Sicily was under the control of Spain for over 400 years. When the distinctly Sicilian line of rulers collapsed in 1409 the island came under the rule of the house of Aragon, and when Aragon and Castile merged in 1479, Sicily became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose capital was Naples. In Naples in 1647, a fisherman named Tommaso Aniello, but usually called Masaniello, led a brief revolt against the excesses of the Spanish rule. This inspired Giuseppe D'Alessi (sometimes spelled Alesi), to leave his hometown of Polizzi Generosa and travel to Palermo to protest the same injustices. There, on a trumped up charge of conspiring to give Palermo to France, he was beheaded in 1647. (Eerily, Masaniello, was also beheaded in the same year in Naples.)
There is a Via D'Alessi located in the northern part of Polizzi today, but I have been unable to determine if it was named in his honor. The name D'Alessi or Alesi is rarely found in the vital records of Polizzi today, although it is found among the middle class in the censuses of the the 1600s. There is, however, a relatively large number of individuals with the surname Russo Alesi in Polizzi who can be found as early as the mid-1700s. But it is not possible to say if there is any connection between the two surnames.
Masaniello
No comments:
Post a Comment