Gaetano Bresci
Italian anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I.
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Gaetano Bresci was an Italian anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in July 1900. Born into a lower middle-class family in Prato, Tuscany, in 1869, his parents farmed small plots of land until the importation of cheap American grain devastated small farmers, plunging the family into poverty. At age eleven, Bresci began an apprenticeship as a weaver, later qualifying as a silk weaver. His experience of workplace exploitation radicalized him, leading him to join the Italian anarchist movement.
After a confrontation with police in 1892, he was convicted of insulting officers and marked as a dangerous anarchist. In 1895, he was arrested for organizing a textile strike and exiled to Lampedusa, where he studied anarchist literature and became further radicalized. Granted amnesty in 1896, he struggled to find work due to his reputation.
Bresci emigrated to the United States in 1897, settling in Hoboken, New Jersey, and working as a silk weaver in Paterson. He married an Irish-American woman and fathered two daughters. In Paterson, he became active in the immigrant anarchist movement, co-founding and contributing to the newspaper La Questione Sociale, and once disarmed an attacker who shot Errico Malatesta. News of the Bava Beccaris massacre, in which the Italian army killed protesters and King Umberto awarded the commanding general a medal, drove Bresci to seek revenge.
He withdrew a loan from the newspaper, purchased a revolver and a one-way ticket to Europe, and returned to Italy. Local police knew of his return but did not act. During the king’s appearance in Monza with a sparse police presence, Bresci shot and killed him.
Trial and conviction
The government suspected a conspiracy but found no evidence of accomplices. Bresci was sentenced to life imprisonment on Santo Stefano Island, where he was found dead of an apparent suicide within a year. He was subsequently hailed as a martyr by Italian anarchists, who defended his regicide, and his act inspired other anarchists, most notably Leon Czolgosz’s assassination of U.S. President William McKinley. A monument to Bresci was later erected in Carrara despite government opposition.
Background
Gaetano Bresci was born on 11 November 1869 into a lower middle-class family in Prato, Tuscany, the son of Gaspero Bresci and Maddalena Godi. After the Kingdom of Italy began importing cheap grain in 1880, the family fell into poverty and at age 11 Bresci began an apprenticeship as a weaver. His experience of exploitation in the workplace radicalized him, and he joined the Italian anarchist movement. On 3 October 1892, Bresci and a group of about twenty anarchists confronted two police officers; he was later arrested and on 27 December 1892 found guilty of insulting the police, sentenced to 15 days in prison.
Assassination of Umberto
He was arrested again in 1895 for organising a textile workers' strike and exiled to Lampedusa, where he studied anarchist literature. After amnesty in 1896, he emigrated to the United States in 1897, settling in Paterson, New Jersey, where he became involved with Italian immigrant anarchists, co-founded and financially supported the newspaper La Questione Sociale, and contributed as a prolific firebrand writer. News of the Bava Beccaris massacre — in which protests in Milan against the rising price of bread were violently suppressed by the Royal Italian Army, which fired on and killed many protestors, and King Umberto I awarded a medal to General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris — motivated Bresci to return to Italy to assassinate the king. He requested that La Questione Sociale return $150 he had lent them, bought a Harrington & Richardson revolver in .32 or .38 S&W for $7 and a one-way ticket to Europe for $27, and sailed in May 1900.
Local police in Prato knew of his return but did not follow procedure to inform the Ministry of the Interior or retain his passport. On 29 July 1900, during the king's appearance in Monza amid a sparse police presence, Bresci shot Umberto three or four times. He accepted arrest without resistance, declaring: 'I did not kill Umberto. I have killed the King. I killed a principle.'
Bresci was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in a single day on 30 August 1900. He was confined on Santo Stefano Island in Latina, Lazio, where he was found dead of an apparent suicide within the year. After his death, Italian anarchists erected a monument to Bresci in Carrara despite governmental attempts to block it.
Did You Know?
- Before leaving the United States, Bresci told his wife he was returning to Italy to resolve his deceased parents' estate.
- On the day of the assassination, Bresci told a stranger he had lunch with, 'Look at me carefully, because you will perhaps remember me for the rest of your life.'
- The Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso examined Bresci and found no evidence of mental illness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Gaetano Bresci?
Gaetano Bresci was an Italian anarchist born on 11 November 1869 who became infamous for the political assassination of King Umberto I in July 1900.
What did Gaetano Bresci do?
He shot and killed King Umberto I of Italy, an act of regicide rooted in his deep opposition to the Italian state and its violent suppression of working-class protesters.
Why did Gaetano Bresci assassinate King Umberto I?
Bresci was driven by the Bava Beccaris massacre, in which military forces killed civilians during a workers' demonstration, and he viewed the king as the ultimate embodiment of that oppressive state authority.
What happened to Gaetano Bresci after the assassination?
He was arrested, brought to trial, and sentenced to death; he was executed by firing squad on 22 May 1901.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Gaetano Bresci (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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