Editing Bandiera brothers (section)

==Events==

Rumours reached them in Corfu of agitation in the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], where the people were being represented as ready to rise ''en masse'' at the first appearance of a leader. The Bandiera brothers, encouraged by Mazzini, consequently determined to make a raid on the [[Calabria]]n coast.  They assembled a band of about twenty men ready to sacrifice their lives, and set sail on their venture on 12 June 1844.  Four days later they landed near [[Crotone]], intending to go to [[Cosenza]], liberate the political prisoners and issue their proclamations.  Tragically for the Bandiera brothers, they did not find the insurgent band they were told awaited them, so they moved towards [[La Sila]]. They were ultimately betrayed by one of their party, the [[Corsica]]n Boccheciampe, and by some calabrese peasants who believed them to be Turkish pirates.<ref name="EB1911"/>

A detachment of [[Gendarmerie|gendarme]]s and volunteers were sent against them, and after a short fight the whole band was taken prisoner and escorted to Cosenza, where a number of [[Calabria]]ns who had taken part in a previous rising were also under arrest. First, the Calabrians were tried by court-martial, and a large number were condemned to death or the galleys. The raiders’ turn came next, and the whole party, save the traitor Boccheciampe, were condemned to be shot, but in the case of eight of them the sentence was commuted to the galleys.  On 23 July the two Bandiera brothers and their nine companions were executed by firing squad; some accounts state they cried "''Viva l’Italia''!" (Long live Italy!) as they fell.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The remains of the Bandiera Brothers and of their companion [[Domenico Moro]] were brought back to Venice on 18 June 1867, following the liberation of that city after the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866. The three remains are buried in the Church of [[Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice]], at the [[Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo]], where the equestrian monument of [[Bartolomeo Colleoni|Colleoni]] is located.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}