Post-Unification Brigandage

Post-Unification Brigandage in Roccacaramanico

In the heart of the Maiella, at an altitude of over one thousand meters, the village of Roccacaramanico — a hamlet of the Municipality of Sant'Eufemia a Maiella, in the province of Pescara — hosts the historical and cultural event dedicated to post-unification brigandage. The event, promoted by the municipal administration, brings focus back to one of the most dramatic and fascinating chapters in the history of mountainous Abruzzo: the era of the armed bands that resisted the new Kingdom of Italy between 1860 and 1871.

A theme rooted in these lands

In the aftermath of the Unification and the plebiscite of October 1860, the interior of Abruzzo experienced a vast wave of brigandage, where legitimist loyalty to the Bourbons intertwined with the social unrest of the countryside. Mandatory military conscription, new taxes, and the failure of land reform pushed many peasants to take to the hills. The Maiella, with its caves, gorges, and rugged valleys, offered an ideal refuge for the armed bands, shielded from the eyes of the National Guard.

Roccacaramanico was among the centers directly affected by these events: the brigand Luca Pastore raided the village and set fire to the Chancery, where — according to tradition — the documents recording the debts burdening the poorest were kept. Pastore was captured and executed in October 1862. Figures like his, along with those of Angelo Camillo Colafella and Nunziato Mecola, still animate the popular memory of the massif today.

What to expect

The event spans two days of initiatives dedicated to storytelling and historical outreach. The program focuses on re-examining the phenomenon of Maiella brigandage, using an approach that combines historical reconstruction with the promotion of the territory and its villages. Key themes include:

• the history of post-unification brigandage between 1860 and 1871 in the Maiella area;
• the stories of local brigands and the places that were the stage for their raids;
• the memory of Roccacaramanico, a village that depopulated in the twentieth century and is now slowly being reborn;
• the link between the history of peasant resistance and the landscape of the Maiella National Park.

Roccacaramanico, a village to rediscover

Climbing up to Roccacaramanico means traversing one of the most evocative villages in the Abruzzo mountains. Almost abandoned in the seventies, when the permanent population dropped to just a few individuals, the village has experienced a slow rebirth since the nineties, thanks to summer returns and weekend visitors. Since 1999, the former town hall has housed the "Marcello M. de Giovanni" Ethnographic Museum, which preserves the memory of the peasant and pastoral civilization of the Maiella.

An event celebrating the territory

The event is part of a broader rediscovery of the "brigands' trails," the official routes of the Maiella National Park that retrace the sites of armed resistance between Roccaraso and Roccamorice, also touching upon Sant'Eufemia a Maiella. It is a proposal that combines culture, history, and nature, designed for residents, hikers, and visitors interested in getting to know the most authentic side of Abruzzo. Admission is free.