Carmine Crocco (5 June 1830 – 18 June 1905), known as Donatello or sometimes Donatelli, was an Italian brigand. Initially a soldier for the Bourbons, he later fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Soon after Italian unification he formed an army of two thousand men, leading the most cohesive and feared band in Southern Italy and becoming the most formidable leader on the Bourbon side. He was renowned for his guerrilla tactics, such as cutting water supplies, destroying flour mills, cutting telegraph wires and ambushing stragglers.
Although some authors of the 19th and the early 20th century regarded him as a "wicked thief and assassin" or a "fierce thief, vulgar murderer", since the second half of the 20th century, writers (especially supporters of the Revisionism of Risorgimento) began to see him in a new light, as an "engine of the peasant revolution" and a "resistant ante litteram, one of the most brilliant military geniuses that Italy had".
Today, many people of Southern Italy and, in particular, of his native region Basilicata, consider him a folk hero.
Crocco was born into a family of five children in Rionero in Vulture, which was at the time part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His father, Francesco Crocco, was a servant of the noble Santangelo family from Venosa and his mother, Maria Gerarda Santomauro, was a housewife.
His uncle Martino was a veteran of the Napoleonic army who fought in Spain during the Peninsular War, losing a leg, probably in the siege of Zaragoza. Crocco grew up with the tales of his uncle, from whom he learned to read and write.
While a child, Crocco began to develop an aversion towards the upper class, after his brother was beaten by Don Vincenzo, a young lord, for killing a dog which had attacked a Crocco family chicken. His mother, pregnant at that time, tried to defend her son but the lord kicked her in the belly, forcing her to miscarry. His father was later accused of the attempted murder of Don Vincenzo and was imprisoned without sufficient proof.
During his adolescence, Crocco moved to Apulia, to work as a shepherd, along with his brother, Donato. In 1845, Crocco saved the life of Don Giovanni Aquilecchia, a nobleman of Atella, who had tried to cross the raging waters of the Ofanto River. Aquilecchia rewarded him with 50 ducats, permitting Crocco to eventually return to his home town from Apulia and find a new job. Crocco had the opportunity to meet Don Pietro Ginistrelli, Aquilecchia's brother-in-law, who was able to secure the release of his father from prison.
However, by the time he was released, Francesco Crocco was old and sick and this left Crocco to act as head of his family, working as a farmer in Rionero. Here he met Don Ferdinando, Don Vincenzo's son, who felt regret for his father's behaviour against the family.
Don Ferdinando offered him a job as a farmer on his property, but Crocco preferred to take money instead, which he used to avoid military service, as during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, service was avoidable upon payment. The nobleman accepted but was killed on 15 May 1848 in Naples by some Swiss troops. Thus Crocco had to join Ferdinand II's army, but he deserted as a result of killing a comrade in a brawl. In his absence, his sister Rosina had to take care of the family.
During Crocco's absence. his sister, Rosina, then not yet eighteen years old, was courted by a nobleman, Don Peppino. Rosina was not interested in him and rejected him. Annoyed by this refusal, Peppino proceeded to defame her.
When Crocco heard about these events he was angry and decided to avenge his sister. Knowing the habits of Peppino, who generally attended a particular club to gamble in the evening hours, Crocco awaited his return at Peppino's home. When Don Peppino arrived, Crocco questioned him, but the discussion ended in a fight after Peppino hit Crocco with a whip.
Blinded by rage, Crocco pulled out a knife, killed Peppino and then fled to the Forenza woods. However, this account is controversial because Captain Eugenio Massa, who collaborated on Crocco's autobiography, conducted a detailed investigation on the spot and could not confirm that a murder had taken place in the circumstances described by Crocco.
While in hiding, Crocco met other outlaws and together they formed a band who lived on the proceeds of blackmail and robbery. Crocco returned to Rionero but was arrested on 13 October 1855. He escaped during the night of 13–14 December 1859, hiding in the woods between Monticchio and Lagopesole.
At the same time Giuseppe Garibaldi was launching his Expedition of the Thousand, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was soon on the verge of collapse, requiring all forces remaining at its command to confront Garibaldi. Garibaldi managed to defeat them, gain control of Sicily and then cross to the mainland, where he moved swiftly north towards Naples.
Garibaldi promised to forgive the deserters in exchange for military service and Crocco joined Garibaldi's army hoping for a pardon as well as other rewards. Crocco accompanied Garibaldi north to Naples and took part in the famous Battle of Volturnus. Although he displayed courage in battle, Crocco did not receive any medals or other honours and was also arrested.
He was taken to the prison in Cerignola but, with the help of the noble Fortunato family (relatives of the politician Giustino), he was able to get away. Disappointed by the new Italian government's lies, Crocco was persuaded by noblemen linked to Bourbons and the local clergy to join the legitimist cause.
Meanwhile, Basilicata's population began to rise against the new government, because it did not get any benefit from the political change and became even poorer than before, while the bourgeois class (faithful to the Bourbons in the past) maintained its privileges, after having supported the cause of the Italian unification opportunistically. With the war and pecuniary support of the legitimists, he recruited an army of 2000 men, beginning the resistance under the flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.