.
- Cinnella, Ettore (2010).Carmine Crocco. Un brigante nella grande storia.Pisa-Cagliari: Della Porta.
- Pinto, Carmine (2015). "La campagna per la popolazione. Vittime civili e mobilitazione politica nella guerra al brigantaggio".Rivista storica italiana.CXXVII(3): 808–852.ISSN0035-7073.
External links
[edit]
- Pinto, Carmine (2019)."SUMMA, Giuseppe Nicola, detto Ninco Nanco".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani,Volume 94: Stampa–Tarantelli(in Italian). Rome:Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.ISBN978-8-81200032-6.
- (in Italian)Ninco Nanco biography
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