{{short description|1815 proclamation by Joachim Murat, King of Naples}} [[File:Proclama di Rimini 18 marzo 1815.gif|thumb|right|250px|Copy of the Rimini Proclamation, held in [[Turin]]'s [[Museum of the Risorgimento (Turin)|Museum of the Risorgimento]]]]
The '''Rimini Proclamation''' ({{Langx|it|Proclama di Rimini}}) was a [[proclamation]] by [[Joachim Murat]], [[Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)|King of Naples]], calling for the establishment of a united, self-governing [[Italian Peninsula|Italy]] ruled by [[constitutional law]]. Its text is widely attributed to [[Pellegrino Rossi]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=6 May 2015 |title=Il proclama di Rimini |trans-title=The Rimini Proclamation |url=https://www.ilponte.com/il-proclama-di-rimini/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=Il Ponte |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=29 March 2023 |title=30 marzo 1815 - Gioacchino Murat firma il Proclama di Rimini (o di Tolentino?) |trans-title=30 March 1815 – Joachim Murat signs the Proclamation of Rimini (or of Tolentino?) |url=https://www.chiamamicitta.it/30-marzo-1815-proclama-rimini-tolentino/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=Chiamami Città |language=it-IT}}</ref> later [[List of Prime Ministers of the Papal States|Papal Minister of Interior]] under [[Pope Pius IX]].<ref name=":0" /> While it is primarily considered as a desperate attempt from Murat to retain the Neapolitan throne,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Sacco |first=Antonio |date=30 May 2020 |title=Unificare l'Italia, il sogno di Murat |trans-title=Unifying Italy, Murat's dream |url=https://napoli.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_maggio_30/unificare-l-italia-sogno-murat-5de17248-a286-11ea-a5d1-29996a211afa.shtml |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=[[Corriere della Sera]] |language=it-IT}}</ref> the Rimini Proclamation was among the earliest calls for [[Unification of Italy|Italian unification]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
The Rimini Proclamation is dated to 30 March 1815, when Murat's army was passing through [[Rimini]] in the [[Neapolitan War]] against the [[Austrian Empire]], though it may have been published only after Murat's defeat at the [[Battle of Tolentino]] in May 1815.<ref name=":0" /> The citizens' address begins with the call:<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gualterio |first=Filippo Antonio |url=https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Proclama_di_Rimini |title=Gli ultimi rivolgimenti italiani, memorie storiche di F.A. Gualterio |publisher=Felice Le Monnier |year=1852 |location=Florence |pages=267–69 |language=it-IT |trans-title=The latest Italian upheavals: Historical memories by FA Gualterio |access-date=18 January 2024}}</ref>
{{Cquote|Italians! The hour has come to engage in your highest destinies. }}
==Background== {{Further information|Neapolitan War}} The [[Kingdom of Naples]], which ruled the southern half of the [[Italian Peninsula|Italian peninsula]], was a [[client state]] of [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s [[First French Empire|French Empire]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Melfi |first=Luigi |date=28 February 2021 |title=Agli albori dell'unificazione politica, amministrativa e militare nazionale |trans-title=At the dawn of national political, administrative, and military unification |url=http://www.istitutodelnastroazzurro.org/2021/02/28/luigi-melfi-agli-albori-dellunificazione-politica-amministrativa-e-militare-nazionale/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=Istituto del Nastro Azzurro |language=it-IT}}</ref> In 1808, Napoleon named [[Joachim Murat]] as [[List of monarchs of Naples|King of Naples]]; Murat had married [[Caroline Bonaparte]], Napoleon's younger sister, in 1800.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Harrison W. |title=Joachim Murat |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Joachim_Murat/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |language=en}}</ref> The northern half of the Italian peninsula was divided by the French Empire and, from 17 March 1805, the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]], another French client state, with Napoleon as [[King of Italy]].<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Hicks |title=How Napoleon became 'King of Italy' |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/how-napoleon-became-king-of-italy/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=[[Fondation Napoléon]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> [[File:Joachim Murat (1767-1815) (A).jpg|left|thumb|Portrait of [[Joachim Murat]] as [[List of monarchs of Naples|King of Naples]] by [[François Gérard]], {{Circa|1812}}]] By January 1814, Napoleon was losing the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]], in which a coalition of European states fought against the French Empire and its client states.<ref name=":2" /> On 11 January 1814, the Kingdom of Naples and the [[Austrian Empire]] signed the [[Treaty of Naples (1814)|Treaty of Naples]], under which Murat defected to the coalition. As part of the treaty, Murat would keep the Neapolitan throne in return for sending 30,000 troops against the Kingdom of Italy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riley |first=Jonathon P. |title=Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780714648934 |pages=357 |author-link=Jonathon Riley (British Army officer)}}</ref> Murat's troops passed through the city of [[Rimini]], at the southern tip of the Kingdom of Italy, on 1 February 1814.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=31 January 2023 |title=1 febbraio 1814 - Arriva a Rimini Gioacchino Murat |trans-title=1 February 1814 – Joachim Murat arrives in Rimini |url=https://www.chiamamicitta.it/1-febbraio-1814-arriva-a-rimini-gioacchino-murat/ |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=Chiamami Città |language=it-IT}}</ref>
Following further military defeats, Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Napoleon I - Defeat, Exile, Abdication |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Napoleon-I/Downfall-and-abdication |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> At the [[Congress of Vienna]], [[Klemens von Metternich]], Austria's [[Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire|Foreign Minister]], was bound by other coalition allies that wanted to restore [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies|Ferdinand IV]] of the [[House of Bourbon]] to the Neapolitan throne,<ref name=":0" /> particularly [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Pappas |first=Dale |title=Joachim Murat and the Kingdom of Naples: 1808–1815 |url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/marshals/Murat/c_Murat1815.html#_ftn9 |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=The Napoleon Series}}</ref>
With his throne no longer secure, following Napoleon's [[Hundred Days|return from exile]], Murat switched sides in an unsuccessful attempt to return to Napoleon's favour. On 15 March 1815, the Kingdom of Naples declared war on the Austrian Empire, starting the [[Neapolitan War]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> With an estimated 45,000 troops, the Neapolitan army invaded the [[Papal States]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]], and the [[Marche]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> Though the Austrian army in [[northern Italy]] numbered 94,000 troops, it was widely distributed.<ref name=":6" /> On 30 March 1815, Murat's troops arrived in Rimini, where they were hosted by the Battaglini counts.<ref name=":0" /> In a final attempt to gain allies, Murat published the Rimini Proclamation.<ref name=":1" />
== Contents == [[File:Rossi bridi.jpg|thumb|Drawing of [[Pellegrino Rossi]] by Luigi Bridi, 1859]] The Rimini Proclamation consists of two documents: one addressed to soldiers and one addressed to citizens.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The proclamation is often identified as the latter address to citizens.<ref name=":0" /> Most scholars attribute the text of the addresses to [[Pellegrino Rossi]],<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> later [[List of Prime Ministers of the Papal States|Papal Minister of the Interior]] under [[Pope Pius IX]].<ref name=":0" />
The citizens' address begins with the call:<ref name=":3" /> {{Cquote|Italians! The hour has come to engage in your highest destinies. Providence ultimately calls you to be an independent nation. From the [[Alps]] to the [[Strait of Messina|Strait of Scylla]], you hear a single cry: "The independence of Italy!" And under what title do foreign peoples claim to take away this independence, the first right and first good of every people? }} The proclamation references Italy's [[physical geography]] – "the barriers of the Alps" and "inaccessible seas and mountains" – as evidence of Italy's call to independence. It compares Italy's subjection to "England, that model of [[Constitution|constitutional]] rule, that free people, who goes to glory to fight". It calls on the "good and unhappy Italians of [[Milan]], [[Bologna]], [[Turin]], [[Venice]], [[Brescia]], [[Modena]], [and] [[Reggio Emilia|Reggio]]" to "come together in firm union" for "a Constitution worthy of the century and of you".<ref name=":3" />
In its desire for independence and constitutionalism, the proclamation was written to inspire liberal elites in northern Italy.<ref name=":4" />
== Aftermath == 400 volunteers joined Murat's army on 30 March 1815.<ref name=":1" /> Murat's eastern column advanced northwards from Rimini towards the [[Po (river)|River Po]], entering Bologna on 2 April, while the western column reached [[Florence]] on 8 April.<ref name=":6" /> On the same day, the eastern column engaged 3,000 Austrian soldiers at the [[Battle of Occhiobello]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> Following its defeat at Occhiobello, it was pushed southwards, leading to Murat's decisive defeat at the [[Battle of Tolentino]] on 2–3 May.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":1" /> Murat returned to Naples on 18 May, where Caroline had already surrendered to the British, and fled immediately to southern France.<ref name=":6" />
Hearing of Napoleon's defeat at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] on 18 June 1815,<ref name=":1" /> Murat fled to [[Corsica]],<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> from which he attempted an impossible invasion of [[Calabria]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Napoleon remarked: "Murat attempted to reconquer with 200 men that territory which he failed to hold when he had 80,000 at his disposal."<ref name=":0" /> Murat was captured, sentenced to death,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /> and shot by firing squad in [[Pizzo, Calabria|Pizzo Calabro]] on 13 October 1815.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />
In ''Il re lazzarone'' (1999), [[Unification of Italy|Risorgimento]] scholar Giuseppe Campolieti hypothesises that the Rimini Proclamation was only published on 12 May 1815, after Murat's defeat at Tolentino, and backdated to 30 March.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Camploieti |first=Giuseppe |title=Il re lazzarone |publisher=Mondadori |year=1999 |isbn=88-04-40528-7 |location=Milan |pages=410 |language=it-IT |trans-title=The Lazy King}}</ref>
==Legacy== The Rimini Proclamation is primarily considered a desperate attempt from Murat to retain the Neapolitan throne. Nevertheless, and somewhat ironically for a French king,<ref name=":2" /> it was among the earliest calls for Italian unification and independence.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> The proclamation impressed poet [[Alessandro Manzoni]], who wrote a song entitled {{Interlanguage link|Il proclama di Rimini|it|italic=yes}},<ref name=":0" /> but he left it unfinished after Murat's campaign failed.<ref name=":1" />
==See also== * {{in lang|it}} [http://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Proclama_di_Rimini Text of the proclamation] on Italian Wikisource
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Portal bar|Italy|History}} {{Risorgimento}} [[Category:Neapolitan War]] [[Category:Italian unification]] [[Category:Proclamations]] [[Category:1815 in Italy]] [[Category:19th century in the Kingdom of Naples]] [[Category:March 1815]] [[Category:1815 documents]] [[Category:Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)]] [[Category:Joachim Murat]]