Of course, the photo is constructed. The bersaglieri are posing above the barricade. But the breach at Porta Pia is still fresh. The cannon shots have finished echoing throughout the area. The Papal States have just raised the white flag after a four-hour siege. At 5 a.m. on 20 September 1870, the Italian artillery had opened fire on the walls of Rome and in particular around Porta Pia. Shortly after 9 o’clock, a gap opened up and General Luigi Cadorna’s troops were able to penetrate the “citadel of the Pope”.
There would be no showdown: the papal army offered no resistance when infantrymen and bersaglieri entered the breach. Pope Pius IX, as a last resort, had even promised excommunication against anyone who ordered the opening of fire. For the avoidance of doubt, the story goes that it was precisely because of the papal threat that the material order was given by a Jewish officer.
Small details of an unrepeatable day. History, on that 20 September 1870, swept through the streets of the Trieste-Salario district. The Romans witnessed the birth of the Kingdom of Italy and perhaps even lingered in curiosity to follow the manoeuvres not of the army, but of the photographer, who was meticulous and careful to get the victorious bersaglieri into the right pose.
The image is taken from the Typimedia Editore volume ‘Come Eravamo Trieste-Salario’. Also published in the same series are volumes dedicated to the districts: Montesacro, Nomentano, Monteverde and San Lorenzo. And a book dedicated to Prati will also arrive in March.
WATCH: How to purchase the volume ‘Come Eravamo Trieste-Salario
WATCH: All the volumes in the series “Come Eravamo”
