Italian Victims

For the Italian victims of the fortress on the Spilberk (Spielberg) hill, near Brno (Brünn), two monuments were erected: on the one hand a memorial stone standing in the surrounding park, on the other hand a plaque set in the wall of the fortress, near the monuments of the other nationalities.

A plaque was set in the wall of the fortress for the Italian victims as well as for those of other nations.

The historical background is the Italian resistance against the annexion of Northern Italy by Austria after the Napoleonic wars.

The “dark holes” seem to be a quotation of “Le mie prigioni” (My Prisons), by Count Silvio Pellico, who was incarcerated here for eight years as a “Carbonaro”, according to the name all Italian resistance fighters were usually given at that time.

Pellico had been introduced to the Carbonari by Pietro Maroncelli and like him had been arrested and sentenced to death in 1820. The death penalty being commuted to 15 years of severe imprisonment, he was transferred to the Spilberk (Spielberg) in 1822, after two years of prison in Venise. But he was finally pardoned and released in 1830.

Unfortunately is there no date on the plaque itself. We would really appreciate any hint (with source indication). Just click here! Thank you!

You will meet this monument when going up to the fortress from the centre of the city or later on your way down.

The title “Addizioni” refers to the Italian translation of the “Additional Notes” Maroncelli wrote for his French version of Pellico’s “Le mie prigioni” (My Prisons).

As you see here, there is no surprise in the Czech translation, but it replaced the mythical “Italic earth” by the modern concept of “Italy”.

If you have got any useful information on this topic, please click here to send it to us. Thank you!

Publications in English are to be completed, but I would like to draw your attention to the following publications in German, which reflect different opinions developed in more recent times.

Author / Title	Notes	Info / Purchase
Brockhaus encyclopaedia in 17 volumes edited in 1885	This encyclopaedia edited only 65 years after Pellico being pardoned and only 14 years after the foundation of the German empire gives Pellico a fairly long article (volume 12, page 784 sq.) which contains the following interesting statements: Pellico is presented as an "Italian poet" and author of works "which excel by heartfelt feeling and in which a melancolic mood is predominant". Pellico was arrested "as suspect of carbonarism". Whatever this means... Correspondingly there is no mention of his relationship with Maroncelli. Nor is there an article entitled "Maroncelli" in volume 11, where it should be. As for "Le mie prigioni" (My Prisons) this Brockhaus edition tells us: "Himself recounts his ten years’ emprisonment, which ruined his health and lead him towards mysticism, in his engaging book ‘Le mie prigioni’" (first Par. 1833; in German by Becker, Lpz. 1833), often stamped and often translated.
Baedecker guide "Tschechien Slowakei"	This guide speaks of Silvio Pellico in the article "Brno - Brünn" (page 142) as an "Italian poet and leader of the Carbonari". Pietro Maroncelli is not even mentioned.	ISBN 3-87504-539-4

For more literature in German, French, or Italian, just click on the corresponding language near the top of this page.

Inscriptions of Brno-Spilberk

Italian Victims

Czech Victims - Hungarian Victims - Italian Victims - Polish Victims - Tree of Peace - Louis Raduit de Souches