Gabriele Pepe (7 December 1779 – 26 July 1849) was an Italian republican insurgent, active in many campaigns against royalists fighting with or alongside the Bourbon kings of Naples. He was a cousin of Guglielmo and Florestano Pepe. Born in Civitacampomarano (now

Molise Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...

), by the age of 20, he had fought in defence of the Neapolitan Republic in 1799. With the fall of the republic, he escaped severe punishment because he was perceived to be ill. He would return to Naples, this time fighting for the Napoleonic armies both under

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

. He was wounded, and captured by

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

troops led by Cardinal

Fabrizio Ruffo Fabrizio Dionigi Ruffo (16 September 1744 – 13 December 1827) was an Italian cardinal and politician, who led the popular anti-republican ''Sanfedismo'' movement (whose members were known as the ''Sanfedisti''). Biography Ruffo was born at ...

, and again banished to Marseille, France. He was soon fighting with Napoleon across the continent, from Spain to Northern Italy. Later he found himself a major in the army of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

. He took part in the Neapolitan Revolution of 1820, and was again sent to exile, this time to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. On February 19, 1826, he dueled with the poet

Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

, who had compared Italians to "human dust" in his poem "Le Dernier Chant du pélerinage d'Harold". He wounded with a sword the French poet in the right arm. In 1836, he returned to Naples where, although aged, he participated in the

1848 riots 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

. In the Main piazza of Campobasso, a monument with his statue was erected.Rivista enciclopedica contemporanea
Editore Francesco Vallardi, Milan, (1913), entry by A Blanche, pages 245.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepe, Gabriele 1779 births 1849 deaths People from the Province of Campobasso Italian soldiers French soldiers People of the Revolutions of 1848 Italian duellists Italian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)