This book by Enzo (Vincenzo) Ciconte, University of Pavia, is one of his latest research-based works on the history of brigandage and is of interest primarily to scholars and readers seeking elucidation about the Unification of Italy. The term brigantaggio or brigandage could refer either to bandits and outlaws or even to nobles and soldiers expelled from a specific regime in municipal political conflicts. The term originated in France and was used in Europe comprehensively to include armed robbers and socially maladjusted citizenries. In Italy, it was used from the end of the sixteenth century until the late nineteenth century. However, it is especially during the Unification of Italy that it became more prominent in reference to the popular rebellions of southern citizens against the Piedmontese government.

Ciconte's book is divided into five chronological sections preceded by a summarising introduction stating the intention of the author to describe, with specific research-based documentation, the reasons why brigandage led to a real mattanza (massacre) by the armed forces and officials of the new national government. Its epilogue references the most recent historiographical developments through military orders and documentation, which are the core of this book. Ciconte states:‘Although the revolt was suppressed, the brigandage continued, confirming that the reasons for its existence went far beyond the intention to bring the Bourbon dynasty back to power’ (p. 141). The aim of brigandage in 1860–70 was not the return of the Bourbon regime in the south of Italy, but the security of civilian property, as it has been for most of the rebellions by bandits and brigands throughout history. At the end of the text, the author has provided a detailed and useful list of relevant authors and documents.

The author's aim is mainly to describe, in detail, the reasons that led the newly established Italian army and military to commit specific acts of violence and terror against the southern population of Italy, who were already burdened by poverty. For Ciconte, the bandits’ origin is rooted not only in the south of Europe but also in the established regimes in the north, where the characteristics of group rebellion started during the sixteenth century and continued well into the seventeenth century. The rebel groups were representative of intermingled social strata: they first grew out of the bandits who were paid by local barons in reaction to the loss of feudal possessions. By the end of the eighteenth century, when the French established new forms of government in Italy, more conflicts arose among the growing bourgeois class and the poorer social strata. Politicians often used the ‘politica del pendolo’ (‘pendulum politics’) in an attempt to tame the revolts – ruthless repression combined with the reward of freedom for those who agreed to denounce a bandit.

Ciconte seems to imply that, although the characteristics of brigand revolts differed according to their historical context, they were most ferociously suppressed during the Unification of Italy. He underlines the importance of official documentation written by the Piedmontese ministers of war and ministers of justice, but also emphasises the atrocities committed by the military in the name of the newly established Italian government and against not only brigands but unarmed citizens, including women and children. He presents evidence of these atrocities which are often in contradiction with the intention of the officials to bring law and order to the southern territories of Italy. Many of them were personal initiatives by military commanders to execute any citizen they came across on the way to their southern postings on the simple suspicion of being a brigand.‘At the beginning of July 1861 General Cialdini was nominated lieutenant in charge of military and civil powers. Having been given a free hand, he ordered a ruthless and brutal repression’ (p. 141). It is not clear who among the several political and military delegates, were most culpable for the ‘great massacre’ during this period. Ciconte argues that the formal authorities overlooked the slaughter of innocent citizens. Perhaps, the greatest guilt of the southern rebels was that of being among the poorest social classes during the Unification of Italy.

La grande mattanza. Storia della guerra al brigantaggio is undoubtedly a must-read for all scholars and historians who are seeking documented revelations about the repression of the ‘grande brigantaggio.’