Were among the few large feudal families, I Ruffo of Calabriato have maintained, still in the eighteenth century, a strong influence in the political panorama of the Kingdom of Naples. Of the events of this family the professor and historian Reggio Giuseppe Caridifull of modern history and president of the Deputation of Homeland History for Calabria, an intellectual with a multiple commitment, especially interested in changing the perception of the history of the South, He had dealt with thirty years ago In one of his first volumes «the sword, the silk, the cross. I Ruffo di Calabria from the 13th to the nineteenth century », but without focusing on the figure of Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo and his Sanfedista expedition. Today, however, to enrich its copious and qualified production, it is precisely the biography of this controversial and extraordinary character: “Cardinal Ruffo and the extraordinary adventure of 1799” (Rubbettino).
«In the last decade, my historiographic interests have been oriented to the reconstruction of the life and work of internationally important characters who had left important traces also in the south of Italy, from Carlo III of Bourbon to San Francesco di Paola, from Alfonso Magnanimo to Ferrante d’Aragona. The biographies of the latter sovereigns ended – explains Professor Caridi – I resumed the idea of dedicating a volume to Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo. I followed the events from birth to the happy conclusion of his expedition, which has become the point of reference for other anti -revolutionary onset; His was a decisive contribution to the return of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon to the throne of Naples ».
Therefore, a volume that leads to the attention of the reader a Calabrian character – born in San Lucido in 1744 – who, although the object of conflicting interpretations, becomes the protagonist of “an extraordinary adventure”. “The expedition of the Calabrian purple is configured as an extraordinary adventure because, appointed by the Vicar General King, which came from Messina to Punta Piegea, it was made to leave for his expedition with a few men, without weapons and without financial means, fundamental supports that had been allowed by the Bourbon sovereigns refuge in Palermo under the protection of the English fleet led by Admiral Orazio Nelson. However, the promises had not been kept and, despite this, Ruffo also decides to perform what seemed to be a unrealistic mission to prevent the spread of republican Jacobinism also in the cities of Reggio, Scilla, Bagnara and Palmi, until then faithful to the monarchy and that in the intentions of the cardinal they had to act as a basis for his company “.
And the landing in Calabria arrives. He adds the author: “After sending letters to parish priests and bishops immediately to get him masses of volunteers, Fabrizio, to motivate his correctional, he astully decides to insert the symbol of the cross into the banner to indicate that he was fighting not only for the Bourbon restoration but above all for the defense of the Pope who had been imprisoned by the French. Ruffo had been in the graces of the Pontiff, who in 1785 had entrusted him with the prestigious assignment of treasurer of the Church state, equivalent to Minister of Economy, and then appointed him Cardinal “.
Cardinal Ruffo has been underestimated for a long time while his work goes in a decidedly opposite direction.
«The aim is to put his shipment in the right light, on which the judgments are conflicting. His deductors republican writers painted him as an unscrupulous bloodthirsty group leader where, however, his followers have enhanced the political skills and the organizational capacity by confiring the accusations of which he had been the subject. The message that this company has handed down to us – highlights Caridi – is that of tenacity that allows you to overcome obstacles deemed insurmountable, of determination and trust in one’s means to achieve extraordinary objectives such as, in fact, the reconquest of a kingdom “.
Her volume has been the subject of presentations in numerous southern centers, do you think of widening its knowledge?
“Surely. It is a character left for a long time in a shadow cone and whose Sanfedista expedition is almost ignored or treated very superficially by the school manuals. My interlocutors are above all the southerners who must become aware of our past, whose memory must not be limited to the luminous period of Magna Grecia but where even in the following centuries they operated with great commitment and determination characters of considerable importance such as Cardinal Ruffo. The task of the historian, in my opinion – concludes prof. Caridi – It is to disseminate the fruits of his research as much as possible and to point out exemplary models of industriousness and competence. In fact, it is necessary to contribute through culture to overcome that inferiority complex that unfortunately still seems rather widespread, through the reconstruction of a past from the south of which it can certainly be proud “.