Ninco Nanco
| Giuseppe Nicola Summa | |
|---|---|
Ninco Nanco after his execution
|
|
| Born |
April 12, 1833 Avigliano, Basilicata |
| Died | March 13, 1864 (aged 30) Avigliano, Basilicata |
| Other names | Ninco Nanco |
| Organization | Brigandage in Southern Italy |
| Spouse(s) | Caterina Ferrara (m. 1851–53) |
Giuseppe Nicola Summa, known as Ninco Nanco (April 12, 1833 - March 13, 1864), was an Italian brigand. One of the most important brigands after the Italian unification, he was a lieutenant of Carmine Crocco, band chief of the Vulture area, in Basilicata. He was known for his brilliant guerrilla warfare and for his brutality against his enemies.
Son of Domenico Summa and Anna Coviello, he was born into a poor family involved with problems with the law. His maternal uncle, Giuseppe Nicola Coviello, was a bandit who died burned in a hut where he was hiding from the police; his paternal uncle, Francescantonio, was sentenced to ten years for beating a bourbon gendarme and, after the imprisonment, fled to Apulia after killing a man for a matter of gambling, working as a servant for a landowner of Cerignola but he left soon for banditry.
His father, though an honest farmer, had alcohol problems and one of his sisters was a prostitute. Still a little boy, Ninco Nanco began to work as a servant for a nobleman and later as a keeper of vineyards. At 18, he married a girl called Caterina Ferrara, orphaned of both parents. The couple had no children and the marriage lasted two years. In his young age, he was often protagonist of violent episodes.
One day, he was beaten and stabbed in a leg by some people, forcing him into three months of recovery. Instead of denouncing the deed, he preferred personal revenge, killing one of his aggressors with an axe. Ninco Nanco was arrested and sentenced to ten years in Ponza but he escaped in August 1860. He went to Naples, trying to join the Garibaldine army but he was rejected. He tried also to enter the Italian National Guard but the result was negative. Forced to brigandage, he began to live by robbery.
On January 7, 1861, he met Carmine Crocco, becoming one of his best subordinates. Ninco Nanco participated in the conquest of the entire Vulture zone, pushing forward to the province of Matera, Irpinia and Capitanata. He had his own band of 50 men, remaining disposable to Crocco's orders in case of a big conflict against the royal troops. His principal targets were rich landowners, resorting to kidnapping, homicide and properties devastation for ransom to finance his band activities.
...
Wikipedia