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Giovanni Nicotera

Giovanni Nicotera (9 September 1828-13 June 1894) was a Historical Left member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 1870 to 1876 and from 1882 to 1890, as well as Interior Minister of Italy from 25 March 1876 to 26 December 1877 (succeeding Girolamo Cantelli and preceding Francesco Crispi) and from 6 February 1891 to 15 May 1892 (succeeding Crispi and preceding Giovanni Giolitti).

Biography[]

Giovanni Nicotera was born in Sambiase, Calabria, Two Sicilies in 1828, and he was active in Giuseppe Mazzini's "Young Italy" movement, taking part in the Sicilian Revolution of 1848 and the Siege of Rome in 1849. He later participated in Carlo Pisacane's failed expedition to Sapri in 1857 and was condemned to death before being reprieved through the intervention of the British minister. In 1860, he joined Giuseppe Garibaldi at Palermo and led a brigade that invaded the Papal States from Tuscany, only for his band to be disarmed and disbanded by Count Cavour. In 1866, he commanded a volunteer brigade against Austria, and he invaded the Papal States in 1867 before Garibaldi was defeated at the Battle of Mentana. He also served in the Chamber of Deputies, supporting military reforms and serving as Interior Minister from 1876 to 1877 and 1891 to 1892. He oversaw the harsh repression of crime in Sicily and, in November 1877, announced the "total defeat" of the bandits who had terrorized the Sicilian countryside since 1860. However, many mafiosi were left untouched by the repression if they had the right political cover; Nicotera allegedly received political support from the Mafia in exchange for allowing them to survive. He died in 1894.

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