Giuseppe Salvatore Pianell (Palermo, 9 November 1818 – Verona, 5 April 1892) was an Italian general and politician. Count since 1856.
He was appointed Minister of War of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in July 1860, in the days of the Expedition of the Thousand. In favor of an alliance with Piedmont and the application of the constitution promulgated by Francis II, he was for this reason opposed by much of the Bourbon court. He resigned after a few weeks in the ministry and, following the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, was granted entry into the Italian Army with the rank of general.
He distinguished himself at the Battle of Custoza (1866) as commander of the only Italian division that did not retreat in the face of the Austrian counteroffensive. In 1869 he became commander of the Royal Army forces in northern Italy. He repeatedly refused the post of Minister of War of the Kingdom of Italy and was a deputy and senator for life in the Italian Parliament. He was accused by the Bourbons of favoring the demise of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and by some Unionists of the opposite. Later he became one of the symbols of national unity.
Biography
Origins and youth (1818–1845) Giuseppe Salvatore Piànell (sometimes referred to as Pianelli erroneouslyCarlo Agrati, Da Palermo al Volturno, Milano, Mondadori, 1937, p. 176; also in Marziano Brignoli, Cesare Correnti e l'unita d'Italia, Milano, Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino, 1971, p. 152 or in derision)The variant "Pianelli" was used by the general's political opponents. They claimed that his real surname was Pianelli, and that out of vanity he had suppressed the last letter of it. Cf. de Cesare, La fine di un regno, Milano, 1969, p. 808. was born in Palermo in 1818 to Francesco Pianell, an official in the Bourbon military administration, and Cirilla Jannelli, the only daughter of General Baron Jannelli. The latter, for services rendered in the war to Joachim Murat, acquired the fiefdom of S. Eufemia, which the Bourbons took back after the Conservative Order.
In 1827, as part of a vast restructuring, the Bourbon Army went from being a force of foreign professionals to becoming a force of compulsory conscription for economic reasons. The officer ranks for the Sicilian regiments were put up for sale, and Pianell's father bought for his son the rank of captain. Pianell thus became a captain at age 9 and on November 1, 1828, entered the military college of the Nunziatella, in Naples. He left in September 1836, achieving excellent resultsCertification dated October 18, 1836 of the "characteristics" reported by student Giuseppe Salvatore Pianell in the competitive examination at the Royal Military College of the Nunziatella. Mechanics: Great; Geodesy and Mapmaking: Great; Theoretical and Practical Artillery: Great; Fortification and Drawing Part I, Permanent Fortification, and Defilement: Great; Part II, Attack and Defense, Mines and Country Fortifications: Great; Topography and Drawing: Great plus; Philosophy: Close to Great. Cf. Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 427, 428. and taking service as captain in the 6th Battalion of Riflemen.Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 157, 158.
The Campaigns against the Sicilian uprisings (1846–1850)
On 15 March 1846, Pianell was appointed major and commander of the 1st Riflemen Battalion. When the Sicilian Independence Revolution of 1848 broke out, he participated with his unit in the expedition commanded by Guglielmo De Sauget to Palermo. During the fighting, on 16 January 1848, he was wounded while leading his battalion that was preparing to attack the insurgents.Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, p. 28.
In the spring of the same 1848 while a revolt was imminent in Naples, from Cosenza Pianell demonstrated for the first time officially an independent critical judgment on the situation in the Kingdom.Pianell wrote to Colonel Garofalo in Naples on May 2, 1848: "[...] The National Guard here is not organized because by rejecting the provisional law that constituted it, it was arbitrarily formed, and therefore it does not have the prestige of legality and moreover contains in its ranks [...] people who could not by any reflection belong to such a noble institution [...] Here there is no police of any kind. Here the authorities have no such elements to be able [...] to judge on the state of the public spirit. [...] Could the troop become profitable when firm, intelligent, constitutional authorities knew how to find the means in order to come to the light of what occultly troubles the province, and repair by applying the rigor of the laws against the proponents of disorder. [...] In Palermo the revolution was announced and not believed. Here it is announced likewise. [...] The Calabrias sympathize with Sicily and there are many hearts that wish to run the destiny of that one." Cf. Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 167, 168, 169, 171, 172. From June to August 1848 he was part of the Calabrian expedition with the column commanded by General Ferdinando Lanza that successfully forced the passage of the Crati (or San Martino) valley occupied by the insurgents. On this occasion Pianell distinguished himself, and Lanza reported this to his superiors (July 1848).
In September 1848, following the events of the revolution, Pianell was again in Sicily where his 1st Riflemen Battalion participated in the reconquest of Messina.On September 6, 1848, the 1st Battalion of Riflemen commanded by Pianell was among the first two to land near the village of Contessa two miles from Messina, a town in the hands of the insurgents. Impetuously attacking the village, Pianell held the position with his unit alone for four hours suffering numerous casualties (77 killed and wounded). Having finished the occupation of Contessa, the entire column moved toward Messina. Having occupied the heights around the city, on the 7th the clash was decided at the Zaera creek whose banks were traversed downhill by the 1st Riflemen. While another part of the contingent took the Magdalena area, Pianell's men arrived on Gonzaga Castle, which easily capitulated. The Bourbon troops besieged in the citadel, meanwhile, had come out and joined the fighting; so that, after a short time, all resistance in Messina ceased. Cf. Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 198, 199, 201, 202, 203. For this action the unit obtained a "promotion of grace" for every soldier of every rank from 1st sergeant to 1st lieutenant. Pianell himself, for the events of Palermo and Messina, was decorated with the Cross of Knight of the Royal Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit (24 November 1848).Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 28, 217, 218.
As the revolutionary uprisings in Sicily continued, in April 1849 Pianell, who in the meantime had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel, found himself part of the expedition that moved from Messina with great success to reconquer Taormina and Catania.Having recaptured Taormina and moved on to Acireale, Bourbon troops on April 6 set out for Catania, which was attacked after a diversionary maneuver by all battalions of Riflemen. Pianell's men were, however, in the front ranks by the time the entire column was blocked by insurgents at "a vast square." Reached by reinforcements, the Riflemen joined them and completed the occupation of the city. Pianell, who on the same 6th was wounded while attacking at the head of his unit, concluded his report by declaring that his soldiers were "deserving of any possible commendation for the manner in which they fought." Cf. Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 228, 229, 230, 231. He was rewarded with the First Class Gold Medal and, the following year, decorated with the Officer's Cross of the Military Order of St. George of the Reunion of the Two Sicilies (August 1850).
Colonel and general at Gaeta (1850–1859)
In March 1850, when he was 32 years old, Pianell was promoted to colonel and assigned to the 1st Line Regiment. In 1855 an episode unexpectedly interrupted his string of acclaim: King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, during an inspection of the barracks at San Potito, Naples, commanded by Pianell, gave credence to some of the soldiers' grievances, who complained about the food and superiors. Before them, Ferdinand ordered that Pianell be locked up for 15 days at Castel Sant'Elmo.
It was probably a precautionary measure the sovereign took against the liberal ideas and autonomy of judgment of the colonel who, with his regiment, was then transferred to Gaeta. He remained there until the death of Ferdinand, who for years repeated, "That young gentleman thinks too much... it is better to keep him away."Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 428, 429.
Despite this, Pianell in December 1855 was promoted to general commander of the Gaeta brigade, and in July 1856, thanks to his future father-in-law, Count Costantino Ludolf, he received the news that he would become count by marrying the latter's daughter, Eleonora, to whom he was already engaged:Through her father's interest, Eleonora Ludolf received the title of Count transmissible to all legitimate and natural heirs and relatives up to the 4th degree. the wedding was celebrated On 6 August 1856.Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 29, 430.
Pianell's consort, Eleonora Ludolf, belonged to a family of diplomatsHis father had been ambassador of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to Constantinople and St. Petersburg, and his brother was in London. who moved to Naples from Erfurt, Thuringia during the time of Charles of Bourbon. The Pianell couple lived peacefully through the years in Gaeta, during which the general devoted himself to service and to the military studies he would never again abandon.Felissent. Il generale Pianell e il suo tempo, Verona, 1902, pp. 252, 253.
Lieutenant in Abruzzo (1859–1860) On 20 May 1859, Ferdinand II died in Caserta; he was succeeded to the throne by Francis II, who immediately had to deal with the important news of the time: the Duchy of Parma, the Duchy of Modena and Reggio and Romagna passed into the Piedmontese sphere of influence, while a Garibaldian army threatened the papal frontier.
Francis II decided to recall Pianell from the Gaeta retreat and appointed him, on 1 July 1859, commander of the Nocera brigade that was garrisoned in Naples, at the Granili. As the political situation worsened, on September 21 he reconvened him at the Royal Palace of Portici and entrusted him with an army of twelve thousand soldiers to protect the northeastern borders of the Kingdom against the feared Garibaldi invasion. He also gave him full powers as Territorial Commander of the three Abruzzo provinces.
On that occasion Pianell expressed to Francis II the need to grant free institutions that would satisfy the honest wishes of his people.The circumstance is recalled by Pianell to Francis II in his letter to the monarch dated September 3, 1860. Cf. Pianell e Pianell Ludolf, Il generale Pianell. Memorie, Firenze, 1902, p. 591. On 28 September 1859 he left for Sulmona where he arrived the next day.