Bourbon soldier, then one of Garibaldi's men, then a brigand. Three years as an outlaw and an end decided by money.
Pietro Monaco was born in 1836 in Macchia di Spezzano Piccolo, in the hills below the Sila near Cosenza. A former NCO in the Bourbon army, he went over to Garibaldi and then took to the woods. For three years his band moved through the forests of the Sila.
He died on Christmas Eve 1863, killed by companions who had been bought. His wife was Maria Oliverio, «Ciccilla», to whom the next song on the album is dedicated. The track opens with a spoken introduction, the way storytellers once did in the village squares.
In the book you will find
- the lyrics of this song in dialect, with an Italian translation
- photographs of the places and the people
- Salvatore Mazzei's own account and the Calabria of those years
Salvatore Mazzei is not a historian: he gathers stories and tells them in music. These lines are a starting point for anyone who wants to look up the sources and form their own view.