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Sardinian banditry describes anoutlaw behavior typical of theMediterraneanisland ofSardinia, dating back to theRoman Empire. Twentieth-century Sardinian banditry had economic and political overtones.
Eleanor of Arborea, in herCarta de Logu, authorized remedies for banditry. The firstkidnapping forransom resulting from banditry was reported in 1477 in the Baronia ofPosada, betweenOlbia andSiniscola. Banditry was particularly prevalent during Sardinia's Spanish occupation. During the seventeenth century, the regions aroundSassari,Nuoro,Goceano andGallura were centers of outlaw activity.
The situation did not change under the rule of the AlpineHouse of Savoy, and the first measures were introduced to suppress banditry in 1720. On March 13, 1759, regulations for the administration of the justice in the Kingdom of Sardinia were enacted. At that time,smuggling was widespread in some regions of Sardinia, such asGallura. Savoyard decrees forbidding theSardinians from growing beards were enacted, in the belief that doing so would decrease crime rates.[1]
During the first half of the nineteenth century, banditry was connected with clashes between clans which were interspersed with truces endorsed by civil and religious authorities. Until 1827, any bandit could be killed with impunity, but could earn a pardon for themself and their entire family by turning in another bandit who had earned an equal or greater sentence.[2]
Around 1875, the practice of kidnapping for ransom revived.
Bardanas were armed expeditions to plunder a village and strip wealthy landowners. The best-knownbardana took place inTortolì.[3] During the night of November 13–14, 1894, a group of a hundred horsemen went to thecomune. They besieged the house of the wealthy Vittorio Depau, killed a servant who had shot at them, andinvaded the house (whose inhabitants had barricaded themselves in an attic).The sevenCarabinieri failed to halt the raid but killed a bandit, whose body was removed and found (stripped and beheaded, to prevent identification) several days later.
The violence (and the fear it generated) attracted the attention of Italian Prime MinisterFrancesco Crispi, who appointed his Sardinian deputy Francesco Pais Serra to conduct an inquiry into economic conditions and public safety on the island. Although the investigation began to clarify the links between banditry and social issues, concerned public opinion persuaded the government to crack down on banditry.[4] Thescientific racistAlfredo Niceforo, in his 1897 essayLa delinquenza in Sardegna ("Delinquency in Sardinia"), wrote that banditry in inner Sardinia, and especially inBarbagia, was endemic and rooted in race;[5] the central government decided to send army units toNuoro to eradicate the problem. The mission was described in officer Giulio Bechi's controversial book,Caccia Grossa ("the Great Hunt").[6] By the end of the nineteenth century, 197 fugitives and 77 police officers had been reportedly killed in Sardinia.[3] The century's final decade was especially bloody, nearly always related to cattle rustling, robbery, and revenge.
Despite the military intervention, a 1907disamistade (feud) resulted in 20 murders inOrgosolo. In 1913, on the eve ofWorld War I, there were four murders, 70 attempted murders, 21 robbery-murders, and 138 robberies. The war briefly interrupted the robberies, which resumed after the armistice despite harsh imprisonment andfascist executions.After the death of Samuele Stochino, the fascist government falsely proclaimed the eradication of banditry. In theprovince of Nuoro from 1932 to 1935, 49 murders, 181 robberies and two kidnappings were reportedly committed; another document, however, recorded 10 murders, 59 robberies and one kidnapping in the first eight months of 1935 alone.[7]
From 1966 to 1969, it was argued that Sardinian banditry was a new form ofgangsterism unconnected to the rural past. Police prefects in the fascist regime stressed that the economic and social conditions of the inland areas were at the root of crime in rural Sardinia.[7] Some measures proposed the use ofnapalm against the bandits, and to deal with the "Sardinian problem" in the same manner as MarshalRodolfo Graziani did inLibya.[8]
Political insurgency, active in Italy since the early postwar years, expanded in Sardinia from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. Contacts between local bandits and left-wing militants and organizations active incommunist terrorism such as theRed Brigades andNuclei Armati Proletari were aided by the detention of left-wing extremists in maximum-security prisons on the island, similar to howSicilian Mafia members imprisoned innorthern Italy began colluding with—and influencing—northern Italian criminal groups near their prisons (giving rise to theMala del Brenta).
The best-known terrorist movements and paramilitary forces born on Sardinia were "Red Barbagia", theSardinian Armed Movement and the "Committee of Solidarity with the Deported Sardinian Proletariat Prisoners". Within a decade,socialist andSardinian nationalist groups took credit for several attacks and kidnappings. PublisherGiangiacomo Feltrinelli attempted to contact Sardinian pro-independence organizations with the intention of forming a communist government modelled onFidel Castro's inCuba.[9]
The 19th-century Closures Edict (editto delle chiudende) enclosed uncultivated pasture to promote agriculture and introduced private property. An 1887 trade dispute withFrance (Sardinia's main importer of cattle) triggered economic hardship, which resulted in the bloody events in inner Sardinia during the century's last decade. In the early twentieth century, cheese production was introduced; this resulted in downwardeconomic mobility for shepherds.
During the early 1960s, thepiano di rinascita ("Rebirth Plan") was implemented; it included the construction of factories to modernize an agricultural-pastoral economy into an industrial society. In some areas, the changes have greatly reduced banditry. From the seventeenth to the first half of the nineteenth century, Gallura was heavily affected by crime; after changing from nomadic to sedentary pastoralism, banditry nearly disappeared. In his report, Ignazio Pirastu cites thecomune of Oliena. According to a study, the rapid changes eliminated banditry equally rapidly.[7]
During the late nineteenth century,Sardinians developed a resentment of central authority. Bandits began to be seen not as criminals, but as heroes and liberators; they were seen as defenders against bullying and ill-treatment. Theneo-MarxistAntonio Gramsci said that he was fascinated as a boy byGiovanni Tolu, the bandit ofFlorinas who was made famous by writerEnrico Costa.PoetSebastiano Satta admired the "beautiful, fierce and brave" bandits.[4] The romantic legend of Sardinian banditry was also documented during the 18th century.[10]
